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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Abecedarian personal effects of 'a mad genius'
A Turkish Delight of musings on languages, deflations of metaphysics, vauntings of arcana, and great visual humor.

Found 77 posts tagged ‘trumpet’

Restoring the Lost Sense – January 4, 2019 (permalink)

From Zarnitsy, 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 #babylon #biblical #trumpet #beast
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Restoring the Lost Sense – September 5, 2018 (permalink)

From Le Rire, 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 #angel #trumpet #illustration #angelic visitation
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Restoring the Lost Sense – September 4, 2018 (permalink)

From Lustige Blätter, 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 #trumpet #musician
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Restoring the Lost Sense – May 31, 2018 (permalink)

From Ulk, 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 #demon #devil #satan #trumpet #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – March 30, 2018 (permalink)

From Ulk, 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 #atlas #weight of the world #trumpet #war and peace #illustration #why the earth wobbles
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Restoring the Lost Sense – March 8, 2018 (permalink)

"The trumpter of evil."  From A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art by Thomas Wright, 1875.  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 #demon #hell #evil #illustration #trumpeter
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Restoring the Lost Sense – July 5, 2017 (permalink)

"The spectre brass-band."  From Over the Plum Pudding by John Kendrick Bangs, 1901.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  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 #ghostly #haunted mansion #spirits #spectre #ghosts #spirit trumpet #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – June 22, 2017 (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 #trumpet #rude awakening #wake up #musician #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – March 30, 2017 (permalink)

From Jugend, 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 #trumpets #illustration
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Restoring the Lost Sense – February 26, 2016 (permalink)

From The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan and illustrated by Frederick Barnard, 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 . . .
#vintage illustration #angel #pilgrim's progress #john bunyan #trumpet #illustration #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense – January 4, 2016 (permalink)

"Loud music pollutes the air," as Jonathan Wilson points out in The Bus to Beijing.  Our illustration appears in Achillis Bocchii Bonon, 1555.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  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 #angels #emblem #earth #cherubs #god #trumpet #illustration
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Do-Re-Midi – October 1, 2015 (permalink)

Luckily, our organ has a stop for "Trumpets behind the scenes."  From The Echo, An Opera in One Act by Frank Patterson, 1922.

> read more from Do-Re-Midi . . .
#trumpets #music notation #opera
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Restoring the Lost Sense – September 26, 2015 (permalink)

Here's a spirit trumpet interpenetrating a seance table, from The Reality of Psychic Phenomena: Raps, Levitations, Etc. by William Jackson Crawford, 1916.  We wish we'd encountered this diagram in time for our guide to 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 . . .
#spirits #ghosts #spiritualism #seance #spirit trumpet
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Restoring the Lost Sense – June 24, 2015 (permalink)

From The Davenport Brothers, 1869.  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 . . .
#ghost #spirits #spiritualism #seance #spirit trumpet #davenport brothers
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Precursors – February 16, 2015 (permalink)

Here's a precursor to the iconic "Blown-Away Man" photo, made famous in the Maxell ad campaigns.  From Cobb's Bill-of-Fare by Irwin Shrewsbury Cobb, 1913.

> read more from Precursors . . .
#vintage illustration #maxell #blown-away man #trumpets #illustration
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Do-Re-Midi – January 3, 2015 (permalink)

A flourish of trumpets from The Man in the Moon, Volume V.
> read more from Do-Re-Midi . . .
#vintage illustration #trumpets #illustration
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The Right Word – December 19, 2011 (permalink)

Here's a charming moment from Genevieve (1953), dedicated to literary scalawag Jonathan Caws-Elwitt (who coins words in his sleep — and remembers them upon waking!):

> read more from The Right Word . . .
#trumpet #plumpet
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Original Content Copyright © 2025 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.