Turning the Book Wheel

The Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is a system of 21 branch libraries and an institutional archives that support the current work of @Smithsonian and researchers around the world. Privacy policy: si.edu/privacy & terms of use: si.edu/termsofuse

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Fossilized silicon skeletons of single celled organisms from Tulane studies in geology and paleontology v.20 (1987). Full text here.

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A type of carriage referred to in the text as "L'Hirondelle" from Science new ser.:v.1 (1883).

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Cut and polished fluorite, blistered copper, and agate from James Sowerby's British Minerology v.5 (1817). Full text here.

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A variety of insects from L. Maillard's Notes sur l'île de la Réunion (Bourbon) (1862). Full text here.

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Apparatuses for electrical experiments from A Brief history of electricity, a manuscript from the last quarter of the 18th century.

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Tamarau (1) and anoa (2) from Richard Lydekker's Wild oxen, sheep & goats of all lands, living and extinct (1898).

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49 different seals used by artist Kawanabé Kyōsai to stamp his work over the course of his career from J. Conder's Paintings and studies by Kawanabé Kyōsai [1911].

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A model of a giant octopus in the workshop of the Yale museum from Science new ser.:v.1 (1883).

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"Poetess Ono-No-Komachi washing off a verse in a poetry book" by artist Ogata Korin. From A History of Japanese Arts v.2 [1913] compiled by Mataichi Fukuchi and Yoshio Kino. Full text here.

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Diagrams demonstrating how to wash a canary from W. A. Blakston's The illustrated book of canaries and cage-birds, British and foreign. Full text here.

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A series of maps showing "The Waning of the Ice Sheet in New York State" over time from Annual Report of the New York State Museum 65th:v.1 suppl. (1911).

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A pineapple and some insects that are tend to live around pineapples from Maria Sybilla Meriaen Over de voortteeling en wonderbaerlyke veranderingen der Surinaamsche insecten (1730).

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"The Cat's Dream" by Utamaro from Siegfried Bing's Artistic Japan v.6 (1891).

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Charts depicting various kinds of maritime signal flags, with sketches of men demonstrating how the different types of signals are to be used, likely drawn by a person in the 19th century. From the Dibner Manuscript collection.

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A variety of talons from August Holmgren's Skandinaviens foglar (1866-1871). Full text here.

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An illustration of what the text refers to as "The Primordial Egg. Chinese Emblem of the Ten Potencies, four ethereal (wings), six mundane (feet)" from Intelligence v.7:no.1 (1897). Full text here.

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An embroidered Japanese fukusa textile from Siegfried Bing's Artistic Japan v.4 (1890).

Full text here.