CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
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November 30, 2016

I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought (permalink)

Physicist Miles Mathis on the only way to acquire "luck": 

As a mathematician, I obviously believe in the importance of numbers. But as a human being living in this strange world, I also recognize the significance of number in the physical world. That is to say, I believe in numerology in a way, just not in the way these people seem to. In short, they seem to believe they can use numbers to force the universe to give them things they want. For instance, they appear to believe that if they do things on certain dates, at certain times, in certain multiples, they can influence the Fates in their favor. But this is just wishful thinking. What they don't seem to comprehend is that number is used by higher powers to order lower powers, not the reverse. In other words, if you believe in gods of some sort, the gods use number to order and influence you. You do not use number to order or influence the gods. If you don't believe in gods, substitute your own system or semantics here: my point is the same. To put it another way, you either have lucky numbers assigned to you or you don't. Say you think the number 33 is lucky. Well, that number either appears in your life naturally or it doesn't. You can't manufacture it. You can't assign the number 33 to yourself.

Let me give you a different example. I have seen people have pencils made up that say lucky things on them, like “failure is impossible” or “blessed” or something. Well, printing up your luck or blessing won't work. On the other hand, if you were just walking along, minding your own business, and you looked down and picked up a pencil that said “lucky man” on it, you could take that as a sign from somewhere that you have a bit of luck. But buying a lucky-man pencil won't help you.

You can't finesse the Gods or Fates or Muses, however you conceive them to be. They either like you or they don't. If they don't, your trying to finesse them will only piss them off further. If you find yourself on the wrong side of your Fates, don't get involved in numerology to try to force their hand. Rather, your best bet is to work to become the sort of person they will like better. You won't do that with numerology. You will do it most efficiently by understanding more about your assigned place in this world. And you will understand more by listening. There are signs to be read, but your job is to read them, not write them and post them.

I will be told that numerology seems to work for these people, since the mighty of this earth often seem to dabble in it. Money and power does seem to come to these folks. Yes, but that isn't because of numerology. These folks get money and power because they are ruthless bastards who spend every waking hour chasing money and power. And they feed off one another and off of the masses. There is a longstanding network in place for these climbers, and most of them were born on it. So you don't need numerology to explain their success. Numerology actually explains why they are miserable despite all that. They are miserable because they are off the numbers, and they are off the numbers because they are not in sync with the powers of this earth. The earth doesn't like them, to put it personal terms. As the natives would say, “They do not know where the center of the earth is.”

They think the earth likes them because they have a lot of money, but the earth doesn't care a flip about money. The Gods, Fates, Muses, or any other powers or influences you could name care nothing for money. Money doesn't put you in sync with the numbers, it puts you out of sync with the numbers. Why? Because large amounts of money are a sign of lying and thieving, and lying and thieving are out-of-sync. If you are out-of-sync with the earth, you cannot have lucky numbers assigned to you, since they are the same thing.

The only way to be in-sync and on-the-numbers is to be on the proper path—the path you were born to walk. I assure you, you were not born to walk a path of lying or thieving or making huge sums of dirty money. No one was. No matter what some religions have said, the earth does not create evil people just to make things interesting. These people got where they are not by being the children of some devil, but by making bad decisions—decisions they can reverse any time they like. Some of them do reverse these decisions, which proves my point. If they were the spawn of some evil force, they could not remake themselves no matter what. A cat can not remake itself into a dog. But a person out-of- sync can get back on the numbers.

[from Mathis' paper on breaking the cryptogram in the Zodiac Murders.  PDF link.]

> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #chess board #chess #illustration
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Separated at Birth? (permalink)
Our custom widget that checks for duplicated images suggested this unlikely pairing.  Click each image for its source.
24353 25759
> read more from Separated at Birth? . . .
#vintage illustration #world #old boston #tavern #globe #giant #earth #christianity #extraterrestrials #scripture #art
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#baby's cry
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The Ghost of the Man who was only a Shadow of himself."  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1876.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ghost #headless #illustration #invisible man
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Book of Whispers (permalink)
"The secret to many repairs is to avoid straight lines. They aren't found in nature and they will attract the eye." —Woodworking Wisdom & Know-How
* The most profound secrets lie not wholly in knowledge, said the poet.  They lurk invisible in that vitalizing spark, intangible, yet as evident as the lightning—the seeker's soul.  Solitary digging for facts can reward one with great discoveries, but true secrets are not discovered—they are shared, passed on in confidence from one to another.  The genuine seeker listens attentively.  No secret can be transcribed, save in code, lest it—by definition—cease to be.  This Book of Whispers collects and encodes more than one hundred of humankind's most cherished secrets.  To be privy to the topics alone is a supreme achievement, as each contains and nurtures the seed of its hidden truth.  As possessor and thereby guardian of this knowledge, may you summon the courage to honor its secrets and to bequeath it to one worthy.
> read more from Book of Whispers . . .
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to apply makeup.

Louis Jourdan
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage postcard #louis jourdan #men in makeup #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Dirty Vlas the organ-grinder demonstrating that people who spit or crack sunflower-seeds spread tuberculosis and are therefore enemies of the people's health.  Colour lithograph by T. Pashkov, 192?"
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#tuberculosis #vintage poster #organ grinder #spitting #spreading disease #poster
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Floating, floating, floating still—."  From Cassell's, 1888.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #moonlight #boat #floating #moonlit cruise #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Good luck, from the late 1800s.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #horseshoe #good luck #lucky charm #illustration
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Yesterday's Weather (permalink)
By Theodor Kittelsen, date unknown.
*Inspired by the world's only accurate meteorological report, "Yesterday's Weather," as seen on Check It Out.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#vintage illustration #snow #winter #amerika #sunnier climes #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Animal Locomotion by Eadweard Muybridge, 1888.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #hand #locomotion #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The balloon never had a chance."  From Hartmann the Anarchist by Edwatd Douglas Fawcett, 1893.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #war machine #flying machine #hot air balloon #air strike #illustration
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
Looking Ahead (1892) is not by the author of Looking Backward.
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage book cover #book cover #book #illustration #looking ahead
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy tale #three graces #illustration #Kay Nielsen #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Christian Similitudes by John Warner Barber, 1866.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #christianity #ten commandments #biblical #deadly sins #illustration #art
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November 29, 2016

Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Book of Romance by Andrew Lang, 1902.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy tale #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1919.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fashion #vintage fashion #men's fashion #dandy #monocle #illustration
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Old News (permalink)
In 1970, Joni Mitchell sang that "We are stardust," but here's a precursor from 1896: Stellar Dust, Or The Life Force by P. A. Graves.
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage headline #we are stardust #stellar dust #star dust #headline
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"My old friend with eyes like saucers."  From Fairy Tale Plays and How to Act Them by Mrs. Hugh Bell, 1896.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #dog #big eyes #illustration #saucer eyes
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The Mediaeval Ghost, who ought to have been laid long ago."  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1876.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ghost #medieval #illustration
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to Dumbo the flying elephant, from Egipto by Jorge Ebers, 1882.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #egypt #elephant #dumbo #flying elephant #illustration
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Colorful Allusions (permalink)
Here's an example of "the creation of mystery in the lighting of open courts," from the Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences, 1917.
* Though printed in black and white, great literature is bursting with vibrant colour. In this rebus-style puzzle, color words and parts of words have been replaced with colored boxes. Try to guess the exact hue of each. Roll your mouse over the colored boxes to reveal the missing words. Click the colored boxes to learn more about each hue. Special thanks to Paul Dean for his colorful research.
 
> read more from Colorful Allusions . . .
#light and dark #outdoor lighting #dramatic lighting
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Green's Nursery Co.'s 1900 catalog.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #farmer #giant strawberry #illustration #fruit
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"I acknowledge by amazement," from "A Ghost Incident" in Cassell's, 1888.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #haunted #ghost #candle #amazement #illustration
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Images Moving Through Time (permalink)
This was entitled "2 Women" by the Boston Public Library, but our analysis finds that it's a single ghost that is bilocating.  Photo by Leslie Jones, date uncertain.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#ghost #twins #vintage photo #spirit photography #double exposure #composite photo #photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From c. 1890.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage ad #bondage #thread #sewing #tied up #illustration #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"A Porter He, who never sleeps" - a colored aquatint by Thomas Rowlandson, 1816.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #skeleton #illustration
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The Only Certainty (permalink)
"The sole certainty is that the etymological roots lie deep."
> read more from The Only Certainty . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #goat #horns #antennae #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The King of Gee-Whiz by Emerson Hough and illustrated by Oscar E. Cesare, 1906.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #monster #illustration #art
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November 28, 2016

Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Realize your bigger self."  From Popular Mechanics, 1922.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage ad #bigger self #enlargement #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1913.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #devil #credit #war and peace #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Six and a half ghosts from Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1876.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #haunted house #ghosts #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The axis of my world tonight radiates the calm I've found; within the confines of its light I find myself on hallowed ground!"  from Desert Magazine.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #campfire #desert #quietude #solitude #hallowed ground #illustration
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to see a different version.

Pier, Esplanade and Downs, Eastbourne
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage postcard #pier #eastbourne #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's a precursor to Super Mario Galaxy, from the Arthur and Fritz Kahn Collection, courtesy of the Leo Baeck Institute Archives.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #building blocks of life #illustration
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to reveal the postcard version.

Hebert's Candy Mansion
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage postcard #candy mansion #hebert candies #illustration #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Menu, The Crocodile’s Tail, [near Carmel]," date unknown.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#crocodile #california #vintage menu #carmel #pacific coast highway #men #menu
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
A dragon reads a book held by its tail, by M. E. Norton for The Bookman.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage ad #dragon #reading animal #illustration #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Very pleasant.  Susqua River, 1876."
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #bear #fishing #bees #susqua river #1870s #illustration
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Strange Dreams (permalink)
From The American Florist, 1894.
If you have a strange dream to share, send it along!
> read more from Strange Dreams . . .
#vintage illustration #anthropomorphism #dreaming #faces in things #illustration
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea (permalink)

   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #haunted #spirits #ghosts #illustration #haunted beach
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #chinese doll #illustration #living toy
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Yesterday's Weather (permalink)
An illustration from Andiron Tales by John Kendrick Bangs and illustrated by Clare Victor Dwiggins, 1906.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#vintage illustration #eagle #anthropomorphism #rainy day #illustration
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How to Believe in Your Elf (permalink)
* There is a vast world of reality into which science can no more enter than an elf can be Santa Claus.  We regret to observe that rather than face it, and confess its inability to measure it, science turns its back upon it.  Life is not always every-day life, and the insolvable mysteries are correlated not to formal rules but to spirit and inspiration.  Are bits of wisdom liable to dwarf the subject?  Indeed — and rightly!  James Howell described the ingredients of a good proverb to be "sense, shortness, and salt."  May Howell's cry resound through this present collection of maxims on believing in one's elf.

> read more from How to Believe in Your Elf . . .
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November 27, 2016

Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1919.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #political cartoon #death #illustration
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Precursors (permalink)
Before Disney's Song of the South, there were Ellen Ellington Hebron's Songs from the South, 1875.
> read more from Precursors . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's the nature of reality, from Once a Week, 1874.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #reality #kite #ladder #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Heroines," from Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1876.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #poison #heroine #illustration
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Images Moving Through Time (permalink)
You've heard of seeing life "through the bottom of the glass," but you can also navigate that way.  From 1962, courtesy of the Tyne and Wear Archives.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage photo #drunk driving #bottle car #drinking and driving #weird car #photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Good luck seems to follow me."  From 1915.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#dog #lucky horseshoe #good luck #vintage postcard #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
A bed of nails from Asiatic Researches, or Transactions of the Society Instituted in Bengal for Inquiring Into the History and Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia, 1799.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #bed of nails #sadhu #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"He used to creep out and make drawings," from Cassell's, 1888.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #drawing #artist #hermit #art life #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From a suffrage poster, 1913.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #tiny person #giant cat #suffrage #cat monster #illustration
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Yesterday's Weather (permalink)
"Out to-day, 'The Wet Dog.'"
*Inspired by the world's only accurate meteorological report, "Yesterday's Weather," as seen on Check It Out.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#vintage illustration #rainy day #wet dog #outside pet #illustration
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
A stone amulet develops in stages, much like a fetus, as we see in Ancient Civilations of Mexico and Central America, 1917.
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#vintage illustration #ancient mexico #stone carving #amulet #ancient civilization #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Stay, morning has not come, / and night has not closed. / Time grows thin, / the two to be equalled, / and quiet returns" —A Gabriela Mistral Reader, 1993.  Our thin grandfather clock appears in Chambers's New Geographical Readers, 1891.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #grandfather clock #time grows thin #1890s #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Give me pig today, or any day."  From the Illinois Agricultural Association Record, 1947.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #devil #satan #unclean #pork #forbidden meat #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Little Tom by V. Tille, 1922.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #gnome #fairy #elf #wooden shoe #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #gnome #elf #fairy tale #illustration #art
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November 26, 2016

Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"War time."  From King Time by Percy Keese Fitzhugh, 1908.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #anthropomorphism #clock face #faces in things #clock #mustache #war time #1900s #illustration #moustache
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought (permalink)
We're delighted to see our How to Be Your Own Cat rising to the top at Quimby's Bookstore.  (Photo via the Quimby's instagram.)  Looks like we're in fine company alongside the Twin Peaks recipe book (Damn Fine Cherry Pie), as well as guitarist Johnny Marr and some Ancient Aliens.
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#meow #how to be a cat #cat lover #bookstore #cat book #be your own cat
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Precursors (permalink)
There was an "old school" even back in 1809.
> read more from Precursors . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1913.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #flashlight #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Christmas ungiving."  From Cartoons Magazine, 1920.  This will also be of interest: The Collected Lost Meanings of Christmas.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#christmas #returning gifts
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's a ghost of pepper (presumably a relative of Pepper's Ghost) from Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1876.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ghost #spirits #spiritualism #pepper's ghost #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
A detail from an ad in World Traveler, 1923.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ufo #eye of god #eye in the sky #illustration
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to move through time.

Washintgon's Headquarters, Richmond, Virginia
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#george washington #vintage postcard #richmond #virginia history #stone house #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Practical Aids for Life Assurance Agents."
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #life assurance #headgear #beekeeper #illustration #personal protection
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought (permalink)
We're often asked how we relax after a long night of time traveling through old books.  Here's a hint: it involves the horse mask we acquired from Archie McPhee.  (As to the feline guardian also pictured, he somehow acquired us along the way.)
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#cat #horse mask #animal mask #bookshelves #tabby #archiemcphee #archie mcphee #color coded books #rainbow bookshelves #arranged by color #idiocracy #fuck people #imbeciles #no taste #no tact
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
The hollow earth, circa 1905.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#earth #vintage postcard #hollow earth #mapparium #postcard
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
Did you know that National Cake Day started out as an entire month?  The text at the top of this piece reads, "Cake Month - ain't it ridik'lus?"  By W. Bartholomew, 1861.
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#vintage illustration #national cake day #cake month #illustration
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A Rose is a ... (permalink)
"A rose is clearly not a rose. 'Rose' is a word standing in for that flowery thing that is out there in the garden.  To say 'a rose is a rose' is already once removed from what a rose really is." —Mark Yakich, Poetry: A Survivor's Guide

"A rose is not a rose," by Aguno.
> read more from A Rose is a ... . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #emblem #flower #pest control #hermit #illustration #1620s
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Wally Wanderoon and His Story-Telling Machine by Joel Chandler Harris, 1903.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #wolf #follow the light #joel chandler harris #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Shakespeare's Comedy of A Midsummer-Night's Dream, illustrated by William Heath Robinson, 1914.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairies #shakespeare #midsummer's night dream #illustration
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November 25, 2016

Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1919.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #male form #naked man
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to Disney's omnimover ride vehicles, from Dot and Tot of Merryland by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow, 1901.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #l. frank baum #illustration #omnimover
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought (permalink)
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Unlocks a secret," from Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1869.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #skeleton key #anthropomorphism #secret #1860s #illustration #key
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"She's taking no chances" -- a detail from an ad for confections.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage ad #life is a box of chocolates #taking no chances #chocoholic #chocolate #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"How to catch them — in 1908.  Build a large Mouse Trap.  Disguise the front entrance as a palatial mansion: take an empty flour sack, fill with rubbish and print a dollar sign on it.  Hang on for bait.  Scatter a few loose coins about the entrance for effect and await results."
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage postcard #catch a man #man trap #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"'View of the house and Madeleine Smith handing a cup of chocolate from her bed-room window to L'Angelier.'  Extracted from the Timesof the extraordinary and interesting trial of Miss Madeleine Smith, of Glasgow, on the charge of poisoning by arsenic of her late lover, Emile L'Angelier, including the correspondence."  From 1857.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #murder #poison #arsenic #hot chocolate #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
24 hours in 20 periods of night, twilight, and day.  From Diel and Seasonal Activities of Culicoides Spp. Near Yankeetown, Florida by Thomas Henry Lillie, 1985.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#twilight #darkness #light and dark #night and day #moon phases #diel #time cycle #daylight
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Eerily prescient!  The future of Boston, from c. 1910.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #future #boston #prediction #hot air balloon #dirigible #air ship #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"We would like to preach John Barley Corn's funeral sermon."  Date unknown.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#effigy #vintage photo #coffin #temperance #john barley corn #photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's 80 pounds of dirt fom American Homes and Gardens, 1909.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage ad #dirt #pile of dirt #illustration #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Sick folks don't like noise."  From Expiation by Octave Thanet, 1890.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #noise pollution #silence therapy #no talking #quiet please #silence healing #quiet cure #silence cure #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #omen #comet #shooting star #falling star #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Contes Roses de ma Mère-Grand, illustrated by Maurice Lalau, 1914.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #beard #fairy tale #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Still talking."  From Half-Past Bedtime by H. H. Bashford, 1922.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #scythe #candle #talking #illustration #art
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November 24, 2016

Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Which way are you looking?"  From Popular Mechanics, 1919.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage ad #illustration #looking forward #looking backward #what's ahead #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1913.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #demon #incubus #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here are some ghosts arriving for Thanksgiving, from Pearson's, 1910.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ghost #spirits #thanksgiving #phantoms #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
A wishbone has a turkey side and a puritan maiden side.  The trick is determining which is which.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#thanksgiving #turkey #wishbone #vintage postcard
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click for three different versions.

Thanksgiving Greetings
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#thanksgiving #turkey #vintage postcard #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
The Harpies of ancient Greece presumably welcomed the evolution of the Uncle Sam-headed turkey.  (Date uncertain.)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#thanksgiving #turkey #uncle sam #human headed #vintage postcard #vintage thanksgiving #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Whispers of "home produce."  From c. 1905.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#whisper #vintage postcard #buy local #locally sourced #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From 1881.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage ad #anthropomorphism #thanksgiving #turkeys #illustration #oil stove #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"It takes turkeys a while to catch on in life" (Michael Zitz, "Wild over Turkey," The Free Lance-Star, 1990).  A postcard from Rockingham County, Virginia, c. 1940.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage postcard #turkeys #turkey farm #virginia #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
The Black Cat, May 1896.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #black cat #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #haunted #vintage book cover #book cover #ghost story #book #old book #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Children's Fairy Geography by Forbes Edward Winslow (1879).
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #serpents #medusa #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #emblem #heart #pierced heart #flaming heart #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Tales of the Punjab by Flora Steel and illustrated by John Lockwood Kipling, 1917.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #beard #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Christian Similitudes by John Warner Barber, 1866.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #demon #christianity #atheism #two-faced #light and darkness #illustration #art
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November 23, 2016

Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1919.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #witch #magick #witchcraft #black cat #serpent #occult #illustration
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Images Moving Through Time (permalink)
Rune stone, Lejsta, Rasbo, Uppland, Sweden, 1926.  Courtesy of Swedish National Heritage.  The inscription says: "Vigdjärv and Jorund and Sigbjörn had the stone raised in memory of Svartung, their father."
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage photo #sweden #illustration #rune stone #runes #standing stone #monolth #photo
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This May Surprise You (permalink)

"It may surprise you to learn that you'll be even more productive if you grab a healthful lunch outside your office's four walls, followed by a 10-minute invigorating walk." —Seven Disciplines of a Leader

> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
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Strange Dreams (permalink)
"May your Thanksgiving never end in dreams like these!"
If you have a strange dream to share, send it along!
> read more from Strange Dreams . . .
#nightmare #thanksgiving #vintage postcard #vintage thanksgiving #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The widow" of Thanksgiving, date uncertain.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vegetarianism #thanksgiving #turkey #veganism #widow
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to change paint colors.

Three Trunk Lines, Richmond, Virginia
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#train #locomotive #vintage postcard #virginia #richmond #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's a bird from Birds in London by W. H. Hudson, 1898.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage london #bird #london #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
If only the water carrier had asked the angel of condensed milk for help with the pump.  From c. 1890.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage ad #angel #weird ad #condensed milk #water pump #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Behold the signal of Old Time / That bids you close your Pantomime."  Colored aquatint by Thomas Rowlandson, 1816.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #skeleton #mortality #pantomime #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Dwarf's Chamber by Fergus Hume, 1896.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #genie #magic lamp #djinn #aladdin #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Griset's Grotesques, illustrated by Ernest Griset, 1867.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #owls #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum, 1918.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #skeleton key #fairy tale #king #two keys #illustration #1910s
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Everybody's Doing This Now (permalink)
> read more from Everybody's Doing This Now . . .
#vintage illustration #shhh #illustration #be quiet
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Heart of Oak Books, Vol. III, 1910.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #gnome #elf #fairy tale #illustration #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Judas der Ertz-Schelm by Abraham à Sancta Clara, 1883.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #gallows #hanged man #illustration #art #1880s
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November 22, 2016

This May Surprise You (permalink)
Fire falls 3,700 feet from Glacier Point, Yosemite.  From Popular Mechanics, 1918.
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#vintage illustration #firefall #illustration #yosemite #glacier point
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1913.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #lion #human headed #giraffe #illustration
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
From The London Magazine, 1902.  The text reads, "I haven't any name.  I am an irresposible nonentity.  I am a spectre, and spectres don't have names.  I don't exist.  You think you see me, but you don't, for I am dead, and I can prove it to you.  Do you want me to do it?"
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#vintage illustration #spectre #illustration #current mood #nonentity #i don't exist #we are ghosts
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Strange Dreams (permalink)
From Once a Week, 1874.
If you have a strange dream to share, send it along!
> read more from Strange Dreams . . .
#vintage illustration #dreaming #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1869.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #sea life #fish #illustration
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to Where's Waldo? / Where's Wally?  The caption reads, "Can you see me in this crowd at Atlantic City, N.J."
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage postcard #atlantic city #where's waldo #where's wally #vintage beachgoers #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Tuberculosis: the head of the Medusa representing the disease, and advertising an exhibition against tuberculosis in Basel."  From 1913.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#medusa #tuberculosis #vintage poster #snake hair #poster
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Images Moving Through Time (permalink)
"I need a soft shoulder to cry on" (Private Dick Hackney McTrite by Walker Jackson).  Photo courtesy of the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage photo #sign
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Take my advice: don't."  From Cassell's, 1888.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #don't #advice #vintage men #illustration #men
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From c. 1903.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#astrology #horoscope #astrological chart
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
By Theodor Kittelsen, ca. 1904.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #otherworld #monster #mythology #norway #troll #lake monster #illustration
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea (permalink)
"Even on calm waters, waves will rise."

   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage ad #ship #octopus #sea moster #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The silent princess speaks at last."  From The Olive Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, 1907.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy tale #sheet ghost #shrouded #veiled #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Phynodderree, and Other Legends of the Isle of Man by Edward Watson Callow, 1882.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #folklore #fairies #fairy tale #fairy kingdom #fairy queen #fairy king #illustration #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
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November 21, 2016

Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
The best witch leading a nun and monk on a flying black goat that we've seen all week.  From Die Muskete, 1919.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #witch #broomstick #occult #illustration #black goat #wicked monk #wicked nun
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Old News (permalink)
You've heard the euphemism "friend of Dorothy," but there's been something queer about Kansas toradoes since at least 1913.  From Popular Mechanics.
> read more from Old News . . .
#tornado #wizard of oz #vintage headline #friend of dorothy #kansas #headline
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #emile zola #frisking #cover your eyes
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1869.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #witchcraft #cauldron #witches #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
 From Egipto by Jorge Ebers, 1882.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ancient egypt #full moon #night #egyptian statue #illustration
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to reveal a tinted version.

Mutual Building, Richmond, Virginia
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage postcard #virginia #richmond #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology's Bulletin 64, 1918.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#skull #vintage diagram #excavation #diagram #ethnology
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Everybody's Doing This Now (permalink)
"Their brows were bound with garlands," from "The Mysterious Painting" by C. N. Barham, in Cassell's, 1893.
> read more from Everybody's Doing This Now . . .
#vintage illustration #garland #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Menu, The House, San Francisco," date unknown.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#architecture #vintage menu #san francisco #pink house #men #menu
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Gentlemen having nothing but ideas to exchange will call later.  'Time Is money.'  Don't spend too much at one place."  From 1888.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #black cat #darkness #glowing eyes #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The elixir of long life."  From Auriol, or, the Elixir of Life by William Harrison Ainsworth, 1875.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #elixir #alchemy #longevity #immortality #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #angel #emblem #light and dark #hide and seek #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Contes Mauves de ma Mère-Grand, illustrated by Maurice Lalau, 1921.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #giant #fairy tale #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Les Assiègés de Compiègne 1430 by A. Robida, 1906.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #cathedral #gargoyle #stone carving #illustration #art
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How to Believe in Your Elf (permalink)
* There is a vast world of reality into which science can no more enter than an elf can be Santa Claus.  We regret to observe that rather than face it, and confess its inability to measure it, science turns its back upon it.  Life is not always every-day life, and the insolvable mysteries are correlated not to formal rules but to spirit and inspiration.  Are bits of wisdom liable to dwarf the subject?  Indeed — and rightly!  James Howell described the ingredients of a good proverb to be "sense, shortness, and salt."  May Howell's cry resound through this present collection of maxims on believing in one's elf.

> read more from How to Believe in Your Elf . . .
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November 20, 2016

Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The American Garden, 1891.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #mandrake #magic herb #herbology #illustration
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Old News (permalink)
"If only I knew how to locate the trouble."  From Popular Mechanics, 1919.
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage illustration #trouble #vintage headline #illustration #troubleshooting #headline
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1913.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #giant #doctor #illustration #injection
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Alone with despair," from Once a Week, 1874.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #bat #despair #loneliness #human headed #vampire #1870s #illustration #snake hair
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1869.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #scarecrow #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"I am trying so hard to forget you."  Date uncertain.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#heartache #heartbreak #forgetting #vintage postcard #trying to forget #breaking up #trying so hard #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's a rabbit magician (a detail of an Easter postcard, date uncertain).  We had previously uncovered this giant rabbit magician pulling a man out of his hat, from 1910.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #magician #bunnies #rabbit #magic hat #easter #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
It's been said that "goats are like people" (Edith Buck, Rendezvous with the Rock).  We find our evidence in The Early Herdsmen by Katherine Elizabeth Dopp, 1923.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #goats #goat costume #goat skin #illustration #furries
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Spell-Bound," from Cassell's, 1888.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #witch #magick #grimoire #spellbound #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Standing stones, Greby grave field, Bohuslän, Sweden."  Watercolour by Olof Hermelin, c. 1880.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #standing stones #monolith #sweden #watercolor #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Twelve months later," from Sketches of Hudson Bay Life by H. Bullock Webster, c. 1875.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #macabre #death #skull face #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Vision of Guy Fawkes at Saint Winifred's Well," from Guy Fawkes by William Harrison Ainsworth, 1857.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ghost #spectre #spirit #vision #guy fawkes #illustration
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Everybody's Doing This Now (permalink)
> read more from Everybody's Doing This Now . . .
#vintage illustration #champagne #popping corks #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Contes De Fees, 1908.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #dragon #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum, 1904.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #oz #pumpkin head #illustration #art
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November 19, 2016

Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's the so-called turkey dance of the Utes.  Dancers sit along the circle (A).  Drummers with their drums are seated at B.  The leader begins the dance at C and traces the arrowed path, followed by the dancees.  "The erratic motion is continued indefinitely."  From the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology's Bulletin 75, 1922.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage diagram #ritual dance #diagram #utes #dancing circle
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Precursors (permalink)
Fifty-five years before the Bowie song, a phonograph plays "Fame."  From Die Muskete, 1920.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #music #phonograph #fame #illustration #record player #david bowie
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Old News (permalink)
You've heard Paris called the "City of Light," but even after the Enlightenment, its streets were impenetrably dark.  "Paris is a city of darkness."  From Popular Mechanics, 1918.
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage headline
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The Right Word (permalink)
Here's a book on degeneration that's deteriorating.  Degeneration by Max Simon Nordau, 1895.
> read more from The Right Word . . .
#title page #old book #degeneration #yellowed paper #fragile book #brittle pages
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Once a Week, 1877.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #falling #cliff #imminent death #illustration #plunging #tied to a boulder
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1869.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #weird #dancing #illustration
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to the three-doors paradox known as the "Monty Hall Problem" (which we previously debunked here).  From Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #monty hall problem #three doors #Hypnerotomachia Poliphili #illustration
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to open the door.

Washington's Old Headquarters, Richmond, Virginia
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#george washington #vintage postcard #richmond #virginia history #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Kennzeichen der Insekten by J. H. Sulzer, 1761.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairies #insect #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Yes, it is a new world in Miami.  Some would call it a brave new world with a foot firmly placed in the future.  Others, suspicious of rapid change, would call it a frightening and confusing world in a constant state of flux." —Nuestro, 1985
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#globe #earth #vintage postcard #miami #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Prinsessen lysker trollet" by Theodor Kittelsen, 1900.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #folklore #troll #beauty and the beast #illustration
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Do-Re-Midi (permalink)
> read more from Do-Re-Midi . . .
#vintage illustration #musical animal #animal music #animal call #call of the wild #animal singing #illustration
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea (permalink)
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #sea #storm on the sea #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #emblem #love of wisdom #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Shakespeare's Comedy of A Midsummer-Night's Dream, illustrated by William Heath Robinson, 1914.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairies #shakespeare #midsummer's night dream #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #skull #vegetarianism #thanksgiving #turkey #illustration #art
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November 18, 2016

Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to Twitter bots.  Voices from the Void: Six Years' Experience in Automatic Communications by Hester Travers Smith, 1919.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#spirit writing #spiritualism #spiritism #automatic writing #twitter bot #automatic communication
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1913.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #heraldic
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought (permalink)
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #life
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"After a desperately long day—tea in the garden.  Awful apparition of ancient spider, and one fell in the teapot, and we never noticed him until later."  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1869.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #spider #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's some physiognomy from De Belgische Illustratie, 1872.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #physiognomy #illustration #people who look like animals
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
A postcard meant to be sent by a tardy correspondent is here transformed into a nudge from the neglected party.  From 1906.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#bear #vintage postcard #carpetbagger #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From the Arthur and Fritz Kahn Collection, courtesy of the Leo Baeck Institute Archives.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #earthquake #falling apart #upset #coming undone #illustration
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to Brokeback Mountain, from "In the Wild West" by J. Berwick Harwood, in Cassell's, 1890.  The caption reads, "I like you, mister!"
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #brokeback mountain #cowboys #wild west #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
There was a time when products were proudly tested on animals.  Plus, there's a capuchin/cappuccino joke in there somewhere.  From c. 1890.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage ad #monkey #vintage coffee #capuchin #coffee ad #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
The King in Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage book cover #book cover #book #king in yellow #old book #illustration
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea (permalink)
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #sea monster #tom thumb #illustration #eaten alive
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Från Upländsk Bygd by Carl Lewenhaupt, 1899.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #owls #illustration
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Something, Defined (permalink)
Here's a line from a poem in Hannah Claire Miller's The Feeling of Closing Your Eyes.
> read more from Something, Defined . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Légendes Valaisannes, illustrated by Eugéne Reichlen, 1919.  Speaking of which, what exactly are a snowball's chances in hell?  See A Snowball's Chance in Hell.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #devil #satan #occult #grimoire #horned one #goat legged #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #woodcut #angel #immolation #on fire #illustration #art
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November 17, 2016

This May Surprise You (permalink)
You've heard that money doesn't grow on trees.  We learn the surprising reason why in Where the Money Grows by Garet Garrett, 1911.  On Wall Street there is a "hoodoo tree" whose evil shadow deprives one of the money-making gift.

> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#voodoo #tree
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
A coffin for a walking skeleton.  From Die Muskete, 1919.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #macabre #skeleton #coffin #walking dead #living dead #illustration #land of the dead
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to "painter of light" Thomas Kinkade -- a small hamlet glowing in the dark.  From Popular Mechanics, 1914.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #limelight #illustration #thomas kinkade
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Once a Week, 1877.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #gorilla #illustration #animal savior #primate
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Fun magazine, 1885.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #monster #giant bug #beetle #giant insect #giant beetle #illustration
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
A rooster plays golf as it advertises half its body to be fried and devoured.
INSTRUCTIONS: Click for a different version.

Chicken in the Rough
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage ad #anthropomorphism #chicken #rooster #fried chicken #gif #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
An amateur radio card from Russia, date uncertain.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#amateur radio #russian radio #radio waves
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Interagency Bison Management Plan for the State of Montana and Yellowstone National Park, 1998.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#buffalo #watercolor
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
On this day in 1953, Clematis Street in West Palm Beach, Florida became obsolete.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage postcard #florida #obsolescence #west palm beach #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
A 19th century trade card.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #demon #devil #vintage devil #jeweler #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"On frail Ice, the whirring Skate / Becomes an Instrument of Fate."  Colored aquatint by Thomas Rowlandson, 1816.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #skeleton #mortality #grim reaper #ice skating #skating accident #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Drawing-Room Plays, selected and adapted from the French by Lady Adelaide Cadogan and illustrated by E. L. Shute, 1888.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #shy #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Saluting old pictures on the wall with mock courtesy," from When the Birds Begin to Sing by Winifred Graham, 1897.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #old pictures #portrait gallery #mock courtesy #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #emblem #all-seeing eye #eye of god #eye in the pyramid #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Contes Mauves de ma Mère-Grand, illustrated by Maurice Lalau, 1921.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #wizard #fairy tale #flying #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Sunbeams and Other Stories by Annie Austin Flint, 1897.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy #sunbeam #illustration #art
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November 16, 2016

Precursors (permalink)
Folks were driving hybrids back in 1918, as we see in Popular Mechanics.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #hybrid #illustration #vintage automobile #snow tires #automobile #hybrid car
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Old News (permalink)
Here's a precursor to I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woolrich a.k.a William Irish.  It's The Bride of a Ghost by Joseph Jones, 1883.
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage headline #old book #headline
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Two of the cabalistic signs on the robe of the wizard of the poo-leach state are, indeed, pigs.  From Die Muskete, 1912.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #wizard #illustration
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Non-Circulating Books (permalink)
Non-circulating book.  See our artist’s statement here: https://www.oneletterwords.com/weblog/?c=NonCirculatingBooks.  (Individual cards are available from Zazzle, and deep discount bulk orders of 10 or more are available from Vistaprint.)
> read more from Non-Circulating Books . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #non-circulating #library book
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This May Surprise You (permalink)

"Though it may surprise you, the richest deposits on our planet lie just a few blocks from your house.  They rest in your local cemetery or graveyard.  Buried beneath the soil within the walls of those sacred grounds are dreams that never came to pass, songs that were never sung, books that were never written, paintings that never filled a canvas, ideas that were never shared, visions that never became reality, inventions that were never designed, plans that never went beyond the drawing board of the mind and purposes that were never fulfilled." —Dr. Myles Munroe, qtd. in Matriculate To Your Perfect Degree Course

> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Fun magazine, 1885.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #political cartoon #hybrid #bull #human faced #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Sodosma mounted the skeleton steed and took up the jewelled reins."  From The Empire Of The Necromancers by Clark Ashton Smith.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #skeleton #grim reaper #illustration #necromancers
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Drama of the Forests by Arthur Henry Howard Heming, 1921.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #winter #north pole #northern lights #aurora borealis #illustration
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Images Moving Through Time (permalink)
It's been said that "The parent is the background context."  Photo courtesy of the Costică Acsinte Archive.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to bring on the night.

Statue of Liberty, New York City
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#statue of liberty #vintage postcard #new york city #night and day #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"King Neptune's dinner party" from the Empress of Britain World Cruise, 1934.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #king neptune #world cruise #empress of britain #dinner party invitation #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"To the future."  From Prose and Verse by William James Linton, 1836.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #angel #goddess #future #illustration
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea (permalink)
"In his doom'd Ship upon the Ocean."  From The Outcast by Robert Williams Buchanan, 1891.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #death ship #flying dutchman #ghost ship #haunted ship #illustration
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
A period is typically a circle, but a "high egg price period" is an irregular polygon.  From Illinois Agricultural Association Record, 1949.
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
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Do-Re-Midi (permalink)
From The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum, 1909.
> read more from Do-Re-Midi . . .
#vintage illustration #music #l. frank baum #road to oz #singing #1900s #illustration #art
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November 15, 2016

Old News (permalink)
You've heard that carrier pigeons can travel for 10 hours without rest, but did you know how?  From Popular Mechanics, 1918.
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage illustration #birds #pigeon #vintage headline #illustration #carrier pigeon #headline
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Precursors (permalink)

"For all epsilon greater than zero, there exists some delta greater than zero such that, for all points p and q in metric space X, if the distance in X between p and q is less than delta then the distance in Y between f(p) and f(q) is less than epsilon."
Nate Gabriel offers a sentence diagram of mathematical notation, adding that "This has probably never been done before by anyone ever."  Though not quite as fancy, here are some vintage mathematical sentence diagrams from A Compendium of English Grammar by Joel Nelson Eno, 1892.


> read more from Precursors . . .
#sentence diagram
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The Right Word (permalink)
> read more from The Right Word . . .
#slang #by cock
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Precursors (permalink)
"Flickered—gone" -- a precursor to T. S. Eliot's "Not with a bang but a whimper" (1925).  From Once a Week, 1878.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #exclamation point #illustration #t. s. eliot #not with a bang
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Spiritualism lampooned: "This is the portrait of a gentleman who communed with the spirits in a raw state," plus what the gentleman saw.  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1872.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #spirits #spiritualism #illustration
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Book of Whispers (permalink)
"The secret is to look beyond what is said and examine what drives it." —The Fox Trilogy: Imagining the Unimaginable and Dealing with It
* The most profound secrets lie not wholly in knowledge, said the poet.  They lurk invisible in that vitalizing spark, intangible, yet as evident as the lightning—the seeker's soul.  Solitary digging for facts can reward one with great discoveries, but true secrets are not discovered—they are shared, passed on in confidence from one to another.  The genuine seeker listens attentively.  No secret can be transcribed, save in code, lest it—by definition—cease to be.  This Book of Whispers collects and encodes more than one hundred of humankind's most cherished secrets.  To be privy to the topics alone is a supreme achievement, as each contains and nurtures the seed of its hidden truth.  As possessor and thereby guardian of this knowledge, may you summon the courage to honor its secrets and to bequeath it to one worthy.
> read more from Book of Whispers . . .
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to the Japanese film and manga series Uzumaki by Ito Junji.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage postcard #snail person #uzumaki #ito junji #postcard
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to retint.

Bathing Beach and Shore Line to Nobska Light, Woods Hole, Cape Code, Massachusetts
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage illustration #seaside #vintage postcard #massachusetts #illustration #cape cod #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"I want to be an angel / although to die is hard / But oh the bliss, to think of tihs [sic], / I'll make good Fairbank lard."  From c. 1890.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage ad #angel #pig #lard #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
 "Sover med senket hode" by Theodor Kittelsen.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #winter #norway #snow covered #sleeping bird #evening star #snowy #winter bird #illustration
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Staring Into the Depths (permalink)
Here's a character looking through an ornate capital O that begins a chapter in The Man from Manchester by Dick Donovan, 1890.
[The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Staring Into the Depths . . .
#vintage illustration #ornate capital #capital o #letter o #opera glasses #binoculars #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The tomb of the Rosicrucian."  From Auriol, or, the Elixir of Life by William Harrison Ainsworth, 1875.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #tomb #esoteric #giant book #rosicrucian #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Young Nimrods in North America by Thomas Wallace Knox, 1881.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #tiny man #giant boot #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From La Belle au Bois Dormant, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, 1920.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #silhouette #fire #bonfire #illustration #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"For a moment the dove's head becomes that of a beautiful girl."  From The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, 1906.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy tale #harpy #human headed #magical dove #illustration
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November 14, 2016

Rhetorical Questions, Answered! (permalink)

Courtesy of literary humorist Jonathan Caws-Elwitt:

Now, isn't that just the cutest little doggie!

A. Yes.

B. No.

C. Objection! Counsel is leading the witness.

D. Do you really want an honest answer to that?

E. Now? Yes. But if a cuter little doggie comes along in a minute or two, you're out of luck.

> read more from Rhetorical Questions, Answered! . . .
#jonathan caws-elwitt
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
The year in review.  From The Magical Land of Noom, written and illustrated by Johnny Gruelle, 1922.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #boxing gloves #punched
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1913.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #political cartoon #money #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Shaking a fist at 8 o'clock, from Once a Week, 1878.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #1870s #illustration #punch time in the face #8 o'clock #hatred of time
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1887.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #dragon #dragon slayer #treason #illustration
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Simple Answers (permalink)
"'A very blue, very cold lake,' is her simple answer." —Karina Halle, Where Sea Meets Sky
If this is not the answer you’re looking for,
click here for a different answer.
> read more from Simple Answers . . .
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to paint parliament.

Houses of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage postcard #ottawa #canadian parliament #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Song picture no. 107.  The person addressed is represented as a mandio' [spirit], in form like those that appear in the water."  From "Chippewa Music" by Frances Densmore, Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology's Bulletin 45, 1910.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ghost #spirit #water spirit #chippewa #mandio #illustration
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Images Moving Through Time (permalink)
"Have ball, will orbit": The Vanguard TV-4 Missile, 1958, via the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage photo #rocket #missile #space program #have a ball #will orbit #photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Who will be 'St. George?'" from a suffrage campaign.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #dragon #vintage poster #suffrage #st. george #illustration #poster
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Living made easy with a revolving hat with eye-glass, cigar, scent box, spectacles and hearing trumpet, from 1830.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fashion #vintage fashion #top hat #dandy #hearing trumpet #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Threw the meat about the floor," from Gleanings from Popular Authors, 1885.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vegetarianism #vegetarian #food fight #meat #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #monk #angel #fairy tale #mother mary #illustration #art
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How to Believe in Your Elf (permalink)
* There is a vast world of reality into which science can no more enter than an elf can be Santa Claus.  We regret to observe that rather than face it, and confess its inability to measure it, science turns its back upon it.  Life is not always every-day life, and the insolvable mysteries are correlated not to formal rules but to spirit and inspiration.  Are bits of wisdom liable to dwarf the subject?  Indeed — and rightly!  James Howell described the ingredients of a good proverb to be "sense, shortness, and salt."  May Howell's cry resound through this present collection of maxims on believing in one's elf.

> read more from How to Believe in Your Elf . . .
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought (permalink)
Thanks to author W. D. Clarke for calling us "encyclopedic."
Speaking of walking encyclopedias, a few years ago we noted how we too often forget that even zombies were once better read than dead.  A crucial example is an article in a 1905 issue of Windsor magazine, in which the first example of a "walking encyclopaedia" is technically deceased.  Over the years, ravenousness for knowledge, even from beyond the grave, became equated with a base hunger for brains.  Alas, it's all indicative of the "dumbing down" of popular culture.

> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#vintage illustration #zombie #1900s #illustration #walking encyclopedia
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November 13, 2016

Go Out in a Blaze of Glory (permalink)
We're honored that tech guru Gordon Meyer (author of Smart Home Hacks fame) called our Seance Parlor Feng Shui project "One of the loveliest, and most lovingly created, books in my collection."

> read more from Go Out in a Blaze of Glory . . .
#spirits #occult #ghosts #seance parlor #spiritualism
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Separated at Birth? (permalink)
Our custom widget that checks for duplicated images suggested this unlikely pairing.  Click each image for its source.
32884 21820
> read more from Separated at Birth? . . .
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This May Surprise You (permalink)

"It may surprise you to know this, but Freud's work can be (and is) applied day in and day out in modern counseling. (If this surprises you, it could indicate that you have not been taught Freud well.)" —Person-Centered Approaches for Counselors

 

> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
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Yearbook Weirdness (permalink)
From Hunter College's Wistarion yearbook, 1931.  See How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #shakespeare #vintage yearbook #yearbook #theatre #marionette #1930s #all the world's a stage #puppet master #puppetry #illustration
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Disguised as a Christmas Tree (permalink)
"'I am a bill collector disguised as a tree,' said the bill collector disguised as a tree." —Robert Sheckley, Options
> read more from Disguised as a Christmas Tree . . .
#christmas tree
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The Hobnob of The Merchant Tailors of Salisbury."  (A detail from a postcard, date uncertain.)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage photo #hobnob #salisbury #merchant tailors #photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Asiatic Researches, or Transactions of the Society Instituted in Bengal for Inquiring Into the History and Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia, 1799.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#religion #vintage illustration #peacock #deity #hinduism #many faces #illustration
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Images Moving Through Time (permalink)
"They watch with loving and gracious eyes as you flail about, because they, too, have fallen, flailed, and found new life on the other side" (Jenny Simmons, The Road to Becoming).  Our photo is courtesy of the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage photo #astronaut #multiple exposure #flailing #photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
The Black Cat, December 1896.  This will also be of interest: The Collected Lost Meanings of Christmas.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #black cat #cat king #christmas cat #illustration
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea (permalink)
"He succeeded in obtaining some wine from the cask," from The King's Own by Frederick Marryat and illustrated by F. H. Townsend, 1896.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #wine #cask #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson, 1898.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #tennyson #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #emblem #knight #gryphon #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The twisted shadow of the king."  From The King of Gee-Whiz by Emerson Hough and illustrated by Oscar E. Cesare, 1906.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #shadow #illustration #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
An escape from the Mother of the Genius, from The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, 1906.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy tale #giantess #andrew lang #illustration #art
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November 12, 2016

Strange Dreams (permalink)
"The dream of Charlemagne," from The Book of Romance by Andrew Lang, 1902.
If you have a strange dream to share, send it along!
> read more from Strange Dreams . . .
#vintage illustration #king #dream #charlemagne #animal fight #illustration
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Old News (permalink)
Fans of David Lynch will recognize this precursor to his character of the Lady in the Radiator.  From Popular Mechanics, 1921.
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage illustration #david lynch #fashion #vintage fashion #vintage headline #illustration #lady in the radiator #headline
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Images Moving Through Time (permalink)
Rune stone, Kungshållet, Kjula, Södermanland, Sweden, 1929.  Courtesy of Swedish National Heritage.  "Elias Wessén and Harald Faith-Ell are filling the runes with paint.  Their car on the road.  The inscription says: 'Alrik, Sigrid's son, raised the stone in memory of his father Spjut, who had been in the west, broken down and fought in townships. He knew all the journey's fortresses.'"
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage photo #sweden #illustration #rune stone #runes
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Mr. Golightly is made a member of the Mutton Cutlet Club."  From Once a Week, 1871.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #swearing in #gentleman's club
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The triumph of bung," from Fun magazine, 1885.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #anthropomorphism #keg #barrel #bung #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
An elk adjusts the clock in 1907.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #clock #1900s #elk #setting the clock #11 o'clock #animal time #illustration
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to shift time.

Oldest Masonic Building in U.S., Richmond, Virginia
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage postcard #virginia #richmond #masonic lodge #masons #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #pocket watch #illustration
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
You've heard that lines of longitutde and lattitude are imaginary, but this space photograph suggests otherwise.  From the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#earth #space photo #crescent earth #longitude #lattitude
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"It's my life.  I've lived it.  I love it.  Criticism be damned."  "Menu, House of Murphy, San Francisco," date uncertain.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#severed head #decapitated #vintage menu #san francisco #topless lady #salome #men #menu
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Askeladden og trollet" by Theodor Kittelsen, 1910.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #otherworld #troll #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The end," from Rollica Reed by Eliza Kerr, 1890.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #hourglass #the end #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Simboli Predicabili by Carlo Labia, 1692.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #demon #devil #emblem #cauldron #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Adventures of Peterkin by Gilly Bear and illustrated by Helen E. Ohrenschall, 1916.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy #fairy tale #flying #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Note her gherkin hosiery.  From Mother Earth's Children by Elizabeth Gordon, 1914.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #anthropomorphism #pickle #illustration #vegetable #art
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November 11, 2016

Old News (permalink)
Imagine seeing headlines like these, today.  Vestiges of another age.  "City eyesore transformed into Greek theater" (Popular Mechanics, 1917).  "Sunken-garden beauty spot made from ugly gully" (Popular Mechanics, 1920).
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage headline #back in the day #headline #greek theatre
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No News Is Good News (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1913.
> read more from No News Is Good News . . .
#vintage illustration #egypt #crocodile #illustration
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Presumptive Conundrums (permalink)
> read more from Presumptive Conundrums . . .
#math
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
It's been said that "a conjecture is 'rich in content' if it 'sticks its neck out'" (Biometrics, 1982).  Here's something rich in content that's sticking its neck out.  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1887.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #money #queen victoria #sticking neck out #british coin #long heck #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
An encounter with one's own ghost, date uncertain.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#ghost #vintage photo #spirit photography #double exposure #photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"I am now at liberty," date uncertain.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#asylum #vintage postcard #escapee #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"An advert advising people to 'Keep and eye on your chest.'  X-rays help to catch Tuberculosis of the lungs early."  From 195?.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage ad #statue #sculpture #modern art #tuberculosis #ad
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to renovate the motel.

Cabana Motel, Reno, Nevada
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage postcard #motel #vintage motel #gif #postcard
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Yesterday's Weather (permalink)
"Stude and Kavaleff in Helsinki Zoo, May 1898."
*Inspired by the world's only accurate meteorological report, "Yesterday's Weather," as seen on Check It Out.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#umbrella #vintage photo #black and white photography #helsinki #photo
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Yesterday's Weather (permalink)
"There goes my dinner," from Sketches of Hudson Bay Life by H. Bullock Webster, c. 1875.
*Inspired by the world's only accurate meteorological report, "Yesterday's Weather," as seen on Check It Out.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#vintage illustration #campfire #winter #hudson bay #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Rock Me to Sleep, Mother by Elizabeth Akers, 1883.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #angel #father time #scythe #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Wally Wanderoon and His Story-Telling Machine by Joel Chandler Harris, 1903.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairies #joel chandler harris #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Little Tom by V. Tille, 1922.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #gnome #fairy #elf #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#death #skeleton #father time #candle #time's up #snuffing candle
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November 10, 2016

The Right Word (permalink)
Here's the serpentine squiggle from Tristram Shandy, translated into French by Honoré de Balzac for inclusion in his novel La Peau de Chagrin and then converted back into English by Balzac's translator Ellen Marriage.  See our collection of this squiggle's transliterations here.
> read more from The Right Word . . .
#vintage illustration #doodle #translation #illustration #tristram shandy #squiggle
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Uncharted Territories (permalink)
Here's a blank map of the moon, from The Lunar World by Josiah Crampton, 1853.
> read more from Uncharted Territories . . .
#moon #blank map
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Once a Week, 1867.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #alligator #hunter #illustration #big game
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
A lampoon of spiritualist seances -- "the Psychic Force, unseen," from Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1872.  This should be of interest: Seance Parlor Feng Shui.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #skepticism #spiritualism #seance #psychic force #illustration
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to deepen the sunset.

Hotel Schroeder, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage postcard #vintage hotel #milwaukee #wisconsin #gif #hotel #postcard
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The Right Word (permalink)
"Some words passed between us."  From 1906.
> read more from The Right Word . . .
#dictionary #vintage postcard #throwing the book #words passed #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From the Southern California Academy of Sciences Bulletin, 1979.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#whale #before and after
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Images Moving Through Time (permalink)

"The difference between a waving arm and signaling to a friend depends upon the possession, by an agent, of a reason to wave one's arm in that manner, namely, the desire to signal to a friend" (Handbook of International Relations).  Photo courtesy of the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.

> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#astronaut #space suit #spaceman #waving #wave hello #waving arm
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
The Southern Cross as celestial lemons, as seen from San Fernando.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage ad #starry night #southern cross #lemons #san fernando #illustration #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Colored aquatint by Thomas Rowlandson, 1816.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #mortality #grim reaper #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The hobby-horse and the safety bicycle," from The Brighton Road: Old Times and New on a Classic Highway by Charles George Harper, 1892.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #bicycle #cycling #old bicycle #brighton road #1890s #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #emblem #heart #winged heart #pit #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Mr. Rabbit at Home by Joel Chandler Harris, 1895.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #dinosaur #creature #fish #joel chandler harris #1890s #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Phynodderree, and Other Legends of the Isle of Man by Edward Watson Callow, 1882.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #imp #spider #cobweb #fairytale #spiderweb #illustration #art #1880s
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #anthropomorphism #clock #1900s #illustration #pea pod #art
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November 9, 2016

Uncharted Territories (permalink)
We're delighted by this review of our atlas of blank maps:
5-stars.  "This book is really something. I stumbled across Craig Conley/Professor Oddfellow in a very random fashion and was instantly intrigued by the non-linear, insightful musings. The writings display a certain literary mastery in its truly original style. One of my favorite quotes from this book: "... keep in mind that when one is at the center of things, every direction is straight ahead". This is my first purchase by this author and it won't be my last. If you are ready to delve into the exploration of concepts that will enhance the way you view the world, this book is for you." —Jessica
> read more from Uncharted Territories . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1912.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #grim reaper #sword #war #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The mistaken ghost."  From Once a Week, 1867.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ghost #despair #depression #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1887.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #monk #snake charmer #hurdy gurdy #illustration #hose
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#death #skeleton #fishing #vintage postcard #postcard
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to renovate the ship.

Vacationland, Michigan State Ferries
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage postcard #michigan #ferry #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"A large goose with three golden eggs.  Numbered circles printed on the body of the goose are for playing a counter game.  Coloured engraving."  From 1848.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#goose #golden egg #counter game
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Go Out in a Blaze of Glory (permalink)
Jim Hester performing a night flight over Ocean Park, 1920.
> read more from Go Out in a Blaze of Glory . . .
#vintage photo #long exposure #night photography #night flight #ocean park #photo
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Puzzles and Games (permalink)
This is a fairly easy visual puzzle that inexplicably doubled as an ad for coffee, c. 1890.

> read more from Puzzles and Games . . .
#vintage ad #donkey #visual puzzle #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's idleness as the root of all evil.  "Lediggang er roten til alt ondt."  By Theodor Kittelsen, 1898.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #anthropomorphism #root of all evil #idleness #illustration #vegetable
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #demon #monster #robert louis stevenson #lion #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The enchanted chairs," from Auriol, or, the Elixir of Life by William Harrison Ainsworth, 1875.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #chair #enchanted #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Contes Roses de ma Mère-Grand, illustrated by Maurice Lalau, 1914.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #giant #fairy tale #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#fairy tale #blackbird #rabbits #bunnies #brothers grimm
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Christian Similitudes by John Warner Barber, 1866.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #skeleton #ruins #illustration #art
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November 8, 2016

Yesterday's Weather (permalink)
"A wet day for a wedding."  From Fighting an Omen by E. Henderson Smith, 1883.  Speaking of weddings, see our Collected Lost Meanings of Wedlock.  Why lost meanings? The definition of "marriage" has become hotly debated of late, to the point that the word has become "increasingly unmentionable" (Catholic Herald) or even "has no meaning at all" (Family Policy Institute). It's been said that only through loss can there be gain, that only through loss can we truly grow and understand what is at stake, that only through loss can that which is beautiful be found. As the poet Joseph August has noted, "Only through loss can we glimpse the deepest meanings, / hints and flashes whispered from below / elucted as from underwater, deep." The collected lost meanings of wedlock might surprise even those who would otherwise be considered well-informed.  It's the perfect gift for one's betrothed, or for a wedding planner, or for anyone contemplating matrimony.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#vintage illustration #rainy day #wedding #marriage #wedlock #illustration #1880s
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Some roulette from Die Muskete, 1916.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #grim reaper #war #roulette #illustration
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Precursors (permalink)
Fifty years before Flatland (1884), there was Mathematical Geography (1834).
> read more from Precursors . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Once a Week, 1865.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ghost #illustration
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to the novelty Groucho glasses (the glasses part came later).  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1879.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #groucho marx
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Yesterday's Weather (permalink)
"It's a fine day, stranger."  Date uncertain.
*Inspired by the world's only accurate meteorological report, "Yesterday's Weather," as seen on Check It Out.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#vintage art #windy day #weather #fine day #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The remains of our feast … marched out," from "The Mysterious Painting" by C. N. Barham, in Cassell's, 1893.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #magick #wizardry #levitation #enchanted #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From 1936.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage photo #dinosaur #black and white photo #tyrannosaur #vintage men #men #photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
The Echo, 1895.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #satyr #illustration
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
Does the Thames really have eyes?  Yes!  We found a corroboration for Arthur Pask's reference to "the eyes of the Thames."  Anne Berry writes, "The Thames eyes him blackly, a sardonic humor in its heavy drag" (The Water Children).
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#thames
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Merman and the Figure-Head by Clara F. Guernsey, 1871.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #under the sea #underwater school #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Sea Fairies by L. Frank Baum, 1911.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #sea monster #l. frank baum #sea pig #illustration #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The little temple."  From Half-Past Bedtime by H. H. Bashford, 1922.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #temple #mountains #mountain temple #illustration #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#devil #death #otherworld #demons #hell #coffin
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November 7, 2016

Old News (permalink)
The "staycation" isn't a new concept.  Here are Exercises of a Recumbent Vacation by James B. Tomalin, 1861.
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage headline
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1912.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #spirits #memory #ghosts #fireplace #hearth #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The 'laughing' feeling when taking gas."  From The Sketch, 1911.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #surrealism #illustration #laughing gas
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Precursors (permalink)
We discovered another precursor to the film A Cry in the Dark (1988).  A dingo took her baby in this image from Once a Week, 1865.  Previously, there was this other dingo taking a baby in 1900.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #dingo #a cry in the dark
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From a 1960 voting ad, with slight alterations.  (By the way, you can be the goat even if -- perhaps especially if -- you sit out elections as we do.)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #elephant #goat #donkey #election poster #voting poster #be the goat #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Hindhead [Surrey], the Devil's Jumps."  From c. 1910.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #devil #pitchfork #demons #hindhead #surrey #1910 #illustration
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to remove the postmark.

Porte St. Jean, Quebec, Canada
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#canada #vintage postcard #quebec #st. john's gate #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
It's been said that "every person is a flower" (A. J. Rolls, Open the Safe of Thoughts for Success).  Our image is from Goodell's Seeds, Bulbs, Rare Water Lilies, Roses, and Other Plants, 1900.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #florist #flower man #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's the spirit of refueling, from the USS Enterprise Special Collection of the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ship #genii #refueling #spirit of fuel #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Death sits out this dance.  Colored aquatint by Thomas Rowlandson, 1816.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #skeleton #dance of death #grim reaper #king death #illustration
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The Right Word (permalink)
"Skedaddled."  From Alter Ejusdem by James Archibald Sidey, 1877.
> read more from The Right Word . . .
#vintage illustration #skedaddle #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Little Helpers by Margaret Janvier, 1889.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #cat #sailor cat #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Zauberlinda, the Wise Witch by Eva Katherine Clapp, 1901.  A gift idea: print out this image as the tag for a pairing of How to Be Your Own Cat and How to Believe in Your Elf.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy #cat #fairytale #illustration #art
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How to Believe in Your Elf (permalink)
* There is a vast world of reality into which science can no more enter than an elf can be Santa Claus.  We regret to observe that rather than face it, and confess its inability to measure it, science turns its back upon it.  Life is not always every-day life, and the insolvable mysteries are correlated not to formal rules but to spirit and inspiration.  Are bits of wisdom liable to dwarf the subject?  Indeed — and rightly!  James Howell described the ingredients of a good proverb to be "sense, shortness, and salt."  May Howell's cry resound through this present collection of maxims on believing in one's elf.

> read more from How to Believe in Your Elf . . .
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November 6, 2016

Old News (permalink)
Here are some tricky book titles we've encountered in the course of our eccentric research.  Can you do the math?
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage headline #math
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Non-Circulating Books (permalink)
Non-circulating book.  See our artist’s statement here: https://www.oneletterwords.com/weblog/?c=NonCirculatingBooks.  (Individual cards are available from Zazzle, and deep discount bulk orders of 10 or more are available from Vistaprint.)
> read more from Non-Circulating Books . . .
#vintage illustration #clock face #illustration #library book #spiral of time
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"They drew his soul with them," from "The Harp of Invermorn" by William Black, in Once a Week, 1864.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #ghosts #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1872.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #twisted #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
A detail from a postcard, date uncertain.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #winking #eyes #flirting #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"My thoughts to you will ever tend till you find a sausage with just one end."  From 1907.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#weird postcard #sausage #vegetarian nightmare
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's the imp who plants popcorn, as revealed in A. T. Cook's seed catalog of 1902.  This should also be of interest: How to Believe in Your Elf.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #imp #popcorn #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From 1942, National Emergency Services, New South Wales.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #warfare #vintage poster #blackout #missile #world war ii #illustration #poster
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
Did you know that psychological warfare has its own pageants?  Photo by Vern C. Gorst, c. 1950.

> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#vintage photo #black and white photo #psywar #psychological warfare #beauty pageant #beauty queens #photo
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Yesterday's Weather (permalink)
"45° below zero--and he's lost the matches," from Sketches of Hudson Bay Life by H. Bullock Webster, c. 1875.
*Inspired by the world's only accurate meteorological report, "Yesterday's Weather," as seen on Check It Out.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#vintage illustration #winter #freezing to death #45 below #no matches #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #spider #tiny man #lizard #cavalry #spanish-american war #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Story of the Mince Pie by Josephine Scribner Gates, 1916.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fire spirit #fire #fireplace #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From In Happy Far-Away Land by Ruth Kimball Gardiner, 1902.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #anthropomorphism #faces in things #bowling balls #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Sunbeams and Other Stories by Annie Austin Flint, 1897.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #sunbeams #illustration #art
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November 5, 2016

Precursors (permalink)
The term "micromanage" has been traced back to 1976, but here's a literal case of micromanagement from 1910, in Popular Mechanics.  "The head chef of the future submitting food to a microscopic analysis."
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #micromanage #micromanagement
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From an ad in Die Muskete, 1912.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage ad #facial hair #mustache #happy and sad #illustration #droopy mustache #moustache #ad
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Once a Week, 1864.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #knight #luna #moon goddess #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Mythology modernized.  Jupiter the son of (H)Ops," from Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1873.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #mythology #jupiter #roman mythology #beer keg #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here's Julien Champagne's frontispiece to Fulcanelli's Les Mystère des Cathèdrales (about how the cathedrals of Europe aren't churches but rather stone books hiding the wisdom of alchemy in plain view).  Applying Fulcanelli's insights, we previously showed how to use your camera to reveal the Holy Grail hidden within a cathedral.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #skull #alchemy #fulcanelli #illustration
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click to clear the square.

> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#vintage postcard #virginia #richmond #bell house #gif #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From the Arthur and Fritz Kahn Collection, courtesy of the Leo Baeck Institute Archives.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #shadow #music #vintage poster #conductor #illustration #poster
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Gathering wrath and holy indignation," from Annals of the Parish and the Ayrshire Legatees by John Galt and illustrated by C. E. Brock, 1895.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #wrath #indignation #illustration #woman #vintage woman
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Mr Bunny, His Book by Adah L. Sutton.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #anthropomorphism #rabbit #bunny #reading animal #illustration
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
While it's true that fleas can be educated, they invariably report that they "just don't understand poetry" and "just don't read it."

> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#fleas
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #emblem #fire #magnifying glass #reflected light #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From The Story of Aaron (So Named) by Joel Chandler Harris, 1896.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #shadow #joel chandler harris #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Shakespeare's Comedy of A Midsummer-Night's Dream, illustrated by William Heath Robinson, 1914.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy #shakespeare #midsummer's night dream #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #woodcut #crocodile #time #father time #illustration #art
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November 4, 2016

This May Surprise You (permalink)
Today we're lucky to get any objective news at all.  But back in 1833 one could learn the Latest News from Three Worlds: Heaven, Earth and Hell by Russell Streeter.
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#heaven and hell #latest news
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
By Franz Wacik for Die Muskete, 1912.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #mary had a little lamb #shepherd #sheep #lamb #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The dance of death," from Once a Week, 1865.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #dance of death #falling #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Don't mind me my young friend.  I rather like it."  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1887.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #dirty water #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The skull is gone!!"  From Wandering Ghosts by F. Marion Crawford, 1911.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #skull #illustration
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Images Moving Through Time (permalink)
"All set to go places and do things!"  From 1938.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage photo #travel #vintage postcard #trailer #photo #postcard
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Precursors (permalink)
Before the "horse of many colors" in Oz, there was the rainbow horse of folklore that "delivered souls through the cosmos, avoiding wayward angels" (Max Evans, Animal Stories).
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #folklore #horse #illustration #rainbow horse #horse of many colors
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"The spider-doctor dropped lower and lower."  (Through the phenomenon of metempsychosis, a physician who had killed an arachnid before he died has reincarnated into the body of a spider.)  From "The Doctor's Metempsychosis,"  Cassell's, 1893.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #reincarnation #spider #metempsychosis #illustration
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to the cult film Eating Raul -- "Cooking a Husband," from 1884.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#cannibalism #humorous recipe
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to the Guy Fawkes mask -- an Aleut mortuary mask, from the Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1884.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #mask #guy fawkes #aleut #mortuary mask #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
How many times have we been beleaguered by eagles and goats simultaneously?  From Castle Rackrent and The Absentee by Maria Edgeworth, 1895.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #eagle #goat #animal attack #1890s #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #jack-in-the-box #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #puss in boots #folk tale #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Jack Frost and a parsnip from Mother Earth's Children by Elizabeth Gordon, 1914.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy tale #anthropomorphism #jack frost #parsnip #illustration #vegetable #art
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November 3, 2016

Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"About this time there occurred a strange incident."  A preliminary drawing for a 1950 strip cartoon version of Animal Farm from the cartoonist Norman Pett and his writing partner Donald Freeman.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #pig #animal farm #illustration #1950s
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought (permalink)
Isn't it disconcerting when your book reads you back?  From The Actress of Padua by Richard Penn Smith, 1836.
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#vintage book #book #eyes
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The Right Word (permalink)
In Absolutely Fabulous (series 3, episode 3), students seek a name for a presentation.  They brainstorm "gen...etics ethics" and "gentics."  But we found the name they never landed on: genethliacal (as seen in Genethliacal Astrology Comprehending an Enquiry Into, and Defense of the Celestial Science by John Worsdale, 1798).
> read more from The Right Word . . .
#big word #absolutely fabulous #genethliacal
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Precursors (permalink)
Before a steamship went over a mountain in Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, there was Up the Matterhorn in a Boat by Marion Manville Pope, 1897.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #werner herzog #fitzcarraldo #klaus kinski
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Postcard Transformations (permalink)
INSTRUCTIONS: Click for the painted version.

S.S. Alhambra
> read more from Postcard Transformations . . .
#ship #vintage postcard #s.s. alabama #gif #postcard
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Yesterday's Weather (permalink)
"Chicago's temperature soared" (Richard Oulahan, The Man Who, 1971).  And here's what Chicago's soaring temperature looks like.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#chicago #vintage postcard #1933 #thermometer #expo #postcard
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"Ravioli 'Dave' -- no credit, no money, no business, no phone."
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
You've heard of a seafood croquette, but here's what the game of fish croquet looks like.  From Geographic Society of Chicago Bulletin, 1913.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fish #croquet #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.  (The enlargement of the mysterious "face" is our own.)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage photo #extraterrestrials #alien #i want to believe #proof of aliens #the walk among us #photo
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
Here is revealed that the alphabet is actually grown in two varnished boxes (one uppercase and one lowercase, naturally).  From The American Florist, 1894.
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #emblem #pruning #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Stories from the Earthly Paradise by C. S. Evans, 1915.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #funeral #illustration #funeral pyre
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy tale #chariot #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #folklore #fairy tale #hot air balloon #folk tale #illustration
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November 2, 2016

Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to David Lynch's "Ricky Board" art piece in which rows of nearly identical objects are given different names.  From Yankee Enchantments by Charles Battell Loomis and illustrated by F. Y. Cory, 1900.  Here's the Ricky Board we made with asterisks in honor of the celebrated poet and novelist Gary Barwin.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #david lynch #butterflies #1900s #illustration #ricky board
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
Though it's been said that "Writing non-fiction doesn't offer the same creative kick that spinning a tale from whole cloth provides" (Charles Dougherty), a lack of cloth guarantees nudity.  From A Picture of Woonsocket or The Truth in Its Nudity by Thomas Man, 1835.
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#truth #nudity
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
The angel of peace contracted cholera, from Die Muskete, 1912.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #grotesque #cholera #angel of peace
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Hindpsych: Erstwhile Conjectures by the Sometime Augur of Yore (permalink)

Due to our mysteriously esoteric studies, we're often asked for oracular predictions about the new year.  For the upcoming transition, we consulted our own Mimetic Oracle, and here's why: life is a grand pageant, and it's been said that theatre reveals what is behind so-called reality.  Our Mimetic Oracle draws from 92 characters in six vintage plays, with 166 spoken lines and 31 stage directions in the mix.  With the system, one randomly draws five characters and generates a script to illuminate the current drama of life.  (There’s a detailed F.A.Q. which explains how the scripts are created, how to make sense of the dialogues, how to determine whether a reading is positive or negative, what to make of the various characters, and why these specific 6 plays were chosen for the system: http://www.mysteryarts.com/play/.)

Here's the strangely positive scenario that the oracle generated when asked about the new year:

The scene begins ominously: "They're putting out all the lights."  That vague pronoun seems to refer to the "powers that be."  Yet the character Snookums feels "perfectly fan-tas-a-ma-gor-ious."  This is crucial, not just for its positivity, but also for how the word is broken down.  This means: separate out the component parts, get down to the roots, see how it all fits together, and it'll all be good (albeit sort of unreal; the fantastical is removed from reality).  At the heart of the scene is some weeping, nervous rocking back and forth, darkness, and unconsciousness.  Yet a tin soldier (symbolic of humble, innocent, uncorrupted authority) points to the rear of the stage where a candle is being lit.  "Here is a candle," says Paddy Mike; "Now I'll light it."  A single candle dispels all the darkness.  The scene ends on an extraordinarly positive tone.  Note that the candle has been placed upon a box.  A lingering question to ponder is: what's in that box that supports the illumination?

> read more from Hindpsych: Erstwhile Conjectures by the Sometime Augur of Yore . . .
#divination #fortune telling #oracle #2017 prediction
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Once a Week, 1864.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #ghost #superstition #sheet ghost #illustration
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to Ryan O'Neal's "I'm upside down" in What's Up Doc?  It's an upside down "What's up" sign.  Photo courtesy of the Stanford Historical Archive.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #upside down #illustration #ryan o'neal #sign
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
Here are some of the luminaries from "Lantern City," in A Traveller's True Tale by Alfred J. Church and illustrated by C. O. Murray, 1880.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #anthropomorphism #lanterns #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"A woman throwing boxes of the cough-remedy Pulmoserina at lions, representing the ability of Pulmoserina to provide defence against respiratory diseases."  From 1920.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage ad #lions #vintage poster #cough drops #wild cat #poster #ad
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Yesterday's Weather (permalink)
An illustration by T. W. Couldery for Cassell's, 1893.
*Inspired by the world's only accurate meteorological report, "Yesterday's Weather," as seen on Check It Out.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#vintage illustration #rainy day #umbrella #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
"One day the dreary old King Death, / Inclined for some sport with the carnal; / So he took his shaft, well used to that craft, / And quietly stole from his charnel."  Color lithograph by Edward Hull, 1827.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #skeleton #grim reaper #king death #charnel house #illustration
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This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea (permalink)
"The proper end of royalty," from Nasby in Exile by David Ross Locke, 1882.
   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(   ,(
`-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `
"The sea is a cruel mistress. Yet again the sea has behaved unconscionably. It's time to address this terrible problem that is the sea." —Captain Neddie, from the hilarious BBC series Broken News
> read more from This Terrible Problem That Is the Sea . . .
#vintage illustration #sea #whirpool #rip tide #royalty #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Contes De Fees, 1908.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #demon #monster #fairy tale #horned one #beast #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Kinder und Hausmarchen by the Grimm Brothers, 1912.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy tale #mouse #grimm brothers #illustration #eek #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Stories of India's Gods and Heroes by W. D. Monro, 1911.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #deity #elephants #hinduism #god #illustration #art
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November 1, 2016

I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought (permalink)
Given our 2016, we don't need to read The True Meaning of the Eternity of Hell-Torments by William Dawes, 1707.
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#hell #torment
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Everybody's Doing This Now (permalink)
From Die Muskete, 1916.
> read more from Everybody's Doing This Now . . .
#vintage illustration #despair #fatigue #illustration #exhaustion
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This May Surprise You (permalink)
They say that diamonds are forever, but there is an end, as we learn in Precious Stones and Gems by Edwin William Streeter, 1882.
> read more from This May Surprise You . . .
#diamond
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Precursors (permalink)
> read more from Precursors . . .
#aggression #why we fight
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to Wendy Walker's sublime novel The Secret Service, in which spies discover a Tibetan technique to transform themselves into inanimate objects.  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1874.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #transformation #fashion #vintage fashion #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
The third figure from the right has two heads that don't see eye to eye.  The postcard was originally scanned by UpNorth Memories.  (For those intrigued by Janus-faced figures, our Oracle of the Two-Fold Gods is finally in print again, and the first 57 pages are viewable here.  [Note that the preview may take a few moments to load.])
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage photo #two headed #vintage postcard #michigan #two faced #alpena #photo #postcard
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Two Sides / Same Coin (permalink)
"Nature and nurture are two sides of the same coin and are coded into memory" (John B. Arden, Brain2Brain).
> read more from Two Sides / Same Coin . . .
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Images Moving Through Time (permalink)
"For when the frost comes, all will be safe till Spring" (R. H. Budd, The Complete Practical Farmer, 1835).  Photo courtesy of the Costică Acsinte Archive.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage photo #black and white photo #damaged photo #deterioration #photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #bird #november #lark #songbird #illustration
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Precursors (permalink)
Here's a precursor to the Ken doll.  By Andreas Bloch, date unknown.
> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #homunculus #dolls #illustration #toy
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Yesterday's Weather (permalink)
"When in doubt take only a sunshade, or an umbrella."  From The Z.Z.G., or Zig Zag Guide Round and About the Bold and Beautiful Kentish Coast by Francis Cowley Burnand and illustated by Phil May, 1897.
> read more from Yesterday's Weather . . .
#vintage illustration #rainy day #umbrella #parasol #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
From Légendes Valaisannes, illustrated by Eugéne Reichlen, 1919.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #devil #satan #satyr #occult #grimoire #horned one #goat legged #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense (permalink)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #death #angel #illustration
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How to Believe in Your Elf (permalink)
* There is a vast world of reality into which science can no more enter than an elf can be Santa Claus.  We regret to observe that rather than face it, and confess its inability to measure it, science turns its back upon it.  Life is not always every-day life, and the insolvable mysteries are correlated not to formal rules but to spirit and inspiration.  Are bits of wisdom liable to dwarf the subject?  Indeed — and rightly!  James Howell described the ingredients of a good proverb to be "sense, shortness, and salt."  May Howell's cry resound through this present collection of maxims on believing in one's elf.

> read more from How to Believe in Your Elf . . .
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