New Old Time

Victorian mountaineer standing triumphant at a mountain summit with ice axe and rope, panoramic view of snow-capped peaks, dramatic clouds and golden afternoon light, Scottish Highlands or Alps 1880s

The Scale of the World: How the Victorians Mapp...

In 1850, the London cartographer John Emslie produced a comparative chart of the world's mountains and volcanoes for the publisher James Reynolds. In a single image, it placed Ben Nevis...

The Scale of the World: How the Victorians Mapp...

In 1850, the London cartographer John Emslie produced a comparative chart of the world's mountains and volcanoes for the publisher James Reynolds. In a single image, it placed Ben Nevis...

Detail of Gustav Wentzel's Sjakkspillere (1886) showing two men absorbed in a chess game at a wooden table in a bohemian artist's studio, beer jug and pipes beside the board, warm chiaroscuro light, National Museum Oslo

The Chess Players: Gustav Wentzel and the Bohem...

In 1886, the Norwegian painter Gustav Wentzel completed a small oil painting of two men playing chess in a bohemian interior. The painting — known as Sjakkspillere, or The Chess...

The Chess Players: Gustav Wentzel and the Bohem...

In 1886, the Norwegian painter Gustav Wentzel completed a small oil painting of two men playing chess in a bohemian interior. The painting — known as Sjakkspillere, or The Chess...

Victorian cheese board with Stilton, Camembert, Roquefort, Cheddar and Parmesan, water biscuits, oatcakes, walnuts, dark grapes and silver cheese knives by candlelight on a dark mahogany table, 1880s dining room atmosphere

The Victorian Cheese Board: Stilton, Roquefort,...

In Victorian England, the cheese board was not an afterthought — it was a social ritual, a mark of domestic refinement, and a demonstration of the hostess's knowledge of European...

The Victorian Cheese Board: Stilton, Roquefort,...

In Victorian England, the cheese board was not an afterthought — it was a social ritual, a mark of domestic refinement, and a demonstration of the hostess's knowledge of European...

Victorian mushroom forager crouching in a forest with a wicker basket and an open illustrated atlas on the forest floor, ink cap and bracket fungi in the foreground, dappled light through tall trees, French forest 1890s

The Mushroom Hunters: Victorian Mycology and th...

In the nineteenth century, the mushroom moved from the margins of natural history to the centre of scientific attention. Mycology — the study of fungi — became a discipline, foraging...

The Mushroom Hunters: Victorian Mycology and th...

In the nineteenth century, the mushroom moved from the margins of natural history to the centre of scientific attention. Mycology — the study of fungi — became a discipline, foraging...

Open A.B.C. à Colorier by Gaston Maréchaux showing letters G and H on a wooden table, child's hands and colored pencils, warm natural light

The Alphabet as Art: Gaston Maréchaux and the I...

In the early twentieth century, the illustrated alphabet was one of the most refined genres in French children's publishing — a form that required the artist to find, for each...

The Alphabet as Art: Gaston Maréchaux and the I...

In the early twentieth century, the illustrated alphabet was one of the most refined genres in French children's publishing — a form that required the artist to find, for each...

Victorian beekeeper in period clothing and veil tending traditional straw skep hives in a cottage garden in spring, flowering fruit trees and wildflowers, bee swarm in the air, warm golden afternoon light, English countryside 1870s

Brehms Tierleben: The Encyclopedia That Taught ...

Between 1863 and 1884, Alfred Edmund Brehm published Brehms Tierleben — Brehm's Animal Life — a ten-volume zoological encyclopedia that became the most widely read natural history work in the...

Brehms Tierleben: The Encyclopedia That Taught ...

Between 1863 and 1884, Alfred Edmund Brehm published Brehms Tierleben — Brehm's Animal Life — a ten-volume zoological encyclopedia that became the most widely read natural history work in the...