My mother's old set of The Book of Knowledge was something that meant a lot to me as a child, and it's still one of my favorite things. It was copyrighted circa 1908. When I was a child, I spent hours with these books. There are sections with poetry, prose, lots of history, French lessons, other lands, famous men and women, things for kids to do, and lots of old pictures. I loved them. I still do. I was particularly interested in the pictures, 99 % black and white, not beautifully printed like they can do now - but they were inspiring. I saw camels, the bound feet of Chinese women, trees, insects, kings and queens, desert life, animals of all kinds, birds, and illustrations of childrens stories. The volume I was using today has Alice in Wonderland with illustrations by Harry Furniss. They are wonderful. Alice falling down the rabbit-hole is an amazing illutration and it's fun to have this old, old copy.
Now I cut the books up and use them in my art. I like the typeface. Occasionally when I have something hanging around the studio with no where to use it - I glue it into one of these books. Here are two pics. The one with birds, I did a couple years ago, I just never thought about sharing it. But tonite when I put the metal tape image on another page, I thought I'd just come up and scan them. So, here they are.
