St.Helen’s on the Thames, photo by Momit
From a Dictionary of the Thames from Oxford to the Nore. 1880 by Charles Dickens Abingdon, Berkshire, on the right bank, from London 103 3/4miles, from Oxford 7 3/4 miles. A station on the Great Western Railway, from Paddington 60 miles. The time occupied […] 
Charles Dickens wrote much more than novels. In fact he turned out several very interesting dictionaries to include one of London, one of Paris and one on London’s long meandering river Thames. Click here to read a copy of the Dictionary of the Thames. Home Top of Pg. 
Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the mendicant Order of Friars Minor, as painted by El Greco. Catholic religious order Catholic religious orders are one of two types of religious institutes (‘Religious Institutes’, cf. canons 573–746), the major form of consecrated life in the Roman Catholic Church. They are organizations of laity […] 
Laurens’ portrait as painted during his time spent imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he was kept for over a year after being captured at sea while serving as the United States minister to the Netherlands during the Revolutionary War. The first Christian white man to be cremated in America was […] 
Biograph Theater, where John Dillinger was gunned down by the FBI on July 22, 1934 The Great Depression was on—highway based crime was rampant, the gangsters dressed as well as the bankers they robbed, and and Henry Ford’s big beautiful V8 sedan was the getaway car of choice for both wheelman and […] 
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From the classic British Movie, The Shooting Party, a 1985 British drama film directed by Alan Bridges based on Isabel Colegate’s 9th novel of the same name published in 1980 we find a scene set in the billiards parlor whereupon the host of the weekend shooting party Sir Randolph Nettleby walks in […] 
San Felipe Model Reprinted from FineModelShips.com with the kind permission of Dr. Michael Czytko The SAN FELIPE is one of the most favoured ships among the ship model builders. The model is elegant, very beautifully designed, and makes a decorative piece of art to be displayed at home or in the […] 
William Wyggeston’s chantry house, built around 1511, in Leicester: The building housed two priests, who served at a chantry chapel in the nearby St Mary de Castro church. It was sold as a private dwelling after the dissolution of the chantries. A Privately Built Chapel Chantry, chapel, generally within […] 
H. M. Scarth, Rector of Wrington By the death of Mr. Scarth on the 5th of April, at Tangier, where he had gone for his health’s sake, the familiar form of an old and much valued Member of the Institute has passed away. Harry Mengden Scarth was bron at Staindrop in Durham, […] 
A Lecture Delivered at the Guildhall, March 2, 1853 by Rev. H.M. Scarth, M.A., Rector of Bathwick. To understand the ancient history of the country in which we live, to know something of the arts and manners of the people who have preceded us, to ascertain what we owe […] 
The arsenicals (compounds which contain the heavy metal element arsenic, As) have a long history of use in man – with both benevolent and malevolent intent. The name ‘arsenic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘arsenikon’ which means ‘potent’”. As early as 2000 BC, arsenic trioxide, obtained from smelting copper, was used […] 
PAINTER-WORK, in the building trade. When work is painted one or both of two distinct ends is achieved, namely the preservation and the coloration of the material painted. The compounds used for painting—taking the word as meaning a thin protective or decorative coat—are very numerous, including oil-paint of many kinds, distemper, whitewash, […] 
IT requires a far search to gather up examples of furniture really representative in this kind, and thus to gain a point of view for a prospect into the more ideal where furniture no longer is bought to look expensively useless in a boudoir, but serves everyday and commonplace need, such as […] 
DECORATED or “sumptuous” furniture is not merely furniture that is expensive to buy, but that which has been elaborated with much thought, knowledge, and skill. Such furniture cannot be cheap, certainly, but the real cost of it is sometimes borne by the artist who produces rather than by the man who may […] 
THE sense of a consecutive tradition has so completely faded out of English art that it has become difficult to realise the meaning of tradition, or the possibility of its ever again reviving; and this state of things is not improved by the fact that it is due to uncertainty of purpose, […] 
The Diamond Empire Home Top of […] 
Crewe Hall Dining Room
THE transient tenure that most of us have in our dwellings, and the absorbing nature of the struggle that most of us have to make to win the necessary provisions of life, prevent our encouraging the manufacture of well-wrought furniture. We mean to outgrow […] 
“Saint John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, the main gateway to the Priory of Saint John of Jerusalem,” black and white photograph by the British photographer Henry Dixon, 1880. The church was founded in the 12th century by Jordan de Briset, a Norman knight. Prior Docwra completed the gatehouse shown in this photograph in 1504. The gateway […] 
KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS On the decline of the Roman power, about five centuries after Christ, the countries of Northern Europe were left almost destitute of a national government. Numerous chiefs, more or less powerful, held local sway, as far as each could enforce his dominion, and occasionally those […] 
WIPO HQ Geneva UNITED STATES PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION ACT TITLE I – PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION OFFICE Chapter Section 1. Organization and Publications . 1 2. Legal Provisions as to the Plant Variety Protection Office . 21 3. Plant Variety Protection Fees . 31 CHAPTER 1.-ORGANIZATION AND PUBLICATIONS Section […] 
NEWSPAPER.-Printed sheets published at stated intervals, chiefly for the purpose of conveying intelligence on current events. The Romans wrote out an account of the most memorable occurrences of the day, which were sent to public officials. They were entitled Acta Durna, and read substantially like the local column of a […] 
The Apex Building, headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission, on Constitution Avenue and 7th Streets in Washington, D.C.. The building was designed by Edward H. Bennett under the purview of Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon, and was completed in 1938 at a cost of $125 million. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith
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Reprint from The Pitfalls of Speculation by Thomas Gibson 1906 Ed. THE PUBLIC ATTITUDE TOWARD SPECULATION THE public attitude toward speculation is generally hostile. Even those who venture frequently are prone to speak discouragingly of speculative possibilities, and to point warningly to the fact that an overwhelming majority […] 
Over the years I have observed a decline in manners amongst young men as a general principle and though there is not one particular thing that may be asserted as the causal reason for this, one might speculate… Self-awareness and being aware of one’s surroundings in social […] 
Wojna Kalmarska – 1611 The Kalmar War From The Historian’s History of the World (In 25 Volumes) by Henry Smith William L.L.D. – Vol. XVI.(Scandinavia) Pg. 308-310 The northern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, as already noticed, had been peopled from the remotest times by nomadic tribes called Finns or Cwenas by […] 
Stoke Park Pavillions
Stoke Park Pavilions, UK, view from A405 Road. photo by Wikipedia user Cj1340
From Wikipedia: Stoke Park – the original house Stoke park was the first English country house to display a Palladian plan: a central house with balancing pavilions linked by colonnades or […] 
BOOKS CONDEMNED TO BE BURNT. By JAMES ANSON FARRER,
LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW 1892 ———- WHEN did books first come to be burnt in England by the common hangman, and what was […] 
STORE MANAGEMENT—THE SHIRK. THE shirk is a well-known specimen of the genus homo. His habitat is offices, stores, business establishments of all kinds. His habits are familiar to us, but a few words on the subject will not be amiss. The shirk usually displays activity when the boss is around, […] 
ORIGIN OF THE APOTHECARY. The origin of the apothecary in England dates much further back than one would suppose from what your correspondent, “A Barrister-at-Law,” says about it. It is true he speaks only of apothecaries as a distinct branch of the medical profession, but long before Henry VIII’s time […] 
NAPOLEON’S PHARMACISTS. Of the making of books about Napoleon there is no end, and the centenary of his death (May 5) is not likely to pass without adding to the number, but a volume on Napoleon”s pharmacists still awaits treatment by the student in this field of historical research. There […] 
It is a pity that the traditions and literature in praise of fly fishing have unconsciously hampered instead of expanded this graceful, effective sport. Many a sportsman has been anxious to share its joys, but appalled by the rapture of expression in describing its countless thrills and niceties he has been literally […] 
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Painting the Brooklyn Bridge, Photo by Eugene de Salignac , 1914
Excerpt from: The Preservation of Iron and Steel Structures by F. Cosby-Jones, The Mechanical Engineer January 30, 1914 Painting. This is the method of protection against corrosion that has the most extensive use, owing to the fact that […] 
THE answer to the question, What is fortune has never been, and probably never will be, satisfactorily made. What may be a fortune for one bears but small proportion to the colossal possessions of another. The scores or hundreds of thousands admired and envied as a fortune in most of our communities […] 
Reprint from The Sportsman’s Cabinet and Town and Country Magazine, Vol I. Dec. 1832, Pg. 94-95 To the Editor of the Cabinet. SIR, Possessing that anxious feeling so common among shooters on the near approach of the 12th of August, I honestly confess I was not able […] 
Reprint from The Pitfalls of Speculation by Thomas Gibson 1906 Ed. THE PUBLIC ATTITUDE TOWARD SPECULATION THE public attitude toward speculation is generally hostile. Even those who venture frequently are prone to speak discouragingly of speculative possibilities, and to point warningly to the fact that an […] 
Felix Weihs de Weldon, age 96, died broke in the year 2003 after successive bankruptcies and accumulating $4 million dollars worth of debt. Most of the debt was related to the high cost of love for a wife living with Alzheimer’s. Health care costs to maintain his first wife, Margot, ran $500 per […] 
New York Stock Exchange Floor September 26,1963 The Specialist as a member of a stock exchange has two functions.’ He must execute orders which other members of an exchange may leave with him when the current market price is away from the price of the orders. By executing these orders on behalf […] 
What is follows is an historical article that appeared in The Hartford Courant in 1916 about the arsenic murders carried out by Mrs. Archer-Gilligan. This story is the basis for the 1944 Hollywood film “Arsenic and Old Lace” starring Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane and directed by Frank Capra. The […] 
The arsenicals (compounds which contain the heavy metal element arsenic, As) have a long history of use in man – with both benevolent and malevolent intent. The name ‘arsenic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘arsenikon’ which means ‘potent’”. As early as 2000 BC, arsenic trioxide, obtained from smelting copper, was used […] 
The magician delighted in exposing spiritualists as con men and frauds. By EDMUND WILSON June 24, 1925 Houdini is a short strong stocky man with small feet and a very large head. Seen from the stage, his figure, with its short legs and its pugilist’s proportions, is less impressive than at close […] 
Jujitsu training 1920 in Japanese agricultural school. CHAPTER V THE VALUE OF EVEN TEMPER IN ATHLETICS—SOME OF THE FEATS THAT REQUIRE GOOD NATURE In the writer’s opinion it becomes necessary to make at this point some suggestions relative to a very important part of the training in jiu-jitsu. […] 
King George IV was known far and wide as the dandy king, incompetent, ugly, and vulgar. As Prince regent, prior to his assent to the throne, he kept fast company with Beau Brummel, King of Dandies, a man sixteen years his younger. And decadence followed. King George was a gambler, philanderer, and […] 
The downloadable audio clip is of FDR’s Second Fireside Chat recorded on May 7th, 1933. FDR 2nd Fireside Chat – May 7, 1933 – 18.5MB The transcript that follows is my corrected version of the transcript that is found The American Presidency Project website that was created […] 
H.F. Leonard was an instructor in wrestling at the New York Athletic Club. Katsukum Higashi was an instructor in Jujitsu. “I say with emphasis and without qualification that I have been unable to find anything in jujitsu which is not known to Western wrestling. So far as I can see, […] 
Book Conservators, Mitchell Building, State Library of New South Wales, 29.10.1943, Pix Magazine The following is taken verbatim from a document that appeared several years ago in the Maine State Archives. It seems to have been removed from their website. I happened to have made a physical copy of it at the […] 
The following highly collectible Franklin Library Signed Editions were published between 1977 and 1982. They are all fully leather bound with beautiful covers and contain gorgeous and rich silk moire endpapers. Signatures are protected by unattached tissue inserts. The values listed are average prices that were sought by […] |
  
King William III on Horseback by Sir Godfrey Kneller
Reprint from The Royal Collection Trust website: Kneller was born in Lubeck, studied with Rembrandt in Amsterdam and by 1676 was working in England as a fashionable portrait painter. He painted seven British monarchs (Charles II, James II, William III, Mary II, Anne, George I and George II), though his [...] Read more → 
Henry Miller in RedsHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Cup of Tea? To be or not to be
Twinings London – photo by Elisa.rolle Is the tea in your cup genuine? The fact is, had one been living in the early 19th Century, one might occasionally encounter a counterfeit cup of tea. Food adulterations to include added poisonings and suspect substitutions were a common problem in Europe at [...] Read more → 
What’s the Matter?
A rhetorical question? Genuine concern? In this essay we are examining another form of matter otherwise known as national literary matters, the three most important of which being the Matter of Rome, Matter of France, and the Matter of England. Our focus shall be on the Matter of England or [...] Read more → 
History of the Cabildo in New Orleans
Cabildo circa 1936 The Cabildo houses a rare copy of Audubon’s Bird’s of America, a book now valued at $10 million+. Should one desire to visit the Cabildo, click here to gain free entry with a lowcost New Orleans Pass. Home Top of [...] Read more →
Indian Mode of Hunting – Beaver
Jul. 30, 1898 Forest and Stream Pg. 87 Indian Mode of Hunting. I.—Beaver. Wa-sa-Kejic came over to the post early one October, and said his boy had cut his foot, and that he had no one to steer his canoe on a proposed beaver hunt. Now [...] Read more → 
A Short Note on Manners for the Young Man Wishing to Make a Goodly Impression Whilst Avoiding Duels
Over the years I have observed a decline in manners amongst young men as a general principle and though there is not one particular thing that may be asserted as the causal reason for this, one might speculate… Self-awareness and being aware of one’s surroundings in social [...] Read more → 
U.S. Coast Guard Radio Information for Boaters
VHF Marifoon Sailor RT144, by S.J. de Waard RADIO INFORMATION FOR BOATERS Effective 01 August, 2013, the U. S. Coast Guard terminated its radio guard of the international voice distress, safety and calling frequency 2182 kHz and the international digital selective calling (DSC) distress and safety frequency 2187.5 kHz. Additionally, [...] Read more → 
The Hunt Saboteur
The Hunt Saboteur is a national disgrace barking out loud, black mask on her face get those dogs off, get them off she did yell until a swift kick from me mare her voice it did quell and sent the Hunt Saboteur scurrying up vale to the full cry of hounds drowning out her [...] Read more → 
Cocillana Syrup Compound
Guarea guidonia Recipe 5 Per Cent Alcohol 8-24 Grain – Heroin Hydrochloride 120 Minims – Tincture Euphorbia Pilulifera 120 Minims – Syrup Wild Lettuce 40 Minims – Tincture Cocillana 24 Minims – Syrup Squill Compound 8 Gram – Ca(s)ecarin (P, D, & Co.) 8-100 Grain MentholDose – One-half to one fluidrams (2 to [...] Read more → 
Art Fraud
A la Russie, aux ânes et aux autres – by Chagall – 1911 Marc Chagall is one of the most forged artists on the planet. Mark Rothko fakes also abound. According to available news reports, the art market is littered with forgeries of their work. Some are even thought to be [...] Read more → 
A Survey of Palestine – 1945-1946
This massive volume gives one a real visual sense of what it was like running a highly efficient colonial operation in the early 20rh Century. It will also go a long way to help anyone wishing to understand modern political intrigue in the Middle-East. Click here to read A Survey of Palestine [...] Read more →
On Exquisite Statuary for the Fine Country Home: “It’s Just One of Those Casts…I can get’em at the British Museum”
From the classic British Movie, The Shooting Party, a 1985 British drama film directed by Alan Bridges based on Isabel Colegate’s 9th novel of the same name published in 1980 we find a scene set in the billiards parlor whereupon the host of the weekend shooting party Sir Randolph Nettleby walks in [...] Read more → 
Popular Mechanics Archive
Click here to access the Internet Archive of old Popular Mechanics Magazines – 1902-2016 Click here to view old Popular Mechanics Magazine Covers Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Fox Hunting – A Great British TraditionHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
How to Paint a Vermeer
Senate Report on Dividend Tax Abuse Using Offshore Banking
U.S. SENATE PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS STAFF REPORT ON DIVIDEND TAX ABUSE: HOW OFFSHORE ENTITIES DODGE TAXES ON U.S. STOCK DIVIDENDS September 11, 2008 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Each year, the United States loses an estimated [...] Read more → 
Dicken’s Dictionary of the Thames from Oxford to Nore
Charles Dickens wrote much more than novels. In fact he turned out several very interesting dictionaries to include one of London, one of Paris and one on London’s long meandering river Thames. Click here to read a copy of the Dictionary of the Thames. Home Top of Pg. Read more →
The Preparation of Marketable Vinegar
It is unnecessary to point out that low-grade fruit may often be used to advantage in the preparation of vinegar. This has always been true in the case of apples and may be true with other fruit, especially grapes. The use of grapes for wine making is an outlet which [...] Read more → 
Proper Wines to Serve with Food
Foie gras with Sauternes, Photo by Laurent Espitallier As an Appetizer Pale dry Sherry, with or without bitters, chilled or not. Plain or mixed Vermouth, with or without bitters. A dry cocktail.With Oysters, Clams or Caviar A dry flinty wine such as Chablis, Moselle, Champagne. Home Top of [...] Read more →
The Field of the Cloth of Gold
Reprint from the Royal Collection Trust Website The meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I, known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold, took place between 7 to 24 June 1520 in a valley subsequently called the Val d’Or, near Guisnes to the south of Calais. The [...] Read more → 
Thomas Jefferson Correspondence – On Seed Saving and Sharing
The following are transcripts of two letters written by the Founding Father Thomas Jefferson on the subject of seed saving. “November 27, 1818. Monticello. Thomas Jefferson to Henry E. Watkins, transmitting succory seed and outlining the culture of succory.” [Transcript] Thomas Jefferson Correspondence Collection Collection 89 Read more → 
Hereford Cathedral Choir Easter Sunday 2017Home Top of Pg. Read more → 
Cleaning Watch Chains
To Clean Watch Chains. Gold or silver watch chains can be cleaned with a very excellent result, no matter whether they may be matt or polished, by laying them for a few seconds in pure aqua ammonia; they are then rinsed in alcohol, and finally. shaken in clean sawdust, free from sand. [...] Read more → 
Welcome
Why Beauty Matters
Roger Scruton by Peter Helm This is one of those videos that the so-called intellectual left would rather not be seen by the general public as it makes a laughing stock of the idiots running the artworld, a multi-billion dollar business. https://archive.org/details/why-beauty-matters-roger-scruton or Click here to watch [...] Read more →
Books Condemned to be Burnt
BOOKS CONDEMNED TO BE BURNT. By JAMES ANSON FARRER, LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW 1892 ———- WHEN did books first come to be burnt in England by the common hangman, and what was [...] Read more → 
The Sinking of the LaconiaHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Of the Room and Furniture
Crewe Hall Dining Room
THE transient tenure that most of us have in our dwellings, and the absorbing nature of the struggle that most of us have to make to win the necessary provisions of life, prevent our encouraging the manufacture of well-wrought furniture. We mean to outgrow [...] Read more → 
Bess of Hardwick: Four Times a Lady
Bess of Harwick Four times the nuptial bed she warm’d, And every time so well perform’d, That when death spoil’d each husband’s billing, He left the widow every shilling. Fond was the dame, but not dejected; Five stately mansions she erected With more than royal pomp, to vary The prison of her captive When [...] Read more → 
ZZ Top at Gruene HallHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Suir Vale Harriers Hunt Clonmore Jan 2020Home Top of Pg. Read more → 
On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases by Nathaniel Bagwell Ward
What follows is a chapter from Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward’s 1852 treatise on terrarium gardening. ON THE NATURAL CONDITIONS OF PLANTS. To enter into any lengthened detail on the all-important subject of the Natural Conditions of Plants would occupy far too much space; yet to pass it by without special notice, [...] Read more → 
Proper Book Handling and Cleaning
Book Conservators, Mitchell Building, State Library of New South Wales, 29.10.1943, Pix Magazine The following is taken verbatim from a document that appeared several years ago in the Maine State Archives. It seems to have been removed from their website. I happened to have made a physical copy of it at the [...] Read more → 
Making Linen Fabric from Flax Seed, Spinning Flax, & Weaving LinenHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Audubon’s Art Method and Techniques
Audubon started to develop a special technique for drawing birds in 1806 a Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. He perfected it during the long river trip from Cincinnati to New Orleans and in New Orleans, 1821. Home Top of [...] Read more →
Copper Kills Covid-19 and the Sun is Your Friend
The element copper effectively kills viruses and bacteria. Therefore it would reason and I will assert and not only assert but lay claim to the patents for copper mesh stints to be inserted in the arteries of patients presenting with severe cases of Covid-19 with a slow release dosage of [...] Read more → History of Britain: Rise and Fall of the DruidsHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Message from J. Edgar Hoover Oct. 1, 1933 – John Dillinger Makes the List
Biograph Theater, where John Dillinger was gunned down by the FBI on July 22, 1934 The Great Depression was on—highway based crime was rampant, the gangsters dressed as well as the bankers they robbed, and and Henry Ford’s big beautiful V8 sedan was the getaway car of choice for both wheelman and [...] Read more → 
A Conversation between H.F. Leonard and K. Higashi
H.F. Leonard was an instructor in wrestling at the New York Athletic Club. Katsukum Higashi was an instructor in Jujitsu. “I say with emphasis and without qualification that I have been unable to find anything in jujitsu which is not known to Western wrestling. So far as I can see, [...] Read more → 
List of the 60 Franklin Library Signed Limited Editions
The following highly collectible Franklin Library Signed Editions were published between 1977 and 1982. They are all fully leather bound with beautiful covers and contain gorgeous and rich silk moire endpapers. Signatures are protected by unattached tissue inserts. The values listed are average prices that were sought by [...] Read more → 
On the Origin of Species – Natural Selection by Charles Darwin
ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION, OR THE PRESERVATION OF FAVOURED RACES IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. BY CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., FELLOW OF THE ROYAL, GEOLOGICAL, LINNÆAN, ETC., SOCIETIES ; AUTHOR OF ‘JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES DURING H.M.S. BEAGLE’S [...] Read more → 
The Condon Committee Report on UFOs
Click here to read the Condon Report Home Top of Pg. Read more → 
Herman de Vries at Venice Biennale 2015 – Going Caveman With Anti-Matter Fragmentation Art – A Tribute
Dutch artist Herman de Vries – Photo taken by son Vince The two videos below of Herman de Vries at work at the Venice Bienalle 2015 are quite inspiring. So inspiring in fact that I moved into a cave for two weeks and wrote Shakespearean tragedy with charcoal. Filled with great joy [...] Read more → 
The Sailor – The Story of Paul Erling JohnsonHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Catholic Religious Orders
Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the mendicant Order of Friars Minor, as painted by El Greco. Catholic religious orderCatholic religious orders are one of two types of religious institutes (‘Religious Institutes’, cf. canons 573–746), the major form of consecrated life in the Roman Catholic Church. They are organizations of laity [...] Read more → 
Fed Policy Success Equals Tax Payers Job Insecurity
The low level of work stoppages of recent years also attests to concern about job security. Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan The Federal Reserve’s semiannual monetary policy report Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate February 26, 1997 Iappreciate the opportunity to appear before this Committee [...] Read more → 
Scottish Myths and Legends
When Life Was Good and So Was the BreadHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
English Fig Wine
Take the large blue figs when pretty ripe, and steep them in white wine, having made some slits in them, that they may swell and gather in the substance of the wine. Then slice some other figs and let them simmer over a fire in water until they are reduced [...] Read more → 
Banana Propagation
Banana Propagation Reprinted from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA.org) The traditional means of obtaining banana planting material (“seed”) is to acquire suckers from one’s own banana garden, from a neighbor, or from a more distant source. This method served to spread common varieties around the world and to multiply them [...] Read more → 
Formulaes for Re-Creating the Old-Fashioned Drug Store Counter
A Real Soda Jerk FORMULAS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. Pineapple Frappe. Water, 1 gallon; sugar 2 pounds of water. 61/2 pints, and simple syrup. 2 1/2 pints; 2 pints of pineapple stock or 1 pint of pineapple stock and 1 pint of grated pineapple juice of 6 lemons. Mix, [...] Read more → 
The Hardwood Handbook – An Illustrated Guide to Appalachian and Southern Lumber
Carya Nuts This Handbook is Published by SLMA or the Southeastern Lumber Manufacturer’s Association Click here to read the handbook or click on the link below for a faster download. Hardwood Handbook Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Texas Tea
A Day in the Life of Scottish Highland GamekeeperHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Traditional JuJutsu Health, Strength and Combat Tricks
Jujitsu training 1920 in Japanese agricultural school. CHAPTER V THE VALUE OF EVEN TEMPER IN ATHLETICS—SOME OF THE FEATS THAT REQUIRE GOOD NATURE In the writer’s opinion it becomes necessary to make at this point some suggestions relative to a very important part of the training in jiu-jitsu. [...] Read more → 
Protecting Rare Books: How to Build a Silverfish Trap
Silverfish damage to book – photo by Micha L. Rieser The beauty of hunting silverfish is that they are not the most clever of creatures in the insect kingdom. Simply take a small clean glass jar and wrap it in masking tape. The masking tape gives the silverfish something to [...] Read more → 
The Restoration of Rosa Bonheurs Horse FairHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
The Stuart Kings and King James I & VI to Charles II
Armorial tablet of the Stewarts – Falkland Palace Fife, Scotland. The Stewart Kings – King James I & VI to Charles II Six video playlist on the Kings of England: Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Salmon Caviar
Salmon and Sturgeon Caviar – Photo by Thor Salmon caviar was originated about 1910 by a fisherman in the Maritime Provinces of Siberia, and the preparation is a modification of the sturgeon caviar method (Cobb 1919). Salomon caviar has found a good market in the U.S.S.R. and other European countries where it [...] Read more → 
Rabbits and Badgers – Blue Terrier Trials 1923
The King James Bible – 1611
Modern Slow Cookers, A Critical Design Flaw
Modern slow cookers come in all sizes and colors with various bells and whistles, including timers and shut off mechanisms. They also come with a serious design flaw, that being the lack of a proper domed lid. The first photo below depict a popular model Crock-Pot® sold far and wide [...] Read more → 
Books of Use to the International Art Collector
Hebborn Piranesi Before meeting with an untimely death at the hand of an unknown assassin in Rome on January 11th, 1996, master forger Eric Hebborn put down on paper a wealth of knowledge about the art of forgery. In a book published posthumously in 1997, titled The Art Forger’s Handbook, Hebborn suggests [...] Read more → 
The American Museum in Britain – From Florida to Bath
Hernando de Soto (c1496-1542) Spanish explorer and his men torturing natives of Florida in his determination to find gold. Hand-coloured engraving. John Judkyn Memorial Collection, Freshford Manor, Bath The print above depicts Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his band of conquistadors torturing Florida natives in order to extract information on where [...] Read more → 
Zulu Yawl
Dec. 10, 1898 Forest and Stream Pg. 477-479 Zulu. The little ship shown in the accompanying plans needs no description, as she speaks for herself, a handsome and shipshape craft that a man may own for years without any fear that she will go to pieces [...] Read more → 
A History of the Use of Arsenicals in Man
The arsenicals (compounds which contain the heavy metal element arsenic, As) have a long history of use in man – with both benevolent and malevolent intent. The name ‘arsenic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘arsenikon’ which means ‘potent'”. As early as 2000 BC, arsenic trioxide, obtained from smelting copper, was used [...] Read more → 
Pickled Eels
Vintage woodcut illustration of a Eel
This dish is a favorite in Northern Europe, from the British Isles to Sweden. Clean and skin the eels and cut them into pieces about 3/4-inch thick. Wash and drain the pieces, then dredge in fine salt and allow to stand from 30 [...] Read more → 
This…is inspiration…Home Top of Pg. Read more → 
Marchmont House – The Genius of Sebastian Cox
Sebastian Cox is one of the UK’s premier custom furniture makers with a unique background and love for the forest. Click here to visit SebastianCox.co.uk Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Seeds for Rootstocks of Fruit and Nut Trees
Citrus Fruit Culture THE PRINCIPAL fruit and nut trees grown commercially in the United States (except figs, tung, and filberts) are grown as varieties or clonal lines propagated on rootstocks. Almost all the rootstocks are grown from seed. The resulting seedlings then are either budded or grafted with propagating wood [...] Read more → 
Ovation Guitars Factory Tour
Click here to visit Ovation Guitars Ovation Patent Drawing 1975 Click here to read a copy of the 1975 Patent for the Ovation Guitar Home Top of Pg. Read more → 
Fruits of the Empire: Licorice Root and Juice
Liquorice, the roots of Glycirrhiza Glabra, a perennial plant, a native of the south of Europe, but cultivated to some extent in England, particularly at Mitcham, in Surrey. Its root, which is its only valuable part, is long, fibrous, of a yellow colour, and when fresh, very juicy. [...] Read more → 
Blunderbuss Mai Tai Recipe
Blackbeard’s Jolly Roger If you’re looking for that most refreshing of summertime beverages for sipping out on the back patio or perhaps as a last drink before walking the plank, let me recommend my Blunderbuss Mai Tai. I picked up the basics to this recipe over thirty years ago when holed up [...] Read more → 
Public Attitudes Towards Speculation
Reprint from The Pitfalls of Speculation by Thomas Gibson 1906 Ed. THE PUBLIC ATTITUDE TOWARD SPECULATION THE public attitude toward speculation is generally hostile. Even those who venture frequently are prone to speak discouragingly of speculative possibilities, and to point warningly to the fact that an overwhelming majority [...] Read more → 
The Fowling Piece – Part I
THE FOWLING PIECE, from the Shooter’s Guide by B. Thomas – 1811. I AM perfectly aware that a large volume might be written on this subject; but, as my intention is to give only such information and instruction as is necessary for the sportsman, I shall forbear introducing any extraneous [...] Read more → 
Platform of the American Institute of Banking in 1919
Resolution adapted at the New Orleans Convention of the American Institute of Banking, October 9, 1919: “Ours is an educational association organized for the benefit of the banking fraternity of the country and within our membership may be found on an equal basis both employees and employers; [...] Read more → 
FTC Rules Guiding the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries
The Apex Building, headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission, on Constitution Avenue and 7th Streets in Washington, D.C.. The building was designed by Edward H. Bennett under the purview of Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon, and was completed in 1938 at a cost of $125 million. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith [...] Read more → Vitruvius Ten Books on Architecture
VITRUVIUS The Ten Books on Architecture TRANSLATED By MORRIS HICKY MORGAN, PH.D., LL.D. LATE PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND ORIGINAL DESINGS PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF HERBERT LANGFORD WARREN, A.M. NELSON ROBINSON JR. PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE IN HARVARD [...] Read more → 
Hunter’s Fruit and Nut Bread – Apples, Cranberry, Dates, Figs, Apricots, Walnuts, Pecans, and Such
Hunters at Work This is a recipe I created from scratch by trial and error. (Note: This recipe contains no eggs, refined white flour or white sugar.) 2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour – As unprocessed as you can find it 3 Cups of Raw Oatmeal 1 Cup of [...] Read more → 
Describing the The Federal Reserve and the Acts Thereof
THE ABC OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM WH Y THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM WAS CALLED INTO BEING, THE MAIN FEATURES OF ITS ORGANIZATION , AND HOW IT WORKS B Y EDWIN WALTER KEMMERER, PH.D. PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE IN PRINCETON UNIVERSITY AND MEMBER OF [...] Read more → 
A Video of Upmost Importance for the Sharp Young Man Seeking Success in LifeHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Fly Casting Instructions
It is a pity that the traditions and literature in praise of fly fishing have unconsciously hampered instead of expanded this graceful, effective sport. Many a sportsman has been anxious to share its joys, but appalled by the rapture of expression in describing its countless thrills and niceties he has been literally [...] Read more → 
Great Indian Pine HornbillHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
The Mayfair Set
Flawed Law – The Hunting Act
Naval Stores – Distilling Turpentine
Chipping a Turpentine Tree DISTILLING TURPENTINE One of the Most Important Industries of the State of Georgia Injuring the Magnificent Trees Spirits, Resin, Tar, Pitch, and Crude Turpentine all from the Long Leaved Pine – “Naval Stores” So Called. Dublin, Ga., May 8. – One of the most important industries [...] Read more → 
The Kalmar War
Wojna Kalmarska – 1611 The Kalmar War From The Historian’s History of the World (In 25 Volumes) by Henry Smith William L.L.D. – Vol. XVI.(Scandinavia) Pg. 308-310 The northern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, as already noticed, had been peopled from the remotest times by nomadic tribes called Finns or Cwenas by [...] Read more → 
Chinese 9 Course Dinner
The following recipes form the most popular items in a nine-course dinner program: BIRD’S NEST SOUP Soak one pound bird’s nest in cold water overnight. Drain the cold water and cook in boiling water. Drain again. Do this twice. Clean the bird’s nest. Be sure [...] Read more → 
Travels by Narrowboat
Oh Glorious England, verdant fields and wandering canals… In this wonderful series of videos, the CountryHouseGent takes the viewer along as he chugs up and down the many canals crisscrossing England in his classic Narrowboat. There is nothing like a free man charting his own destiny. Read more → 
The Late Rev. H.M. Scarth
H. M. Scarth, Rector of Wrington By the death of Mr. Scarth on the 5th of April, at Tangier, where he had gone for his health’s sake, the familiar form of an old and much valued Member of the Institute has passed away. Harry Mengden Scarth was bron at Staindrop in Durham, [...] Read more → 
Gray Gardens
Glimpses from the Chase
From Fores’s Sporting Notes and Sketches, A Quarterly Magazine Descriptive of British, Indian, Colonial, and Foreign Sport with Thirty Two Full Page Illustrations Volume 10 1893, London; Mssrs. Fores Piccadilly W. 1893, All Rights Reserved. GLIMPSES OF THE CHASE, Ireland a Hundred Years Ago. By ‘Triviator.’ FOX-HUNTING has, like Racing, [...] Read more → 
Electroplating 101Home Top of Pg. Read more → 
Baby Blue – Badfinger
WaterlooHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Making Apple Cider Vinegar
The greatest cause of failure in vinegar making is carelessness on the part of the operator. Intelligent separation should be made of the process into its various steps from the beginning to end. PRESSING THE JUICE The apples should be clean and ripe. If not clean, undesirable fermentations [...] Read more → 
Fresh Water Angling – The Two Crappies
July 2, 1898 Forest and Stream, Fresh-Water Angling. No. IX.—The Two Crappies. BY FRED MATHER. Fishing In Tree Tops. Here a short rod, say 8ft., is long enough, and the line should not be much longer than the rod. A reel is not [...] Read more → 
The Rise and Fall of Tower RecordsHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Life Among the Thugee
The existence of large bodies of men having no other means of subsistence than those afforded by plunder, is, in all countries, too common to excite surprise; and, unhappily, organized bands of assassins are not peculiar to India! The associations of murderers known by the name of Thugs present, however, [...] Read more → 
Muscadine Jelly
Muscadine Jelly 6 cups muscadine grape juice 6 cups sugar 1 box Kraft Sure Gel or Ball Fruit Jell Home Top of [...] Read more →
Chinese Duck Cooking – A Few Recipes
Chen Lin, Water fowl, in Cahill, James. Ge jiang shan se (Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yuan Dynasty, 1279-1368, Taiwan edition). Taipei: Shitou chubanshe fen youxian gongsi, 1994. pl. 4:13, p. 180. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. scroll, light colors on paper, 35.7 x 47.5 cm
Read more → 
A Creative Approach to Saving Ye Olde Cassette Tapes
Quite possibly, the most agonizing decision being made by Baby Boomers across the nation these days is what to do with all that vintage Hi-fi equipment and boxes full of classic rock and roll cassettes and 8-Tracks. I faced this dilemma head-on this past summer as I definitely wanted in [...] Read more → 
Simon Mann – The Mercenary
A Red Letter Day with Henry MillerHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
The Crime of the Congo by Arthur Conan Doyle
Man looks at severed hand and foot….for refusing to climb a tree to cut rubber for King Leopold Click here to read The Crime of the Congo by Arthur Conan DoyleVictim of King Leopold of Belgium Click on the link below for faster download. The [...] Read more → 
How to Make Money – Banking & Insurance – Part I
Royal Exchange and The Bank of England From How to Make Money; and How to Keep it, Or, Capital and Labor based on the works of Thomas A. Davies Revised & Rewritten with Additions by Henry A. Ford A.M. – 1884 CHAPTER XXVI BANKING AND INSURANCE. I [...] Read more → 
The Basics of Painting in the Building Trade
PAINTER-WORK, in the building trade. When work is painted one or both of two distinct ends is achieved, namely the preservation and the coloration of the material painted. The compounds used for painting—taking the word as meaning a thin protective or decorative coat—are very numerous, including oil-paint of many kinds, distemper, whitewash, [...] Read more → 
King James I, Witch-Hunter
Mortlake Tapestries at Chatsworth House Click here to read copy of Daemonologie Home Top of Pg. Read more →
CIA 1950s Unevaluated UFO Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY INROMATION FROM FOREIGN DOCUMENT OR RADIO BROADCASTS COUNTRY: Non-Orbit SUBJECT: Military – Air – Scientific – Aeronautics HOW PUBLISHED: Newspapers WHERE PUBLISHED: As indicated DATE PUBLISHED: 12 Dec 1953 – 12 Jan 1954 LANGUAGE: Various SOURCE: As indicated REPORT NO. 00-W-30357 DATE OF INFORMATION: 1953-1954 DATE DIST. 27 [...] Read more → 
A Few Wine Recipes
EIGHTEEN GALLONS is here give as a STANDARD for all the following Recipes, it being the most convenient size cask to Families. See A General Process for Making Wine If, however, only half the quantity of Wine is to be made, it is but to divide the portions of [...] Read more → 
Chantry Chapels
William Wyggeston’s chantry house, built around 1511, in Leicester: The building housed two priests, who served at a chantry chapel in the nearby St Mary de Castro church. It was sold as a private dwelling after the dissolution of the chantries. A Privately Built Chapel Chantry, chapel, generally within [...] Read more → 
Professional Cleaning an Antique RugHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
King Lear
Edwin Austin Abbey. King Lear, Act I, Scene I (Cordelia’s Farewell) The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dates: 1897-1898 Dimensions: Height: 137.8 cm (54.25 in.), Width: 323.2 cm (127.24 in.) Medium: Painting – oil on canvas Home Top of Pg. Read more → 
Fox Hunting Season Opens 1935 – Heythrop Country at Lower Swell, near Stow-in-the-Wold, GloucestershireHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
The Real Time Piece Gentleman and the Digital Watch Vault
Paul Thorpe, Brighton, U.K. The YouTube watch collecting world is rather tight-knit and small, but growing, as watches became a highly coveted commodity during the recent world-wide pandemic and fueled an explosion of online watch channels. There is one name many know, The Time Piece Gentleman. This name for me [...] Read more → 
Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois and the Dulwich Picture Gallery
Noel Desenfans and Sir Francis Bourgeois, circa 1805 by Paul Sandby, watercolour on paper The Dulwich Picture Gallery was England’s first purpose-built art gallery and considered by some to be England’s first national gallery. Founded by the bequest of Sir Peter Francis Bourgois, dandy, the gallery was built to display his vast [...] Read more → 
Take Me to Pitcairn by Julian McDonnell
The Human Seasons
John Keats Four Seasons fill the measure of the year; There are four seasons in the mind of man: He has his lusty spring, when fancy clear Takes in all beauty with an easy span; He has his Summer, when luxuriously Spring’s honied cud of youthful thoughts he loves To ruminate, and by such [...] Read more → 
Guaranteed 6% Dividend for Life. Any takers?
Any prudent investor would jump at the chance to receive a guaranteed 6% dividend for life. So how does one get in on this action? The fact of the matter is…YOU can’t…That is unless you are a shareholder of one of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks and the banks under [...] Read more → 
The English Tradition of Woodworking
THE sense of a consecutive tradition has so completely faded out of English art that it has become difficult to realise the meaning of tradition, or the possibility of its ever again reviving; and this state of things is not improved by the fact that it is due to uncertainty of purpose, [...] Read more → 
How to Make Money – Insurance
Life insurance certificate issued by the Yorkshire Fire & Life Insurance Company to Samuel Holt, Liverpool, England, 1851. On display at the British Museum in London. Donated by the ifs School of Finance. Photo by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) From How to Make Money; and How to Keep it, Or, Capital and Labor [...] Read more → 
Unarmed Combat – Imperial War Museum Archives
JP Morgan’s Digital Currency Patent Application
J.P. Morgan Patent #8,452,703 Method and system for processing internet payments using the electronic funds transfer network. Abstract Embodiments of the invention include a method and system for conducting financial transactions over a payment network. The method may include associating a payment address of an account [...] Read more → 
Country House Essays
Country House Essays has returned after a good long summer holiday. More essays soon. Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Beef Jerky
BEEF JERKY Preparation. Slice 5 pounds lean beef (flank steak or similar cut) into strips 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, 1 to 2 inches wide, and 4 to 12 inches long. Cut with grain of meat; remove the fat. Lay out in a single layer on a smooth clean surface (use [...] Read more →
Italian Tart Recipe
Spem In Alium performed by The Tallis Scholars
David Starkey: Britain’s Last Great Historian
Dr. David Starkey, the UK’s premiere historian, speaks to the modern and fleeting notion of “cancel culture”. Starkey’s brilliance is unparalleled and it has become quite obvious to the world’s remaining Western scholars willing to stand on intellectual integrity that a few so-called “Woke Intellectuals” most certainly cannot undermine [...] Read more → 
Lecture by Professor David Crystal: The Influence of the King James Bible on the English LanguageHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Twelve Thousand Three Hundred and Fourteen Diamonds – King George IV’s Empty Crown
King George IV was known far and wide as the dandy king, incompetent, ugly, and vulgar. As Prince regent, prior to his assent to the throne, he kept fast company with Beau Brummel, King of Dandies, a man sixteen years his younger. And decadence followed. King George was a gambler, philanderer, and [...] Read more → 
The Beaufort Hunt – 1914Home Top of Pg. Read more → 
Watch Fraud on eBay
EBAY’S FRAUD PROBLEM IS GETTING WORSE EBay has had a problem with fraudulent sellers since its inception back in 1995. Some aspects of the platform have improved with algorithms and automation, but others such as customer service and fraud have gotten worse. Small sellers have definitely been hurt by eBay’s [...] Read more → 
Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Memoranda on Painting – December 1755
Gilbert Stewart – Sir Joshua Reynolds
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS‘ WORKING COLOURS, WITH THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY WERE ARRANGED ON HIS PALLETTE. “For painting the flesh, black, blue black, white, lake, carmine, orpiment, yellow ochre, ultramarine, and varnish. “To lay the [...] Read more → 
How to Tie Knots, Bends, and HitchesHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
The Effect of Magnetic Fields on Wound Healing
The Effect of Magnetic Fields on Wound Healing Experimental Study and Review of the Literature Steven L. Henry, MD, Matthew J. Concannon, MD, and Gloria J. Yee, MD Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Missouri Hospital & Clinics, Columbia, MO Published July 25, 2008 Objective: Magnets [...] Read more → 
Tobacco as Medicine
The first published illustration of Nicotiana tabacum by Pena and De L’Obel, 1570–1571 (shrpium adversana nova: London). Tobacco can be used for medicinal purposes, however, the ongoing American war on smoking has all but obscured this important aspect of ancient plant. Tobacco is considered to be an indigenous plant of [...] Read more → 
The Standard Navy Cutter and a Whale Boat Design
Dec. 24, 1898 Forest and Stream Pg. 513-514 The Standard Navy Boats. Above we find, The accompanying illustrations show further details of the standard navy boats, the lines of which appeared last week. In all of these boats, as stated previously, the quality of speed has been given [...] Read more → 
Blackberry Wine
BLACKBERRY WINE 5 gallons of blackberries 5 pound bag of sugarFill a pair of empty five gallon buckets half way with hot soapy water and a ¼ cup of vinegar. Wash thoroughly and rinse. Fill one bucket with two and one half gallons of blackberries and crush with [...] Read more → 
Clairvoyance and Occult Powers
Vishnu as the Cosmic Man (Vishvarupa) Opaque watercolour on paper – Jaipur, Rajasthan c. 1800-50
CLAIRVOYANCE AND OCCULT POWERS By Swami Panchadasi Copyright, 1916 By Advanced Thought Pub. Co. Chicago, Il INTRODUCTION. In preparing this series of lessons for students of [...] Read more → 
Old Time Recipes for Homemade Wines, Cordials, and Liqueurs
INTRODUCTION The idea of compiling this little volume occurred to me while on a visit to some friends at their summer home in a quaint New England village. The little town had once been a thriving seaport, but now consisted of hardly more than a dozen old-fashioned Colonial houses facing [...] Read more → 
The Diamond Empire
Mortlake Tapestries of Chatsworth
Mortlake Tapestries at Chatsworth House Click here to learn more about the Mortlake Tapestries of Chatsworth The Mortlake Tapestries were founded by Sir Francis Crane. From the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 13 Crane, Francis by William Prideaux Courtney CRANE, Sir FRANCIS (d. [...] Read more → 
Greatest of All TimeHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Artist Methods
Como dome facade – Pliny the Elder – Photo by Wolfgang Sauber Work in Progress… THE VARNISHES. Every substance may be considered as a varnish, which, when applied to the surface of a solid body, gives it a permanent lustre. Drying oil, thickened by exposure to the sun’s heat or [...] Read more → 
Shooting in Wet Weather
Reprint from The Sportsman’s Cabinet and Town and Country Magazine, Vol I. Dec. 1832, Pg. 94-95 To the Editor of the Cabinet. SIR, Possessing that anxious feeling so common among shooters on the near approach of the 12th of August, I honestly confess I was not able [...] Read more → 
Horn Measurement
Jul. 23, 1898 Forest and Stream, Pg. 65 Horn Measurements. Editor Forest and Stream: “Record head.” How shamefully this term is being abused, especially in the past three years; or since the giant moose from Alaska made his appearance in public and placed all former records (so far as [...] Read more → 
Patek Phillipe Service and Maintenance
Patek Phillipe hand makes the finest watches in the world. Click here to learn more. Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Classic Restoration of a Spring Tied Upholstered Chair
? This video by AT Restoration is the best hands on video I have run across on the basics of classic upholstery. Watch a master at work. Simply amazing. Tools: Round needles: https://amzn.to/2S9IhrP Double pointed hand needle: https://amzn.to/3bDmWPp Hand tools: https://amzn.to/2Rytirc Staple gun (for beginner): https://amzn.to/2JZs3x1 Compressor [...] Read more →
The Cremation of Sam McGee
Robert W. Service (b.1874, d.1958) There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night [...] Read more → |
 
Miles Davis Quintet – Teatro dell’Arte, Milan, Italy, October 11th, 1964
? The Band: Miles Davis (trumpet), Wayne Shorter (sax), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass), Tony Williams (drums) Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Thomas Jefferson Correspondence – On Seed Saving and Sharing
The following are transcripts of two letters written by the Founding Father Thomas Jefferson on the subject of seed saving. “November 27, 1818. Monticello. Thomas Jefferson to Henry E. Watkins, transmitting succory seed and outlining the culture of succory.” [Transcript] Thomas Jefferson Correspondence Collection Collection 89 Read more → 
Dame Edith SitwellHome Top of Pg. Read more →
History of the Cabildo in New Orleans
Cabildo circa 1936 The Cabildo houses a rare copy of Audubon’s Bird’s of America, a book now valued at $10 million+. Should one desire to visit the Cabildo, click here to gain free entry with a lowcost New Orleans Pass. Home Top of [...] Read more →
The Effect of Magnetic Fields on Wound Healing
The Effect of Magnetic Fields on Wound Healing Experimental Study and Review of the Literature Steven L. Henry, MD, Matthew J. Concannon, MD, and Gloria J. Yee, MD Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Missouri Hospital & Clinics, Columbia, MO Published July 25, 2008 Objective: Magnets [...] Read more → 
Land of Hope and Glory: British Country Life – Fox HuntingHome Top of Pg. Read more →
Horn Measurement
Jul. 23, 1898 Forest and Stream, Pg. 65 Horn Measurements. Editor Forest and Stream: “Record head.” How shamefully this term is being abused, especially in the past three years; or since the giant moose from Alaska made his appearance in public and placed all former records (so far as [...] Read more →
Classic Restoration of a Spring Tied Upholstered Chair
? This video by AT Restoration is the best hands on video I have run across on the basics of classic upholstery. Watch a master at work. Simply amazing. Tools: Round needles: https://amzn.to/2S9IhrP Double pointed hand needle: https://amzn.to/3bDmWPp Hand tools: https://amzn.to/2Rytirc Staple gun (for beginner): https://amzn.to/2JZs3x1 Compressor [...] Read more →
When Life Was Good and So Was the BreadHome Top of Pg. Read more →
Fly Casting Instructions
It is a pity that the traditions and literature in praise of fly fishing have unconsciously hampered instead of expanded this graceful, effective sport. Many a sportsman has been anxious to share its joys, but appalled by the rapture of expression in describing its countless thrills and niceties he has been literally [...] Read more →
U.S. Coast Guard Radio Information for Boaters
VHF Marifoon Sailor RT144, by S.J. de Waard RADIO INFORMATION FOR BOATERS Effective 01 August, 2013, the U. S. Coast Guard terminated its radio guard of the international voice distress, safety and calling frequency 2182 kHz and the international digital selective calling (DSC) distress and safety frequency 2187.5 kHz. Additionally, [...] Read more →
The Restoration of Rosa Bonheurs Horse FairHome Top of Pg. Read more →
The Late Rev. H.M. Scarth
H. M. Scarth, Rector of Wrington By the death of Mr. Scarth on the 5th of April, at Tangier, where he had gone for his health’s sake, the familiar form of an old and much valued Member of the Institute has passed away. Harry Mengden Scarth was bron at Staindrop in Durham, [...] Read more →
Clairvoyance and Occult Powers
Vishnu as the Cosmic Man (Vishvarupa) Opaque watercolour on paper – Jaipur, Rajasthan c. 1800-50
CLAIRVOYANCE AND OCCULT POWERS By Swami Panchadasi Copyright, 1916 By Advanced Thought Pub. Co. Chicago, Il INTRODUCTION. In preparing this series of lessons for students of [...] Read more →
Dicken’s Dictionary of the Thames from Oxford to Nore
Charles Dickens wrote much more than novels. In fact he turned out several very interesting dictionaries to include one of London, one of Paris and one on London’s long meandering river Thames. Click here to read a copy of the Dictionary of the Thames. Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Making Chocolate From Tree to Treat
Donate to the YouTube site owner Gabe and he might send you some chocolate…. Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Texas Tea
A Creative Approach to Saving Ye Olde Cassette Tapes
Quite possibly, the most agonizing decision being made by Baby Boomers across the nation these days is what to do with all that vintage Hi-fi equipment and boxes full of classic rock and roll cassettes and 8-Tracks. I faced this dilemma head-on this past summer as I definitely wanted in [...] Read more → Jerry Lee Lewis – Hammersmith Odeon, London, 1983Home Top of Pg. Read more →
The Hunt Saboteur
The Hunt Saboteur is a national disgrace barking out loud, black mask on her face get those dogs off, get them off she did yell until a swift kick from me mare her voice it did quell and sent the Hunt Saboteur scurrying up vale to the full cry of hounds drowning out her [...] Read more → 
Here’s Many a Year to You
” Here’s many a year to you ! Sportsmen who’ve ridden life straight. Here’s all good cheer to you ! Luck to you early and late. Here’s to the best of you ! You with the blood and the nerve. Here’s to the rest of you ! What of a weak moment’s swerve ? [...] Read more →
How to Make Money – Banking & Insurance – Part I
Royal Exchange and The Bank of England From How to Make Money; and How to Keep it, Or, Capital and Labor based on the works of Thomas A. Davies Revised & Rewritten with Additions by Henry A. Ford A.M. – 1884 CHAPTER XXVI BANKING AND INSURANCE. I [...] Read more → 
The Racing Knockabout Gosling
The Racing Knockabout Gosling. Gosling was the winning yacht of 1897 in one of the best racing classes now existing in this country, the Roston knockabout class. The origin of this class dates back about six years, when Carl, a small keel cutter, was built for C. H. [...] Read more → 
Mrs. Beeton’s Poultry & Game – Cooking Poultry; Baking and Boiling
Baking is a very similar process to roasting: the two often do duty for one another. As in all other methods of cookery, the surrounding air may be several degrees hotter than boiling water, but the food is no appreciably hotter until it has lost water by evaporation, after which it may [...] Read more →
Beef Jerky
BEEF JERKY Preparation. Slice 5 pounds lean beef (flank steak or similar cut) into strips 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, 1 to 2 inches wide, and 4 to 12 inches long. Cut with grain of meat; remove the fat. Lay out in a single layer on a smooth clean surface (use [...] Read more →
Money Saving Recipe for Gold Leaf Sizing
Artisans world-wide spend a fortune on commercial brand oil-based gold leaf sizing. The most popular brands include Luco, Dux, and L.A. Gold Leaf. Pricing for quart size containers range from $35 to $55 depending upon retailer pricing. Fast drying sizing sets up in 2-4 hours depending upon environmental conditions, humidity [...] Read more →
What’s the Matter?
A rhetorical question? Genuine concern? In this essay we are examining another form of matter otherwise known as national literary matters, the three most important of which being the Matter of Rome, Matter of France, and the Matter of England. Our focus shall be on the Matter of England or [...] Read more → 
A Couple of Classic Tennessee Squirrel Recipes
FRIED SQUIRREL & BISCUIT GRAVY 3-4 Young Squirrels, dressed and cleaned 1 tsp. Morton Salt or to taste 1 tsp. McCormick Black Pepper or to taste 1 Cup Martha White All Purpose Flour 1 Cup Hog Lard – Preferably fresh from hog killing, or barbecue tableCut up three to [...] Read more → 
A History of Fowling – Ravens and Jays
From A History of Fowling, Being an Account of the Many Curios Devices by Which Wild Birds are, or Have Been, Captured in Different Parts of the World by Rev. H.A. MacPherson, M.A. THE RAVEN (Corvus corax) is generally accredited with a large endowment of mother wit. Its warning [...] Read more → 
Storing Drinking Water in Copper Vessels for Microbial Purification
Are you considering purchasing a copper water pitcher for storing drinking water but have questions about the effects on your health? The following study may help jump-start your research. Storing Drinking-water in Copper pots Kills Contaminating Diarrhoeagenic Bacteria ABSTRACT Microbially-unsafe water is [...] Read more → 
Clover WineAdd 3 quarts clover blossoms* to 4 quarts of boiling water removed from heat at point of boil. Let stand for three days. At the end of the third day, drain the juice into another container leaving the blossoms. Add three quarts of fresh water and the peel of one lemon to the blossoms [...] Read more → 
So You Bought a Rolex Tulip but Now It’s Time to Move On
Today I shall share a bit of market wisdom that will be hard to swallow for some Rolex owners, especially if they bought their Submariner at the top of the magical Covid Watch Bubble that has now collapsed. History often repeats itself, even in the stock market, but when [...] Read more →
Watch Fraud on eBay
EBAY’S FRAUD PROBLEM IS GETTING WORSE EBay has had a problem with fraudulent sellers since its inception back in 1995. Some aspects of the platform have improved with algorithms and automation, but others such as customer service and fraud have gotten worse. Small sellers have definitely been hurt by eBay’s [...] Read more → 
Palermo Wine
Take to every quart of water one pound of Malaga raisins, rub and cut the raisins small, and put them to the water, and let them stand ten days, stirring once or twice a day. You may boil the water an hour before you put it to the raisins, and let it [...] Read more →
On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases by Nathaniel Bagwell Ward
What follows is a chapter from Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward’s 1852 treatise on terrarium gardening. ON THE NATURAL CONDITIONS OF PLANTS. To enter into any lengthened detail on the all-important subject of the Natural Conditions of Plants would occupy far too much space; yet to pass it by without special notice, [...] Read more → 
Museum of Science and Industry Model Train – Chicago
The Chicago portion of the The Great Train Story at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. by Interiority Home Top of Pg. Read more →
The Birdman of St. James ParkHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
American Farming Circa 1954Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Proper Wines to Serve with Food
Foie gras with Sauternes, Photo by Laurent Espitallier As an Appetizer Pale dry Sherry, with or without bitters, chilled or not. Plain or mixed Vermouth, with or without bitters. A dry cocktail.With Oysters, Clams or Caviar A dry flinty wine such as Chablis, Moselle, Champagne. Home Top of [...] Read more →
Congo River Boat RideHome Top of Pg. Read more →
Twelve Thousand Three Hundred and Fourteen Diamonds – King George IV’s Empty Crown
King George IV was known far and wide as the dandy king, incompetent, ugly, and vulgar. As Prince regent, prior to his assent to the throne, he kept fast company with Beau Brummel, King of Dandies, a man sixteen years his younger. And decadence followed. King George was a gambler, philanderer, and [...] Read more →
The Basics of Painting in the Building Trade
PAINTER-WORK, in the building trade. When work is painted one or both of two distinct ends is achieved, namely the preservation and the coloration of the material painted. The compounds used for painting—taking the word as meaning a thin protective or decorative coat—are very numerous, including oil-paint of many kinds, distemper, whitewash, [...] Read more → 
Indian Modes of Hunting – Musquash
Hudson Bay: Trappers, 1892. N’Talking Musquash.’ Fur Trappers Of The Hudson’S Bay Company Talking By A Fire. Engraving After A Drawing By Frederic Remington, 1892. Indian Modes of Hunting. IV.—Musquash. In Canada and the United States, the killing of the little animal known under the several names of [...] Read more → 
Making a High-end Turntable
Fruits of the Empire: Licorice Root and Juice
Liquorice, the roots of Glycirrhiza Glabra, a perennial plant, a native of the south of Europe, but cultivated to some extent in England, particularly at Mitcham, in Surrey. Its root, which is its only valuable part, is long, fibrous, of a yellow colour, and when fresh, very juicy. [...] Read more → 
Fox Hunting Season 1964Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Flawed Law – The Hunting Act
A Conversation between H.F. Leonard and K. Higashi
H.F. Leonard was an instructor in wrestling at the New York Athletic Club. Katsukum Higashi was an instructor in Jujitsu. “I say with emphasis and without qualification that I have been unable to find anything in jujitsu which is not known to Western wrestling. So far as I can see, [...] Read more → 
Cocktails and Canapés
From The How and When, An Authoritative reference reference guide to the origin, use and classification of the world’s choicest vintages and spirits by Hyman Gale and Gerald F. Marco. The Marco name is of a Chicago family that were involved in all aspects of the liquor business and ran Marco’s Bar [...] Read more → 
Painting Plaster Work and the History of Terra Cotta
The 1896 Victorian terracotta Bell Edison Telephone Building – 17 & 19 Newhall Street, Birmingham, England. A grade I listed building designed by Frederick Martin of the firm Martin & Chamberlain. Now offices for firms of architects. Photographed 10 May 2006 by Oosoom [Reprint from Victoria and Albert Museum included below on [...] Read more → 
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Officers and men of the 13th Light Dragoons, British Army, Crimea. Rostrum photograph of photographer’s original print, uncropped and without color correction. Survivors of the Charge. Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the [...] Read more →
The Age of Chivalry
KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS On the decline of the Roman power, about five centuries after Christ, the countries of Northern Europe were left almost destitute of a national government. Numerous chiefs, more or less powerful, held local sway, as far as each could enforce his dominion, and occasionally those [...] Read more → 
The London PoacherHome Top of Pg. Read more →
The Diamond Empire
Wine Making
Wine Making Grapes are the world’s leading fruit crop and the eighth most important food crop in the world, exceeded only by the principal cereals and starchytubers. Though substantial quantities are used for fresh fruit, raisins, juice and preserves, most of the world’s annual production of about 60 million [...] Read more → 
Temples, Walls, And Some of the Roman Antiquities of Bath
A Lecture Delivered at the Guildhall, March 2, 1853 by Rev. H.M. Scarth, M.A., Rector of Bathwick. To understand the ancient history of the country in which we live, to know something of the arts and manners of the people who have preceded us, to ascertain what we owe [...] Read more →
The Preparation of Marketable Vinegar
It is unnecessary to point out that low-grade fruit may often be used to advantage in the preparation of vinegar. This has always been true in the case of apples and may be true with other fruit, especially grapes. The use of grapes for wine making is an outlet which [...] Read more →
Shooting in Wet Weather
Reprint from The Sportsman’s Cabinet and Town and Country Magazine, Vol I. Dec. 1832, Pg. 94-95 To the Editor of the Cabinet. SIR, Possessing that anxious feeling so common among shooters on the near approach of the 12th of August, I honestly confess I was not able [...] Read more →
Unarmed Combat – Imperial War Museum Archives
Chinese Duck Cooking – A Few Recipes
Chen Lin, Water fowl, in Cahill, James. Ge jiang shan se (Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yuan Dynasty, 1279-1368, Taiwan edition). Taipei: Shitou chubanshe fen youxian gongsi, 1994. pl. 4:13, p. 180. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. scroll, light colors on paper, 35.7 x 47.5 cm
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A Note on Ill-Breeding from a Knight of Grace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem
“Saint John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, the main gateway to the Priory of Saint John of Jerusalem,” black and white photograph by the British photographer Henry Dixon, 1880. The church was founded in the 12th century by Jordan de Briset, a Norman knight. Prior Docwra completed the gatehouse shown in this photograph in 1504. The gateway [...] Read more → 
Stoke Park – Granted by King Charles I
Stoke Park Pavillions
Stoke Park Pavilions, UK, view from A405 Road. photo by Wikipedia user Cj1340
From Wikipedia: Stoke Park – the original house Stoke park was the first English country house to display a Palladian plan: a central house with balancing pavilions linked by colonnades or [...] Read more → 
Henry Miller
Herman de Vries at Venice Biennale 2015 – Going Caveman With Anti-Matter Fragmentation Art – A Tribute
Dutch artist Herman de Vries – Photo taken by son Vince The two videos below of Herman de Vries at work at the Venice Bienalle 2015 are quite inspiring. So inspiring in fact that I moved into a cave for two weeks and wrote Shakespearean tragedy with charcoal. Filled with great joy [...] Read more → 
Coffee & Cigarettes
Aw, the good old days, meet in the coffee shop with a few friends, click open the Zippo, inhale a glorious nosegay of lighter fluid, fresh roasted coffee and a Marlboro cigarette…. A Meta-analysis of Coffee Drinking, Cigarette Smoking, and the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease We conducted a [...] Read more →
Blunderbuss Mai Tai Recipe
Blackbeard’s Jolly Roger If you’re looking for that most refreshing of summertime beverages for sipping out on the back patio or perhaps as a last drink before walking the plank, let me recommend my Blunderbuss Mai Tai. I picked up the basics to this recipe over thirty years ago when holed up [...] Read more →
Italian Tart Recipe
Herbal Psychedelics – Rhododendron ponticum and Mad Honey Disease
Toxicity of Rhododendron From Countrysideinfo.co.UK “Potentially toxic chemicals, particularly ‘free’ phenols, and diterpenes, occur in significant quantities in the tissues of plants of Rhododendron species. Diterpenes, known as grayanotoxins, occur in the leaves, flowers and nectar of Rhododendrons. These differ from species to species. Not all species produce them, although Rhododendron ponticum [...] Read more → 
A Crock of Squirrel
A CROCK OF SQUIRREL 4 young squirrels – quartered Salt & Pepper 1 large bunch of fresh coriander 2 large cloves of garlic 2 tbsp. salted sweet cream cow butter ¼ cup of brandy 1 tbsp. turbinado sugar 6 fresh apricots 4 strips of bacon 1 large package of Monterrey [...] Read more →
Marchmont House – The Genius of Sebastian Cox
Sebastian Cox is one of the UK’s premier custom furniture makers with a unique background and love for the forest. Click here to visit SebastianCox.co.uk Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Ovation Guitars Factory Tour
Click here to visit Ovation Guitars Ovation Patent Drawing 1975 Click here to read a copy of the 1975 Patent for the Ovation Guitar Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Scottish Myths and Legends
Furniture Polishing Cream
Furniture Polishing Cream. Animal oil soap…………………….1 onuce Solution of potassium hydroxide…. .5 ounces Beeswax……………………………1 pound Oil of turpentine…………………..3 pints Water, enough to make……………..5 pintsDissolve the soap in the lye with the aid of heat; add this solution all at once to the warm solution of the wax in the oil. Beat [...] Read more → 
Snipe Shooting
Snipe shooting-Epistle on snipe shooting, from Ned Copper Cap, Esq., to George Trigger-George Trigger’s reply to Ned Copper Cap-Black partridge. —— “Si sine amore jocisque Nil est jucundum, vivas in &more jooisque.” -Horace. “If nothing appears to you delightful without love and sports, then live in sporta and [...] Read more →
The Mayfair Set
Preserving Iron and Steel Surfaces with Paint
Painting the Brooklyn Bridge, Photo by Eugene de Salignac , 1914
Excerpt from: The Preservation of Iron and Steel Structures by F. Cosby-Jones, The Mechanical Engineer January 30, 1914 Painting. This is the method of protection against corrosion that has the most extensive use, owing to the fact that [...] Read more → 
Automata
How to Paint a Vermeer
Making Apple Cider Vinegar
The greatest cause of failure in vinegar making is carelessness on the part of the operator. Intelligent separation should be made of the process into its various steps from the beginning to end. PRESSING THE JUICE The apples should be clean and ripe. If not clean, undesirable fermentations [...] Read more → 
Making Quality Linen and Canvas Painting Panels
Gary Kravit is an airline pilot and artist. He also owns and operates https://theultimatetaboret.com. You may view Gary’s art at https://garrykravitart.blogspot.com/ Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet(Cornet) – Free Download
Click here to view a copy of Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method for Cornet Click on the blue button to download a free copy of Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method for Cornet Arban's - 11.8MB For trumpet players wishing to practice daily using an iPad, simply click [...] Read more → 
Chronological Catalog of Recorded Lunar Events
In July of 1968, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA), published NASA Technical Report TR R-277 titled Chronological Catalog of Recorded Lunar Events. The catalog begins with the first entry dated November 26th, 1540 at ∼05h 00m: Feature: Region of Calippus2 Description: Starlike appearance on dark side Observer: Observers at Worms Reference: [...] Read more →
Fox Control with Jack Russell Terriers in ScotlandHome Top of Pg. Read more →
Greatest of All TimeHome Top of Pg. Read more →
The Rise and Fall of Tower RecordsHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Of Decorated Furniture
DECORATED or “sumptuous” furniture is not merely furniture that is expensive to buy, but that which has been elaborated with much thought, knowledge, and skill. Such furniture cannot be cheap, certainly, but the real cost of it is sometimes borne by the artist who produces rather than by the man who may [...] Read more → 
The First Greek Book by John Williams White
Click here to read The First Greek Book by John Williams White The First Greek Book - 15.7MB IN MEMORIAM JOHN WILLIAMS WHITE The death, on May 9, of John Williams White, professor of Greek in Harvard University, touches a large number of classical [...] Read more → 
English Cottage GardensHome Top of Pg. Read more →
The Real Time Piece Gentleman and the Digital Watch Vault
Paul Thorpe, Brighton, U.K. The YouTube watch collecting world is rather tight-knit and small, but growing, as watches became a highly coveted commodity during the recent world-wide pandemic and fueled an explosion of online watch channels. There is one name many know, The Time Piece Gentleman. This name for me [...] Read more → Sea and River Fishing
An angler with a costly pole Surmounted with a silver reel, Carven in quaint poetic scroll- Jointed and tipped with finest steel— With yellow flies, Whose scarlet eyes And jasper wings are fair to see, Hies to the stream Whose bubbles beam Down murmuring eddies wild and free. And casts the line with sportsman’s [...] Read more → 
Abingdon, Berkshire in the Year of 1880
St.Helen’s on the Thames, photo by Momit
From a Dictionary of the Thames from Oxford to the Nore. 1880 by Charles Dickens Abingdon, Berkshire, on the right bank, from London 103 3/4miles, from Oxford 7 3/4 miles. A station on the Great Western Railway, from Paddington 60 miles. The time occupied [...] Read more → 
The Black Grouper or Jewfish.
Nov. 5. 1898 Forest and Stream Pg. 371-372 The Black Grouper or Jewfish. New Smyrna, Fla., Oct. 21.—Editor Forest and Stream: It is not generally known that the fish commonly called jewfish. warsaw and black grouper are frequently caught at the New Smyrna bridge [...] Read more → 
Peach Brandy
PEACH BRANDY 2 gallons + 3 quarts boiled water 3 qts. peaches, extremely ripe 3 lemons, cut into sections 2 sm. pkgs. yeast 10 lbs. sugar 4 lbs. dark raisins Place peaches, lemons and sugar in crock. Dissolve yeast in water (must NOT be to hot). Stir thoroughly. Stir daily for 7 days. Keep [...] Read more → 
What is the Meaning of the Term Thorough-bred Fox-hound
Reprint from the Sportsman Cabinet and Town & Country Magazine, Vol.1, Number 1, November 1832. MR. Editor, Will you allow me to inquire, through the medium of your pages, the correct meaning of the term thorough-bred fox-hound? I am very well aware, that the expression is in common [...] Read more → 
Valentine Poetry from the Cotswold Explorer
There is nothing more delightful than a great poetry reading to warm ones heart on a cold winter night fireside. Today is one of the coldest Valentine’s days on record, thus, nothing could be better than listening to the resonant voice of Robin Shuckbrugh, The Cotswold [...] Read more → 
Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott
Kenilworth Abbey Fields – Photo by David Hunt Click here to read Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott Click here to view Kenilworth Notes Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Message from J. Edgar Hoover Oct. 1, 1933 – John Dillinger Makes the List
Biograph Theater, where John Dillinger was gunned down by the FBI on July 22, 1934 The Great Depression was on—highway based crime was rampant, the gangsters dressed as well as the bankers they robbed, and and Henry Ford’s big beautiful V8 sedan was the getaway car of choice for both wheelman and [...] Read more →
Audubon’s Art Method and Techniques
Audubon started to develop a special technique for drawing birds in 1806 a Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. He perfected it during the long river trip from Cincinnati to New Orleans and in New Orleans, 1821. Home Top of [...] Read more →
Origin of the Apothecary
ORIGIN OF THE APOTHECARY. The origin of the apothecary in England dates much further back than one would suppose from what your correspondent, “A Barrister-at-Law,” says about it. It is true he speaks only of apothecaries as a distinct branch of the medical profession, but long before Henry VIII’s time [...] Read more →
A Few Wine Recipes
EIGHTEEN GALLONS is here give as a STANDARD for all the following Recipes, it being the most convenient size cask to Families. See A General Process for Making Wine If, however, only half the quantity of Wine is to be made, it is but to divide the portions of [...] Read more →
Gray Gardens
Take Me to Pitcairn by Julian McDonnell
The Standard Navy Cutter and a Whale Boat Design
Dec. 24, 1898 Forest and Stream Pg. 513-514 The Standard Navy Boats. Above we find, The accompanying illustrations show further details of the standard navy boats, the lines of which appeared last week. In all of these boats, as stated previously, the quality of speed has been given [...] Read more →
Hereford Cathedral Choir Easter Sunday 2017Home Top of Pg. Read more → 
AB Bookman’s 1948 Guide to Describing Conditions
AB Bookman’s 1948 Guide to Describing Conditions: As New is self-explanatory. It means that the book is in the state that it should have been in when it left the publisher. This is the equivalent of Mint condition in numismatics. Fine (F or FN) is As New but allowing for the normal effects of [...] Read more →
Carpenters’ Furniture
IT requires a far search to gather up examples of furniture really representative in this kind, and thus to gain a point of view for a prospect into the more ideal where furniture no longer is bought to look expensively useless in a boudoir, but serves everyday and commonplace need, such as [...] Read more →
Of the Room and Furniture
Crewe Hall Dining Room
THE transient tenure that most of us have in our dwellings, and the absorbing nature of the struggle that most of us have to make to win the necessary provisions of life, prevent our encouraging the manufacture of well-wrought furniture. We mean to outgrow [...] Read more → 
The Printing of the King James Bible 1611
Richard Barker KJ Title Pg. Robert Barker was the printer of the first edition of the King James Bible in 1611. He was the printer to King James I and son of Christopher Barker, printer to Queen Victoria I. Home Top of Pg. Read more →
The First Definition of a CocktailHome Top of Pg. Read more →
JP Morgan’s Digital Currency Patent Application
J.P. Morgan Patent #8,452,703 Method and system for processing internet payments using the electronic funds transfer network. Abstract Embodiments of the invention include a method and system for conducting financial transactions over a payment network. The method may include associating a payment address of an account [...] Read more → 
Fell and Moor Terrier Club circa later 1990sHome Top of Pg. Read more → Saving Notre DameHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Tuna Record
TROF. C. F. HOLDFER AND HIS 183LBS. TUNA, WITH BOATMAN JIM GARDNER. July 2, 1898. Forest and Stream Pg. 11 The Tuna Record. Avalon. Santa Catalina Island. Southern California, June 16.—Editor Forest and Stream: Several years ago the writer in articles on the “Game Fishes of the Pacific Slope,” in [...] Read more →
English Fig Wine
Take the large blue figs when pretty ripe, and steep them in white wine, having made some slits in them, that they may swell and gather in the substance of the wine. Then slice some other figs and let them simmer over a fire in water until they are reduced [...] Read more →
David Starkey: Britain’s Last Great Historian
Dr. David Starkey, the UK’s premiere historian, speaks to the modern and fleeting notion of “cancel culture”. Starkey’s brilliance is unparalleled and it has become quite obvious to the world’s remaining Western scholars willing to stand on intellectual integrity that a few so-called “Woke Intellectuals” most certainly cannot undermine [...] Read more → 
The Famous Kilkenny Hunt – 1930Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Tobacco as Medicine
The first published illustration of Nicotiana tabacum by Pena and De L’Obel, 1570–1571 (shrpium adversana nova: London). Tobacco can be used for medicinal purposes, however, the ongoing American war on smoking has all but obscured this important aspect of ancient plant. Tobacco is considered to be an indigenous plant of [...] Read more →
CIA 1950s Unevaluated UFO Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY INROMATION FROM FOREIGN DOCUMENT OR RADIO BROADCASTS COUNTRY: Non-Orbit SUBJECT: Military – Air – Scientific – Aeronautics HOW PUBLISHED: Newspapers WHERE PUBLISHED: As indicated DATE PUBLISHED: 12 Dec 1953 – 12 Jan 1954 LANGUAGE: Various SOURCE: As indicated REPORT NO. 00-W-30357 DATE OF INFORMATION: 1953-1954 DATE DIST. 27 [...] Read more → King Arthur Legends, Myths, and Maidens
King Arthur, Legends, Myths & Maidens is a massive book of Arthurian legends. This limited edition paperback was just released on Barnes and Noble at a price of $139.00. Although is may seem a bit on the high side, it may prove to be well worth its price as there are only [...] Read more → 
New Orleans Street BandsHome Top of Pg. Read more →
The King James Bible – 1611
Gold: The Story of Man’s 6000 Year Old Obsession
King James I, Witch-Hunter
Mortlake Tapestries at Chatsworth House Click here to read copy of Daemonologie Home Top of Pg. Read more →
The Condon Committee Report on UFOs
Click here to read the Condon Report Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Baby Blue – Badfinger
Protecting Rare Books: How to Build a Silverfish Trap
Silverfish damage to book – photo by Micha L. Rieser The beauty of hunting silverfish is that they are not the most clever of creatures in the insect kingdom. Simply take a small clean glass jar and wrap it in masking tape. The masking tape gives the silverfish something to [...] Read more → 
How Long is Your Yacht?
Dominion, Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club,Winner of Seawanhaka Cup, 1898. The Tail Wags the Dog. The following is a characteristic sample of those broad and liberal views on yachting which are the pride of the Boston Herald. Speaking of the coming races for the Seawanhaka international challenge cup, it says: [...] Read more →
Christmas Pudding with Dickens
Traditional British Christmas Pudding Recipe by Pen Vogler from the Charles Dickens Museum Ingredients 85 grams all purpose flour pinch of salt 170 grams Beef Suet 140 grams brown sugar tsp. mixed spice, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, &c 170 grams bread crumbs 170 grams raisins 170 grams currants 55 grams cut mixed peel Gram to [...] Read more →
The American Museum in Britain – From Florida to Bath
Hernando de Soto (c1496-1542) Spanish explorer and his men torturing natives of Florida in his determination to find gold. Hand-coloured engraving. John Judkyn Memorial Collection, Freshford Manor, Bath The print above depicts Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his band of conquistadors torturing Florida natives in order to extract information on where [...] Read more →
Guaranteed 6% Dividend for Life. Any takers?
Any prudent investor would jump at the chance to receive a guaranteed 6% dividend for life. So how does one get in on this action? The fact of the matter is…YOU can’t…That is unless you are a shareholder of one of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks and the banks under [...] Read more →
Electroplating 101Home Top of Pg. Read more →
The Stuart Kings and King James I & VI to Charles II
Armorial tablet of the Stewarts – Falkland Palace Fife, Scotland. The Stewart Kings – King James I & VI to Charles II Six video playlist on the Kings of England: Home Top of Pg. Read more →
Banana Propagation
Banana Propagation Reprinted from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA.org) The traditional means of obtaining banana planting material (“seed”) is to acquire suckers from one’s own banana garden, from a neighbor, or from a more distant source. This method served to spread common varieties around the world and to multiply them [...] Read more →
FTC Rules Guiding the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries
The Apex Building, headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission, on Constitution Avenue and 7th Streets in Washington, D.C.. The building was designed by Edward H. Bennett under the purview of Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon, and was completed in 1938 at a cost of $125 million. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith [...] Read more → 
The Flying Saucers are Real by Donald Keyhoe
It was a strange assignment. I picked up the telegram from desk and read it a third time. NEW YORK, N.Y., MAY 9, 1949 HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY. FIRST TIP HINTED GIGANTIC HOAX TO COVER UP OFFICIAL SECRET. BELIEVE IT MAY HAVE BEEN PLANTED TO HIDE [...] Read more →
A Short Note on Manners for the Young Man Wishing to Make a Goodly Impression Whilst Avoiding Duels
Over the years I have observed a decline in manners amongst young men as a general principle and though there is not one particular thing that may be asserted as the causal reason for this, one might speculate… Self-awareness and being aware of one’s surroundings in social [...] Read more → 
Recipes From Down Under: Kangaroo Cuts
The Fowling Piece – Part I
THE FOWLING PIECE, from the Shooter’s Guide by B. Thomas – 1811. I AM perfectly aware that a large volume might be written on this subject; but, as my intention is to give only such information and instruction as is necessary for the sportsman, I shall forbear introducing any extraneous [...] Read more →
Pickled Eels
Vintage woodcut illustration of a Eel
This dish is a favorite in Northern Europe, from the British Isles to Sweden. Clean and skin the eels and cut them into pieces about 3/4-inch thick. Wash and drain the pieces, then dredge in fine salt and allow to stand from 30 [...] Read more → 
Period Furniture Identification
Salmon Caviar
Salmon and Sturgeon Caviar – Photo by Thor Salmon caviar was originated about 1910 by a fisherman in the Maritime Provinces of Siberia, and the preparation is a modification of the sturgeon caviar method (Cobb 1919). Salomon caviar has found a good market in the U.S.S.R. and other European countries where it [...] Read more → 
The Public Attitude Towards Speculation
Reprint from The Pitfalls of Speculation by Thomas Gibson 1906 Ed. THE PUBLIC ATTITUDE TOWARD SPECULATION THE public attitude toward speculation is generally hostile. Even those who venture frequently are prone to speak discouragingly of speculative possibilities, and to point warningly to the fact that an [...] Read more → 
Magna Carta: Myth and Meaning – Discussion at the Royal Institution
Note on Watercolour: F.A. Molony (fl. 1930-1938) was a Major in the Royal Engineers. The National Army Museum hold his work. His work was also shown at an exhibition of officers work at the R.B.A. Galleries (Army Officers’ Art Society) Description from Youtube: June 2015 will see [...] Read more →
The English Tradition of Woodworking
THE sense of a consecutive tradition has so completely faded out of English art that it has become difficult to realise the meaning of tradition, or the possibility of its ever again reviving; and this state of things is not improved by the fact that it is due to uncertainty of purpose, [...] Read more → 
The Atchafalaya Basin HouseboatHome Top of Pg. Read more → 
Indian Modes of Hunting – Setting Fox Traps
Aug. 13, 1898 Forest and Stream, Pg. 125 Game Bag and Gun. Indian Modes of Hunting. III.—Foxes. The fox as a rule is a most wily animal, and numerous are the stories of his cunning toward the Indian hunter with his steel traps. Read more → 
Slaughter in Bombay
From Allen’s Indian Mail, December 3rd, 1851 BOMBAY. MUSULMAN FANATICISM. On the evening of November 15th, the little village of Mahim was the scene of a murder, perhaps the most determined which has ever stained the annals of Bombay. Three men were massacred in cold blood, in a house used [...] Read more →
Spem In Alium performed by The Tallis Scholars
News from the Empire – Jan. 17th, 1851 Vol IX-No.165 – Allen’s Indian Mail
Filed under Miscellaneous. The Jubbulpore School of Industry is so thriving that the pupils, 800 in number, are obliged to work till ten o’clock at night to complete their orders; this they do most cheerfully. They are all Thugs, or the children of Thugs, and the hands which now ply [...] Read more →
The Field of the Cloth of Gold
Reprint from the Royal Collection Trust Website The meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I, known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold, took place between 7 to 24 June 1520 in a valley subsequently called the Val d’Or, near Guisnes to the south of Calais. The [...] Read more →  |
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