matagonia

Old posters, many of Scotland. Woodblock prints. Fishing. A few other things.

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Vintage travel poster of Edinburgh, Scotland for the Travel Association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Scottish Tourist Board ca. 1947.  Artwork by Kerry Lee (1902-1988).

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Vintage travel poster for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) ca. 1928 showing the Forth Bridge over the Firth of Forth west of Edinburgh, Scotland.  Art by Henry George Gawthorn (1897-1941). 

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Vintage Scotland travel poster published by the Scottish Tourist Board in cooperation with the British Travel Association ca. 1950s.  Artwork by Frederick Griffin (1906-1976).

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Vintage travel poster for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, To Scotland by LMS, showing Loch Maree and Ben Slioch (and Edinburgh Castle) ca. 1930s.

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Vintage cultural and historical poster for Glasgow, Scotland, ca. 1960s.  Art by A. Ferguson.  A version of this image is also seen on vintage linen tea towels.  

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Vintage Scotland travel poster for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) ca. 1930s.  Artwork by Frank Mason (1875-1965).

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The sound of winter. Elwha River, Olympic Peninsula, Washington.

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 “A Highland Fisherman,” Scottish postcard ca. 1900s.

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Winter

The pungent smells of a California winter, Grayness and rosiness, an almost transparent full moon. I add logs to the fire, I drink and I ponder. “In Ilawa,” the news item said, “at age 70 Died Aleksander Rymkiewicz, poet.” He was the youngest in our group. I patronized him slightly, Just as I patronized others for their inferior minds Though they had many virtues I couldn’t touch. And so I am here, approaching the end Of the century and of my life. Proud of my strength Yet embarrassed by the clearness of the view. Avant-gardes mixed with blood. The ashes of inconceivable arts. An omnium-gatherum of chaos. I passed judgment on that. Though marked myself. This hasn’t been the age for the righteous and the decent. I know what it means to beget monsters And to recognize in them myself. You, moon, You, Aleksander, fire of cedar logs. Waters close over us, a name lasts but an instant. Not important whether the generations hold us in memory. Great was that chase with the hounds for the unattainable meaning of the world. And now I am ready to keep running When the sun rises beyond the borderlands of death. I already see mountain ridges in the heavenly forest Where, beyond every essence, a new essence waits. You, music of my late years, I am called By a sound and a color which are more and more perfect. Do not die out, fire. Enter my dreams, love. Be young forever, seasons of the earth.

-- Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004).  From Unattainable Earth, published 1986.

Art: Snow Camping, Whitney Crest, woodblock print by Tom Killion.

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Vintage travel poster for the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER), East Coast Route to Scotland by “The Flying Scotsman,” ca. 1930s.  Artwork by Frank H. Mason (1875-1965).

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Vintage travel poster of Kelso, Scotland, for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) ca. 1930s showing the River Tweed and Kelso Abbey behind.  Artwork by Ernest William Haslehust (1866-1949).  

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Vintage whisky ad for Gullivers’ Scotch “Gravy.”  “Tho’ Lost to Sight -- To Memory dear.”

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“Swing Time Around the Bend” - Fly Fishing for Steelhead

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Torquise blue waters

[indigodreams]

Nembutsu Pool, Nikko in Autumn by Takahashi Shotei (published by Fusui Gabo)

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Vintage ad for Gilbey’s Spey-Royal Whisky ca. 1930s or ‘40s showing salmon fishing on the River Tay in the Scottish Highlands.   Artwork by Norman Wilkinson (1878-1971).

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Painting, “Edinburgh Castle from George IV Bridge,” by Jane Stewart Smith (Scottish, 1839-1925).