Antique Ceph Print.

[Phil]

I've just managed to get hold of this rather nice 1833 antique print of various cephs off an internet site. I think it'll look quite nice in a frame in my front room.

 

[The Moog]

Lovely, I think it will go nicely in between the spitfire piccie and the portrait of Sir Thomas More, (or whoever it is).
How did you find it?

 

[Clem]

Lovely, I think it will go nicely in between the spitfire piccie and the portrait of Sir Thomas More, (or whoever it is).

Quite so, Moog. The nautiloid shapes do recall the supercharger on a Spit's Merlin.

Phil, what species are shown on that there print? Can you give us a close-up on the legend?

Clem

 

[Phil]

Clem,

Personally I thought the supercharger on the Mark XIV Griffin engined Spitfire bore more similarity. The Rolls-Royce Merlin Mk. III tended to resemble the upper radula in the Late Triassic nautiloid Cenoceras. IMHO, that is.

Anyway, I can't really tell you what is on that early Victorian engraving as it has not turned up in the post yet. I took that photo directly off the site I bought it off so I can't really comment on what exactly is represented just yet. I'll let you know when it turns up.

Phil

BTW The Thomas More painting came into my possession in a similar manner to the large ammonite recently. Plenty of alcohol and a pub was involved!

 

[Clem]

Phil,

I didn't want to use the Griffon Spit as an example, because there are those who say it isn't a "real" Spitfire. Not me, though.

If you want an aero-engine that achieves the fossil-ceph trifecta, have a look at the Daimler-Benz DB 624. It's got an ammonite for a supercharger, a belemnite for a supercharger-intake and Diplomoceras for an exhaust manifold.

Like "The Simpsons," cephalopods can be related to everything.



Clem

 

[Phil]

.....I can feel it in my water........this is all going to get very silly........

 

[Phil]

I've managed to get another antique print. They will make quite a nice pair when they turn up. This one is dated 1878:

Here it is, with more of a cryptozoological theme than the other:

 

[Melissa]

Phil, this is really marvelous! I could start lurking the auction sites - this could be worse than my pastry habit.

Melissa

 

[Phil]

Cheers Melissa!

The first of these two prints turned up in the post this morning. I'll have a look and post exactly what's on it tomorrow. I don't think I dare risk putting it on the scanner for a better picture than the one posted already; I don't really want to submit a 180 year old print to high intensity light as you can appreciate.

It's interesting to see an engraving depicting morphology twenty years or so before The Origin of Species was published. Engravings like this show that the groundwork for Darwin's theories was to an extent prepared before he tied it all together in his synthesis. Interesting to see scientific illustrations from this early period.

Phil

 

[Phil]

Phil, what species are shown on that there print? Can you give us a close-up on the legend?

Well, running left to right in rows we have listed:

1) Octopus Cuvierii
2) Portion of Arm of Eldone moschatus
3) Argonata argo
4) Loligo Brogniartii
5) Sepia officinalis
6) Extremity of Arm and inner rudiment of Onychoteuthis angulata
7) Nautilus pompilius
8) Spirula australis

(Spellings and capitalisations are as on the print, not mine).

Decided to risk another scan - attached if anyone is interested.

 

[Phil]

Why did that smiley face appear by Spirula australis? I certainly didn't type it in!

 

[tonmo]

Unfortunately, "8 )" (without the space in between) is the emoticon for a cool guy with glasses. Try using 1. 2. 3. etc.

Looks great in the frame!!

 

[Sedusa]

I had to give up my ebay ceph-scouring... between this site and ebay my boss was starting to get pretty annoyed with me at work (which is why I've had such little posting lately) and my room is filled with all kinds of random ceph stuff :) Speaking of decorative ceph things for your walls, did anybody notice on the old board my post about the Cephalopod Wall Chart? I'll try to dig up the link again, I'm very happy with mine, a great big chart of all kinds of Cephs (and unlike the mollusks poster, it's exclusively cephs)

 

[Phil]

Third and final antique ceph print for you. This one is a woodcut from 1896 though I am unsure as to its exact origin. The reverse is quite interesting and amusing as it is a nice take on giant cephalopods from a Victorian perspective.

I say final print as I've got no room for any more in my front room! Visitors are starting to think I'm weird......

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Very nice indeed Phil. I hope you've had them framed archival quality, and not just placed them inside an existing store-bought frame!! It'll make a lot of difference years down the track. I've had several framed at home - frightening expense (~$200 per illustration).

I loved the giant squid one
Cheers
O

 

[Phil]

Thanks Steve. I'm afraid I now have standard store-built pine frames for all three prints; I could not really afford that sort of money for a hand crafted frame. Well, I can always change the frame in the future...

Agreed, the Giant Squid print is also my favourite. Although it is technically the least accomplished of the three, I love the amalgam of copies of classic 19th century cryptozoological prints coupled with the bizarre whirlpool/vortex. Weird indeed.

 

[Tentacular!]

I'm afraid I now have standard store-built pine frames for all three prints; I could not really afford that sort of money for a hand crafted frame. Well, I can always change the frame in the future...

If you get a chance you should talk to someone who deals in old books/prints and maybe get them mounted on acid free paper. Those old prints crumble away if they're not preserved properly. I hear you about framing costs. Sooo expensive.

 

[Melissa]

Phil,

Tentacular's suggestion of using acid-free matting is excellent. I get acid free matting at an arts supply store, and framing places will cut mats for you if it's the wrong size (and it is). That might be worth the cost, as it will preserve your treasures. Framing can be a huge expense!

Melissa

 

[Phil]

Thanks very much for the advice everyone. I did not consider the dangers of preservation of these old prints. There is print-shop near me so I will take them in and see if I can sort out some acid-free matting.

Here's three more old prints for you to enjoy. These are in a wonderful old volume called 'Mysteries of the Universe vol.1' (intro. by Lord Avebury and with essays by 'leading specialists') I own that was published in about 1930. It is a somewhat weird book as it is completely without structure. There are over a couple of hundred short journalistic-style essays on the subjects of "The Heavens, The Earth, Plant Life, Animal Life and The Mighty Deep' but they are written in a totally random order. You have, for example, an article on 'The Giant Reptile of Wyoming' followed by 'Mars as a Home for Men' followed by 'St Elmo's Fire' and 'The Honey Bee'. It's impossible to find anything in the book.


My favourite illustrations are one of a deep-water Japanese spider-crab that is depicted by the illustrator as walking along a sandy beach , and a depiction of the surface of Mars showing canals and buildings!

Anyway, here are three typical illustrations showing a somewhat gelatinous giant squid being attacked by a sperm whale (with a small human skeleton for no apparant reason on the sea bed), squid squirting ink at a conger eel and some amorphous octopi.

Well I liked them anyway!

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Hmmmmmm. Magical stuff Phil. I'd not ever seen that version of a sperm whale attacking a giant squid; the human skeleton at the bottom is absolutely priceless.

I think I've just discovered a new slide to replace an old one for one of our talks (powerpoint). Pity I didn't have this 2 days ago when talking to a group of youngsters.

For the first time in an eternity I don't have any public lectures lined up (the next one is in March 2004!!!). No doubt all of this will change in the near future - you really don't know what to expect from one day to the next in this game. Besides, Kat is still somewhere galavanting around the US, incommunicado; missed the banter we usually exchange on stage when giving joint talks (hadn't been up there by myself in over 6 months).

Best get back to work I had
Ciao
O