Category Archives: Art

Happy Halloween

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

A few years ago, I spent a very happy Halloween in Taupo, New Zealand. The charming lakeside town is sadly overlooked by many foreign visitors to the country. Along with stunning natural beauty, the community is surprisingly welcoming to tourists. … Continue reading →

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A history of witches and wizards

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

London’s Wellcome Collection is featuring a very timely book from 1720 on witchcraft and wizardry. The history of witches and wizards: giving a true account of all their tryals in England, Scotland, Swedeland, France, and New England; with their confession … Continue reading →

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Magical (not lucky) Charms

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The Book of Magical Charms, is a handwritten occult commonplace book composed in England in the seventeenth century and currently in the holdings of the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois. Its author is suspected to be London attorney Robert Ashley. The Book of Magical Charms original volume, that … Continue reading →

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“Renaissance Baedeker”

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I first learned about the 15th century incunabula Mirabilia Romae while I was researching a magazine article on the history of the travel guidebook. One of the earliest European printed guidebooks, the Mirabilia Urbis Romaea is a geographically arranged inventory of … Continue reading →

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Spooky Times

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

It’s that spooky time of the year here in North America. Folks in the U.S. alone will be spending close to $13 billion on holiday decorations, costumes, candy, and parties. I recently spent an afternoon visiting a nearby town that … Continue reading →

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“Get on the stick”

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

While I was watching the new Marvel spin-off TV series “Agatha All Along”, which revolves around a coven of witches, I wondered when witches were first depicted flying on broomsticks. Thanks to the net the answer involved the image pictured … Continue reading →

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Kafka for Kids

Posted on October 18, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Welcome Distractions

Posted on October 10, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

True book lovers will appreciate The Cari Vander Yacht illustrations of people distracted by reading that accompany the New Yorker‘s announcement of the 2024 National Book Awards longlists are really lovely. The animated versions on the site are fun too.  

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It’s getting to be Edgar Allan Poe season

Posted on October 7, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

This is The Bells and Other Poems by American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) with illustrations by French-British illustrator Edmund Dulac (1882-1953). It was published by Hodder and Stoughton internationally circa 1912. Poe is best known for his Gothic short fiction and poetry while Dulac was … Continue reading →

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Wild Beasts of Art

Posted on October 5, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I don’t think that I really appreciated the work of the great French artist Henri Matisse until I saw a fabulous retrospective show at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.. After viewing the exhibition, I became a huge … Continue reading →

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