Abecedarian : Did You Hear the One I Just Made Up?

Did You Hear the One I Just Made Up?

December 11, 2014

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La reine Marguerite and René Magritte, though this isn't either of them.

#magritte

December 10, 2014

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"You haven't got such a thing as a cigar?" reads the caption.

Our answer: "No, I'm partial to Camels."

From The Tragedy of the Korosko by Arthur Conan Doyle, 1898.

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#vintage illustration #camel #illustration

November 30, 2014

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How to one-up a 1960s aficionado: "Well, when it comes to the sixties, there's nothing like the literal sixties — the decade beginning 60 CE. Take the wedge, for example; how can one compare the 1960s' wedge-heel shoe to Gaius Suetonius Paulinus defeating the rebels at the Battle of Watling Street using a flying wedge formation? Sure, there was the Nehru Jacket, but you should have seen what Nero was wearing! Granted, the Civil Rights movement took a lot of gall, but so did Civilis when he led the uprising of Gaul. Imagine comparing the Grateful Dead to the Dead Sea Scrolls — if I may be so 'blunt.'"

#upmanship #60s #sixties

November 28, 2014

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Pisa is the capital of leaning towers? Baloney!

From The Illustrated Universal Gazetteer by William Francis Ainsworth, 1860.

#vintage illustration #architecture #illustration #Bologna #leaning tower

November 19, 2014

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The cartels have been maintaining a high level since at least 1884, as we see in The Doctor's Family by Henry Frith.

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#vintage illustration #cartels

October 22, 2014

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One of the Earl of Sandwich's closest allies was the Earl of Mayo. From The Land of Temples (India), 1882.

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#vintage illustration #mayo

September 15, 2014

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"It was Edward ..." but now it's Mister Ed, eh? From Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, 1896.

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#vintage illustration #horse #illustration #white horse #mister ed

August 14, 2014

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Badminton has always been big in Nyangwe. From Across Africa by Verney Lovett Cameron (1885).

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July 30, 2014

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You've heard of "forced perspective," but we call this unusual effect "horsed perspective." From Across France in a Caravan by George Nugent Bankes, 1892.

#vintage illustration #tarot chariot #illustration #miniature animal #miniature horse #horse and buggy

July 20, 2014

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This image inspired an additional caption: "Back in my day, even taking a break was miles away." From Through Connemara in a Governess Cart by Edith Somerville, 1893.

#horse and buggy

July 4, 2014

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The "standard sheet" flag was a revolution against the king-size. (Our image is from The National Hand-book of American Progress by Erastus Otis Haven, 1876. The caption reads, "Forever float that standard sheet.")

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#flag

July 2, 2014

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Courtesy of Jonathan Caws-Elwitt:

"My meditation coach and I just couldn't get along. Last week I got really annoyed with him, and yesterday he said he thought it would be best if we terminated the relationship."

"Oh, that's too bad. I hope there weren't any hard feelings."

"Well, I'm not so sure. His last words to me were, 'As you exit this phase of your life, be mindful of the space between the gate into the next part of your journey and that part of yourself which trails behind.'"

"So?

"So... I think that translates into, 'Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.'"

March 22, 2014

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The scale here is one inch to one Inch. From Craigmillar and its Environs by Thomas Speedy (1892). The caption reads: "The Inch house as it was."

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#architecture

March 17, 2014

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"He devoted himself to Syndey ..." (reads the caption to this illustration from The Quiver, 1886).

"... While she held her Perth" (we add).

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#vintage illustration #illustration

February 26, 2014

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We enjoyed mapping out a fun Jonathan Caws-Elwitt bit.

The caption reads:
"Really?? How did you arrive at that conclusion?"
"Well, I was coming from Premise Point, so I took Logic Boulevard and then made a sharp deduction. Then I went straight on Reasoning Avenue until I came to another clearly marked deduction. But if you're coming from Hypothesis Heights, you can also get there via the Experience Loop: just follow it around the perimeter of Empirical Square for a while, then take the first right induction after your evidence tank reads 'full.'" —Jonathan Caws-Elwitt

#map

We call this one "Beverly Hills 1902-One-Oh." The caption reads, "You are the little brown lady who comes so constantly to my house." It appears in The English Illustrated Magazine, 1902.

February 12, 2014

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You've heard that a horse was a Roman senator, but did you know a buffalo was the earl of Southesk?

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From The Camp-fires of the Everglades; or, Wild Sports in the South by Charles Edward Whitehead, 1891.

#vintage illustration #buffalo #illustration

January 28, 2014

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Q: How do the eponymous Cat People escape being caged?

A: They break the fourth wall. (See our still from the 1982 film.)

Nastassja Kinski breaks the fourth wall in Cat People.

January 10, 2014

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From Jonathan Caws-Elwitt:

There was a precocious young zebra,
Who was second to none in cerebra.
She read Plato, con brio,
With Venus in Leo,
And Leibniz when Mars was in Libra.

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#zebra

November 12, 2013

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I have a pronounced Adam's apple. It's pronounced "'adəms ˈapəl."

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