Showing posts with label decoration and ornament. Show all posts
Showing posts with label decoration and ornament. Show all posts

Monday, December 13, 2010

Brrr!!

The land of the midnight sun : summer and winter journeys through
Sweden, Norway, Lapland and northern Finland

Designed by Edwin Abbey, Paul B. Du Chaillu's Land of the Midnight Sun was published in 1881 by Harper and Brothers, New York. From the Richard Minsky Collection and Publishers' Bindings Online.











Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Cotton Dethroned!

98 years ago today, on September 3, 1910, the boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) was first discovered on Alabama soil. The unbelievable devastation the boll weevil caused to cotton crops throughout the South was the catalyst for diversifying agriculture in Alabama, ultimately dethroning "King Cotton" in favor of other crops like peanuts, soybeans and timber.


The book featured here is one of many from Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books that feature cotton as a design element, decoration, ornament or motif. Here are a few more for your perusal... some very realistic, some beautifully stylized. To look at over 5000 more books and lots more, visit PBO!




An impressive, albeit strangely wonderful statue dedicated to the boll weevil stands in Enterprise, Alabama.