From Wee Wisdom, 1925.

From Northland Trails by Syndey Ells, 1900.

From Out and Away by Thorn, McCreary-Juhasz, Smith, Munroe & Richmond, 1970.

From Out and Away by Thorn, McCreary-Juhasz, Smith, Munroe & Richmond, 1970.

From The Hiawatha Primer by Florence Holbrook, 1898.

From Northland Trails by Syndey Ells, 1900.

From The Stars and Their Mysteries by Charles R. Gibson, 1916.

This is a guest piece we created for DJ Misc's [now defunct] blog, showing how diamonds throw out miniature northern lights, inspired as we wre by a de Chirico quotation: "Priceless stones threw out in all directions their iridescent darts and their miniature northern lights."

Northern lights from London Bridge.  From Popular Mechanics, 1927.

"The Aurora Borealis, with a reindeer-drawn sledge in the foreground."  Coloured wood engraving by C. Whymper.

Here's an unusual appearance of the Aurora Borealis, as obvserved by Captain Parry in his expedition to the Arctic regions, from the Encyclopedia of Natural and Artificial Wonders and Curiosities by John Platts, 1876.  (We previously discovered other precursors to If You're Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow, which we showcased here and also here.)