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By: Beazley | |
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Prince Henry the Navigator
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATORBy Evelyn Abbot, M.A.INTRODUCTION.The Greek And Arabic Ideas Of The World, As The Chief Inheritance Of The Christian Middle Ages In Geographical Knowledge. Arabic science constitutes one of the main links between the older learned world of the Greeks and Latins and the Europe of Henry the Navigator and of the Renaissance. In geography it adopted in the main the results of Ptolemy and Strabo; and many of the Moslem travellers and writers gained some additional hints from Indian, Persian, and Chinese knowledge; but, however much of fact they added to Greek cartography, they did not venture to correct its postulates... |
By: Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) | |
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Letters of a Post-Impressionist
“Being the Familiar Correspondence of Vincent Van Gogh ... [Van Gogh's] art was appreciated during his life only by a very few and it is but within recent years that it has found admirers who in many cases have been most ardently enthusiastic. Of the following letters, some were addressed to his brother and the remainder to his friend E. Bernard. |
By: Alexander Herrmann (1844-1896) | |
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Herrmann's Book of Magic
Black Art Fully Exposed. A complete and practical guide to drawing-room and stage magic for professionals and amateurs, including a complete exposure of the black art. | |
By: Percy M. Turner | |
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Van Dyck
A biography and critique of Van Dyck in The Masterpieces in Colour series. The Plates of the paintings are fully described and the artistic periods in his life's work are given as well as his place in history. |
By: Professor Louis Hoffman (1839-1919) | |
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Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring
This "how-to" book covers everything for the 1800's illusionist, from stage presence & dress, program and stage arrangement, to how to do tricks with cards, coins, watches, rings, handkerchiefs, dominoes and dice, cups and balls, hats, and other apparatus. "I have purposely limited my disclosures to such illusions as have been sufficiently long before the public to be fairly regarded as common property. Within this limit I have endeavored to make my explanations as complete as possible; but to go beyond it would be to infringe a moral copyright, and to deprive gentlemen to whom Modern Magic is especially indebted, of the well-earned fruits of their labor and invention." |
By: Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) | |
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Auguste Rodin
Rodin has pronounced Rilke's essay the supreme interpretation of his work. (From the translators’ Preface) Auguste Rodin, 1840-1917, was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past. He was schooled traditionally, took a craftsman-like approach to his work, and desired academic recognition, although he was never accepted into Paris's foremost school of art. Sculpturally, Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, deeply pocketed surface in clay... |
By: Sir Alfred Edward East (1844-1913) | |
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Art of Landscape Painting in Oil Colour
Sketching from Nature, Equipment, Colour, Composition, Trees, Skies, Grass, Reflections, Distance -- chapters rich with timeless oil painting advice by a master landscape artist, Sir Alfred East. East had an exceptional ability to capture the individuality of trees, the quiver of their leaves against the sky. “If we look at a photograph, the edges of the trees do not give you the feeling that the tree is a living thing, they are marked with hard precision against the light, like a solid building, and yet at the same time if we see them in Nature we hear the whisper of their leaves and know that they live and breathe... |
By: Ed Roberts | |
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Sins of Hollywood
Exacerbated by several high-profile Hollywood scandals, a wave of anti-Hollywood rhetoric tried to paint the movie capital as a veritable hotbed of crime, licentiousness, and moral transgression. THE SINS OF HOLLYWOOD, published in May 1922, is perhaps the most prominent anti-Hollywood polemic published during this turbulent time in film history. This anonymously-written booklet recounts in sensational, lurid detail the various high-profile scandals that precipitated the firestorm surrounding Hollywood's supposed moral turpitude... |
By: Edward Weitzel (1861-?) | |
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Intimate Talks with Movie Stars
A collection of interviews originally published in Moving Picture World that aims to give the movie-mad public "intimate pen pictures of the stars of the screen." Weitzel interviews some of the most renowned film stars of the 1920s: Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Gloria Swanson, Pearl White, and more! |
By: François Crastre | |
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Rosa Bonheur
A Masterpieces in Colour series book. Very informative with a biography and critique of the artist's work and how well she was beloved. |
By: Harry Alan Potamkin (1900-1933) | |
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Eyes of the Movie
"The movie was born in the laboratory and reared in the counting-house. It is a benevolent monster of four I's: Inventor, Investor, Impresario, Imperialist." So begins Harry Alan Potamkin's The Eyes of the Movie, a posthumously published indictment of Hollywood. It is a savage socialist critique of the film industry, its practices, and products. Potamkin takes aim at the "conservative element" infiltrating Hollywood's dream factory, investigating mainstream cinema's double function as propaganda and "passing amusement." |
By: Dave Stanley | |
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There's Laughter in the Air! Radio's Top Comedians and Their Best Shows
There's Laughter in the Air takes readers on a sidesplitting romp through the world of old-time radio comedy. It gives a brief history of the medium and brief but intimate accounts of some of the biggest acts from the 1930s and 1940s. Gaver and Stanley give insight on several luminaries from the days of vintage radio: Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, Burns and Allen, Amos 'n Andy, and more! |
By: Frederic Maccabe | |
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Maccabe's Art of Ventriloquism and Vocal Illusions
This manual offers instructions on how to become a ventriloquist. Starting out from a general introduction of ventriloquism, it explains how sounds are formed in the human body and how the voice is used. It then provides exercises for the budding artist, and a number of dialogues for performances. |
By: Edgar James Banks (1866-1945) | |
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Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The 7 Wonders of the Ancient World is a list of masterpieces of architecture and art of classical antiquity. First compiled in the second century BC, it served as a guidebook for the interested Hellenic traveller. This small book gives an introduction to all the entries on the list: The Pyramid of Khufu, the Walls of Babylon, the Satue of the Olympian Zeus, the Temple of Diana , the Tomb of King Mausolus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Pharos of Alexandria. Sadly for the modern tourist, all but the Pyramid of Giza have been destroyed centuries ago. |
By: Jane Eayre Fryer | |
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Mary Frances Knitting and Crocheting Book
Mary Frances is a little girl whose Aunt Maria intends to teach her to knit and crochet, but she's very strict and demanding. It's a good thing the Knitting People are around to help Mary Frances out! This book includes real patterns which can be knit and crocheted for dolls and children. |
By: Mae Marsh (1894-1968) | |
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Screen Acting
Silent film star, Mae Marsh, recounts her life as an actress in this publication, what she deems as being the answer to thousands of letters written to her over the years inquiring about what it takes to be a screen actor. As she states in the introduction, "So much ambition, so many questions!" - Summary by Amanda Friday |
By: Various | |
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Coffee Break Collection 012 - The Performing Arts
This is the twelfth collection of our "coffee break" series, involving public domain works that are between 3 and 15 minutes in length. These are great for study breaks, commutes, workouts, or any time you'd like to hear a whole story and only have a few minutes to devote to listening. The theme for this collection is "The Performing Arts", with works about theatre, music, dance, and film! Summary by Rosie. |
By: Walter George Bell (1867-1942) | |
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Tower of London
A short book, whose chapters were originally published in The Daily Mail, which explores the history and facts of each of the structures that make up the Tower. - Summary by Janet 99 |
By: Joseph W. Zaehnsdorf (1853-1930) | |
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Art of Bookbinding
This handbook explains the art of bookbinding and simultaneously reminds us what a complex technology is to make books! Zaehnsdorf, bookbinder and son of a bookbinder, made this second edition of his book to enlighten amateurs and tradesmen alike. The whole process of binding a book and the required equipment are carefully explained to the reader. |
By: Riccardo Nobili (1859-1939) | |
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Gentle Art of Faking
IIn analysing the Faker one must dissociate him from the common forger; his semi-artistic vocation places him quite apart from the ordinary counterfeiter; he must be studied amid his proper surroundings, and with the correct local colouring, so to speak, and his critic may perchance find some slight modicum of excuse for him. Beside him stand the Imitator, from whom the faker often originates, the tempter who turns the clever imitator into a faker, and the middleman who lures on the unwary collector with plausible tales... |
By: Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-1894) | |
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History of the Suez Canal
A lively picture of the origin and completion of the Suez Canal and his architect, Vicomte de Lesseps. This is the translation of a lecture given before the Societe de Gens Lettres in Paris, in April 1870 by de Lesseps himself. |
By: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) | |
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Theory of Colours
Newton's observations on the optical spectrum were widely accepted but Goethe noticed the difference between the scientific explanation and the phenomena as experienced by the human eye. He did not try to explain this, but rather collected and presented data, conducting experiments on the interplay of light and dark. His work was rejected as 'unscientific' by physicists but his color wheel is still used by artists today. - Summary by Lynne Thompson |
By: Edward Armitage (1817-1896) | |
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Lectures On Painting Delivered To The Students Of The Royal Academy
This 1883 book contains chapters on ancient costumes, Byzantine and Romanesque art, David and his school, modern schools of Europe, drawing, color, decorative painting, finish, choice of subject, composition of decorative and historical pictures, and composition of incident pictures. Edward Armitage RA was an English painter of the Victorian era whose work focused on historical, classical and biblical subjects. He was Professor and Lecturer on painting in the Royal Academy 1875-1886. |
By: Hamilton Fyfe (1869-1951) | |
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Arthur Wing Pinero, Playwright - A Study
A discussion about the life and works of the playwright Arthur Wing Pinero. The perfect accompaniment to the plays by Pinero available here at. - Summary by ToddHW |
By: Albert Bigelow Paine (1861-1937) | |
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Life and Lillian Gish
An authorized biography of Lillian Gish, the renowned silent film star known in her heyday as the First Lady of American Cinema. Albert Bigelow Paine chronicles Gish's early life, her close relationship with her sister Dorothy, her rise in film as an actor with Biograph Studios and muse of D. W. Griffith, her short time as a contract actor with MGM, and her return to the stage in the advent of the talkies. Peppered throughout with intimate and amusing anecdotes, this is a must-read for film historians, silent film enthusiasts, and admirers of one of cinema's legendary talents. |
By: Various | |
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Dial, May 1920
An example of one of the leading literary magazines of the early 20th Century. Poetry by e.e. cummings and Louise Bryant , a short story by Sherwood Anderson, a memoir of the late poet James Flecker, theater and book reviews by Gilbert Seldes, and other critical works. |
By: John M. Burke (1842-1917) | |
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Buffalo Bill from Prairie to Palace
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody is one of the legends of the American western frontier. As a teen he rode for the pony expressed and then drove for the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War. He later rejoined the army as a scout and was awarded the medal of honor for his valor during the Indian Wars. His fame became worldwide, however, through his flamboyant Wild West shows which toured not only across the American West but through England and Europe. John M. Burke served as Cody’s publicist and promoter for the Wild West shows, propelling him into celebrity status... |
By: Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) | |
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Treatises of Benvenuto Cellini on Goldsmithing and Sculpture
Benvenuto Cellini, a 16th century Florentine goldsmith and sculptor, is perhaps better known for his colorful autobiography than his works of art. In his "Trattati", Cellini explains how he made his intricate pieces in gold, such as the salt cellar intended for the table of King Francis I of France, and his monumental sculptures, including the bronze Perseus and Medusa that stands in Florence's Loggia dei Lanzi. Cellini allows himself numerous digressions, so what might in the hands of another author have proved a dry textbook is instead an amusing companion to his "Vita". - Summary by Rob Marland |
By: P. T. Barnum (1810-1891) | |
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Struggles and Triumphs, or Forty Years' of Recollections of P.T. Barnum, written by Himself
The 1873 edition of the autobiography of the founding genius of the "Greatest Show on Earth," P.T. Barnum. It details his life and business struggles up to the year 1872. Not only a showman and a museum operator, but an antislavery politician, Connecticut state legislator, Mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and temperance lecturer, Barnum lays aside some of the gilding to provide his thoughts on his career, economics, how to make money, and other issues of the day. - Summary by DrPGould |
By: Eva March Tappan (1854-1930) | |
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World’s Story Volume V: Italy, France, Spain and Portugal
This is the fifth volume of the 15-volume series of The World’s Story: a history of the World in story, song and art, edited by Eva March Tappan. Each book is a compilation of selections from prose literature, poetry and pictures and offers a comprehensive presentation of the world's history, art and culture, from the early times till the beginning of the 20th century. Topics in Part V include Italian painters and poets, the French Revolution, the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese explorers. - Summary by Sonia Cast list for A supposed street scene in Verona in the fourteenth century: Gregory: Nemo / Sampson: Tomas Peter / Abraham: Monika M... |
By: Sir Grafton Elliot Smith (1871-1937) | |
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Tutankhamen: and the Discovery of His Tomb by the Late Earl of Carnarvon and Mr. Howard Carter
“Never before in the history of archaeological inquiry has any event excited such immediate and world-wide interest as Mr. Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in November 1922. It gives us a new revelation of the wealth and luxury of Egyptian civilization during its most magnificent period. In beauty and design and perfection of craftsmanship, Tutankhamen's funerary equipment is indeed a new revelation of the ancient Egyptians' artistic feeling and technical skill.” “At the time of Tutankhamen the great peoples that had built up civilization were losing their dominant position... |
By: Hugh Robert Watkin (1868-1937) | |
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Short Description of Torre Abbey
Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the time of Henry VIII, a significant part of the buildings of Torre Abbey, particularly the church area, lay in ruins. Then, during the 17th century and subsequently, surviving parts of the abbey were incorporated into the creation of a grand private residence, the owner of which in the early part of the 20th century was Colonel Lucius Cary. With the permission of the colonel, Hugh Watkin, who at that time was living in the Chelston district of Torquay, fairly close to the abbey, undertook certain excavations of the remaining ruins between the years of 1906 and 1911... |