“For if the present generation find them merely “old-fashioned,” in a few decades, they would appear “quaint” and “curious,” and finally be considered very interesting ephemerae of a very interesting period in English art production.” - Gleeson White on the subject of holiday cards Dear Rare Reader, As always,...

“There remains nothing more, but to shew that there are some necessary Qualifications to be acquir’d, some good Improvements to be made by Ingenious Gentlemen in the Company of our Sex. Of this number are Complacence, Gallantry, Good Humour, Invention, and an Art…” An Essay in...

"At a time when the proliferation of cheap newspapers and magazines was designed to strike the lowest common denominator of popular taste, the Tobacco Plant did its substantial bit to maintain a lively interest in literary topics among ordinary middle-class readers. Seldom, before or since,...

"Polygraphice is an art, so much imitating Nature, as that by proportional lines with answerable Colours, it teacheth to represent to the life (and that in plano) the forms of all corporeal things, with their respective passions."   Polygraphice; or, The arts of drawing, engraving, etching, limning, painting,...

Apart from the feeling of loneliness which any one in my situation must naturally have experienced, surrounded by stupendous works of nature, which in all their solitary grandeur frowned upon me, and sinking into utter insignificance the miserable mortal who crept beneath their shadow; still...

וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי. וַיְכֻלּוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ וְכָל־צְבָאָם. וַיְכַל אֱלֹהִים בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וַיִּשְׁבֹּת בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה. וַיְבָרֵךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אוֹתוֹ כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל־מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת. And there was evening and there was...

The Lake of Beauty Stephanie Wolff Norwich, VT: Stephanie Wolff, 2015 Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) was born in England. His philosophical writings reflected his interests in social and sexual reform and the late 19th-century anti-industrial Arts and Crafts Movement. In rebellion against Victorian prudery and industrial dehumanization, Carpenter was...

The Wife and Husband equally conspire, To work by Night and rake the Winter fire: He sharpens Torches in the glim'ring Room, She shoots the flying Shuttle through the Loom: Or boils in Kettles Must of Wine, and Skins With leaves, the Dregs that overflow the Brims. The Works of Vigil:...

"That a Christian soule doth freely impart its Love and goodwill unto others, as a pleasant flower its virtue and smell: That being we are Plants of God, we ought not to be discouraged by any outward calamity that might befall us, but presse forward...