I am in an art show in Raglan Shire.  There is a lot of art.  Three areas feature 2d art both RL based and SL based.  One area features sculpture.  This little bunny by Todd Borst welcomes people to the art hanging on the hedges over by Paw & Whisker, a local gathering place. One of the unique aspects of this show is that the 2d work is all mounted on hedges and left out in the open for a month.  Good thing it doesn't rain in Raglan Shire!

Here are some other nearby artists.

 I enjoyed the humor in the "paintings" by Shmoo Snook as he put a Tiny twist to famous classics.

Callipygian Christensen likes to take photographs in Second Life. She ranges from scenics to portraits.

Lorimae Undercroft also photographs images in Second Life in sepia tones with a techie but 18th century edge. I love this photograph "Joy of  Steampunk" with two tinies manning a film projector or maybe a death ray.

 victoriouspower mixes Second Life portraiture with a sense of the macabre balanced by pyrotechnics and a sensual almost painterly quality.  Imagine a Borg - Dante ballet produced by Dracula for the intriguing unique sensibility.


On the other side of that hedge,Petunia Liveoak imported in her watercolors and gouches from RL (Real Life) with a calming images of bits of nature: feathers, a robin's egg, a canoe.

Builder's Brewery Creator's Showcase

So my grad class is done and I can write on whatever I like.  Yay! Summer vacation. On Second Life, there is a cool place called the Builder's Brewery.  I like it because they give free classes on building and there are also freebies.  They sell a lot of different things too in their big building that are fun like a rocket that you can ride and a teleport door.  This weekend may 9-12, 2010 they were having a creative showcase that anyone could enter so I sauntered over to see what was there. There were a lot of cool stuff people had made.

Sapphy Rotaru built this aquatics environment (she said you can get more at Sapphys Gallimaufry Store at Ubatuba (148,59,23).  One of the things she said tht she had a lot of one-prim items.  I clicked on this grotto (the main large rock to the left in this picture) with the plants on front and either it's all linked or it is one prim.  It's very pretty. Mermaid time.

Medusa's Gaze was a gargantuan statue in front of a pirate ship by Pravda Dark Couture. Standing staidly nearby is Pierrot.

Behind her, the striped red and white sail is a viking ship which is below.   Only in Second Life would you find a yacht, a viking ship and a pirate ship next to each other at the docks. The creator Havorn calls his Viking creation, the dragon ship.

There were also a lot of different builds of homes from a Polynesian style on stilts to a grand manor home with old style ovens- you know the kind you see in ritzy pizza places with a fire and an opening above it where you can shovel the bread in and out while it warms the house at the same time.  I like the Polynesian style -- the build created a very good rope and board staircase to the loft and downstairs there was also a second bed built into a bookcase and desk -- very good if you don't have much space.

harpsichords

I am just noting some Renaissance England info on harpischords for folks

Giovanni  Baffo Harpischord, 1574, Venice
Pine case, inner face veneered with rosewood, partly inlaid with boxwood; cypress soundboard
This harpsichord was built by Giovanni Baffo, the leading maker of harpsichords in Venice, one of the main instrument-producing centres in Europe during the 16th century. The instrument is decorated with traditional Islamic patterns, then widely used in Venice, and also fashionable classical motifs, such as Apollo and the Muses, a suitable theme for musical instruments. National Art Library at the Victoria
and Albert Museum. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O58982/harpsichord-baffo-harpsichord/

Celestini harpischord, 1594
... a giant Venetian harpsichord, one of the few remaining by Giovanni Celestini, dated 1594. One year's carefull research unravelled its complicated life history. It was bought by the Medici at the end of the 17th century, and worked on by Cristofori, and by one or more of the Ferrini's, who were Cristofori's successors .Due to the fame of its maker, its large size and precious decoration, it was perhaps the most prestigiuos keyboard instrument in the Medici collection. www.gb.early-keyboard.com/Celestini.htm

The below historical information is from Wiki Visual viewed on May 10, 2010. http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Harpsichord
Images are from sources as noted

" History
The origin of the harpsichord is obscure, but is known to have begun some time during the high or late Middle Ages. The earliest written references to the instrument date from the 1300s and it is possible that the harpsichord was indeed invented in that century ... A Latin manuscript work on musical instruments by Henri Arnault de Zwolle, c. 1440, includes detailed diagrams of a small harpsichord and three types of jack action.

.... 
Italy
The earliest complete harpsichords still preserved come from Italy, the oldest specimen being dated to 1521. The Royal Academy of Music in London, has an instrument of a curious upright form, which may be older; unfortunately, it lacks the action. These early Italian instruments can however shed no light on the origin of the harpsichord, as they represent an already well-refined form of the instrument. The Italian harpsichord makers made single-manual instruments with a very light construction and relatively little string tension. This design persisted with little alteration among Italian makers for centuries....
....
England
The harpsichord was important in England during the Renaissance for the large group of major composers who wrote for it, but apparently many of the instruments of the time were Italian imports. Harpsichord building in England only achieved great distinction in the 18th century with the work of two immigrant makers, Jacob Kirckman (from Alsace) and Burkat Shudi (from Switzerland). ..."

 Harpischord made by Jerome of Bologna, 1521, Rome.

Cypress case and soundboard, with decorative stringing, gilding and inlay
This harpsichord was made in Rome in 1521 by Jerome of Bologna. Although almost nothing is known about its maker, this example is one of the earliest dated keyboard instruments to survive. National Art Library at the Victoria
and Albert Museum. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O58980/harpsichord/

Harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers the Elder, Antwerp, 1607.

The earliest known dated harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers. Rose with "AR" flanking a harp-playing angel; soundboard with painted decoration including the date "1607"; although the case was redecorated during the 18th and/or 19th century, it is essentially unaltered, retaining its original dimensions, internal construction, bottom board, and tool compartment with a door in the spine. The original bridges, nuts, and key frame were retained in the petit ravalement during which the keys and action were replaced. The date "12 octobre 1757" is written on the key frame. National Music Museum, University of South Dakota-Vermillion, http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/Ruckersphotos.html

Three-manual harpsichord by Stefano Bolcioni, Florence, 1627

Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments

http://www.claviantica.com/Publications_files/Russell_Collection_Italian_instruments_files/Russell_Collection_Italian_Instruments_Bolcioni_files/Bolcioni_3-4.jpg

  Early Italian harpsichord
A fine example of an early Italian harpsichord
Made in Florence, circa 1640
51 keys: 2 × 8’; C to d3

"The advent of the C-30 digital harpischord", Roland Corp. http://www.roland.com/classic/c30/meet/index.html

Harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers, Antwerp, 1643. "Although, by the beginning of the 19th century, harpsichords went out of fashion as instruments for contemporary music making, they soon were collected as aristocratic pieces of furniture reminiscent of the glories of the past. The plain painted surfaces of harpsichords like the 1643 Ruckers were deemed insufficiently ornate for the pseudo-historical fantasies of 19th-century interior decoration, so its exterior surfaces and the area around the keyboard were redecorated with elaborate borders, vignettes, and garlands on a gold ground. A flamboyant gilt carved stand was also provided. Anachronistic though this redecoration may be, it was responsible for the preservation of the harpsichord until it could again be appreciated as a musical instrument.

The Ruckers dynasty was founded by Hans Ruckers (ca. 1550-1598), who joined Antwerp's Guild of St. Luke as a master harpsichord maker in 1579. Two of his eleven children, Joannes (1578-1642) and Andreas (b. August 1579; died between June 1651 and March 1653), entered the profession. They worked together until Andreas established his own workshop about 1605. Later generations of harpsichord makers in the family include Andreas's son, also named Andreas (1607-1654/1655); Joannes's nephew and successor, Joannes Couchet (1615-1655); and, his son, Joseph Joannes Couchet (1652-1706). They are known to have exported instruments to Holland, Germany, France, England, Spain, and even Colombia and Peru. Their work, much in demand, was widely imitated; and, as early as 1688, Michel Richard, a prominent Parisian maker, passed off one of his Ruckers-inspired harpsichords as an original." 

The image and info on the 1643 Harpischord from the National Music Museum, University of South Dakota-Vermillion, http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/Keyboards/RuckersHarpsichord10000/Ruckers1643.html

 This also sounded interesting:

Complete Harpsichord Concertos on Antique Instruments  Box set: 3 CDs

From an Amazon reviewer: " the inspired idea to assemble an ensemble of four antique harpsichords, each from a different "school" of building--a 1707 French instrument by Nicolas Dumont; a 1635 Flemish instrument by Ioannes Ruckers; an anonymous Spanish instrument from the first quarter of the 18th century; and a late 16th-century Italian instrument attributed to Domenicus Pisauriensis. Each country had its own style of building, which resulted in distinctive sounds unique to each tradition. I only wish they had been able to include a German instrument, an obvious choice for Bach's music, but the results they achieve are so glorious that this is a very small quibble. ... this recording is as educational as it is entertaining. Being able to revel in the gorgeous sonorities of these magnificent instruments in various combinations is pure ear candy."

Competency H

H. demonstrate proficiency in the use of current information and communication technologies, and other related technologies, as they affect the resources and uses of libraries and other types of information providing entities:

Second Life is a virtual world in which librarians are beginning to practice. It allows people to access information from any location that they are at.  Like chat, email and other forms of online communication that information patrons use to ask librarians questions even if they are not in the same locale, Second Life is another environment in which people can access librarians and information. Learning to use my avatar and to chat and finally to use voice taught me another environment in which to communicate information.  I also built a Women Surrealist exhibition that presented images of their work,  gave out notecards to read with short biographies, and referred to a women surrealist bibliography on the web.

Bibliographies

Remedios Varo:  http://www.hungryflower.com/leorem/rembib.html

Leonora Carringtion : http://www.hungryflower.com/leorem/carrington.html

Ana Mendieta: http://www.hungryflower.com/leorem/mendieta.html

Francesca Woodman: http://www.hungryflower.com/leorem/woodman.html

Others:  http://www.hungryflower.com/leorem/others.html

Competency A

A. articulate the ethics, values and foundational principles of library and information professionals and their role in the promotion of intellectual freedom;

It is important that we as librarians support the first amendment right to free speech by making available that speech to information consumers. Free speech is not only words but can encompass documentary photographs and other modes of expression. My portion of the art exhibition in the Scotland/US collaboration was built around the theme of the Japanese American Relocation Executive Order 9066 in WWII . Dorothy Lange's photographs were censored by the military during the war as they were visually critical of the U.S. government's decision during WWII to imprison thousands of people without evidence or a trial but based merely on their ancestry. Even baby orphans were moved from orphanages into the desert prisons.  As, ironically, Dorothy Lange's project was paid by another government department, the photographs fall into the public domain once they were released. The United States National Archives created a project in wich they began scanning photographs and other public domain documents and utting them on the web at http://www.nara.gov.  Making the public aware of the availability of the images helps to mitigate the censorship during the war.
    I also put up a 3-minute documentary I made of the Japanese American internment using photographs and artwork of the era in the exhibition. I made it during shortly after 9-11 when the Japanese American community was concerned that the American government was once again targeting people of a specific ancestry and without evidence imprisoning people for years without a trial. Some people were becoming active and demanding that those people who were imprisoned had a right to a trial and that evidence must be presented that justified the imprisonment. The interesting thing to me is that I felt weird and questioned putting it up since part of the audienc was not American. Like not telling a family's dirty laundry, there was a surprising desire to protect the "American image." I chose to share the film because that funny feeling is the beginning of censorship and as a person in the library community, I stand against censorship.



You can view the movie at
http://www.hungryflower.com/movie/relocation.mov

Competency O

O. contribute to the cultural, economic, educational and social well-being of our communities:

Part of contributing to the well-being of various communities within the United Cities and various cities is being aware of the history that is specific to a particular community. Making people aware of that history assists in understanding the culture of a specific community.    Remembering that history also assists in ensuring negative treatment due to prejudice to a particular group does not happen again. Part of a librarian's job is to ensure that the history of a particular group does not get censored and that the information remains readily available even when it reflects badly on the majority who may want that information censored or forgotten or remembered in a different light.

In my collaboration with Scotland, I showcased information and the documentary photographs of Dorothy Lange on the WWII Japanese American internment as well as featured artwork by several artists who had been imprisoned.

My vportfolio for my Second Life graduate library class: Competency F

My introduction to Second Life was through my graduate library class. I've been learning, doing, and creating for the past four months. There are certain competencies that some of my projects fulfilled. This particular post is about how I fulfilled it.


F. Use the basic concepts and principles related to the creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation and organization of specific items or collections of information:

I think I showed this in several of the projects. In the service project with Renaissance Island, I was working with their library. The theme of the island is an environment specific to Tudor times with a special emphasis on Shakespeare.

They wanted items in the library related to that.  They had created notecards that served as bibliographies on Tudor books.  It was also my understanding that they had notecards of Shakespeare books.  So I thought they might have a use for in-world books of books or items of that era. I created a sample book of armariums -- a furniture item common in the bookrooms/libraries/scribe rooms(scriptoriums) of that time. I did not finalize the book as I could not find the reference for a couple of images.  However, another Ren isl inhabitant, Serenek Timeless used the book to make an armarium for their library. It is displayed in my SLIS vportfolio room. The bottom cubicles were used to house scrolls and incunables (bound books in various forms before 1500)

I also recreated a book that was published in 1581.  The Library of Congress had scanned a book "Francis Drake" by Breton. I recreated the book in-world with a preface on how to read the lettering (sounds) as there are a few differences in printing conventions (for example v was often used in place of u).

I also collected a variety of maps published between 1489-1575 and "published" them in an in-world book showing how the European image of the world evolved with their exploration of the Americas.

In another "collection", I collected images by Dorothy Lange on the relocation of Japanese Americans in California as they were taken from their homes to San Bruno. (San Bruno was where they moved to first before they were relocated to desert internment camps/prisons).  I chose and organized the images in a slideshow that was presented in an art gallery for the Scottish/American collaboration.

In another "collection", I collected images by women surrealists.  I chose which women surrealists would be represented in the exhibit, their images and what information was displayed in the short bios.  This was hard to do as there were other women also of merit and of course, other images and much more information.  I did provide links to bibliographies so that a person could pursue the information on their own.

The above information that I collected and presented are "preserved" in a virtual format.  There are some caveats: they are preserved as long as Second Life exists and those items are shown. With changing technologies, as we preserve things in new technologies, they become available to those who use those technologies.  However as technologies evolve, older technologies get abandoned at faster and faster rates. Paper replaced the papyrus, books replaced scrolls.  When Second Life is replaced (and since it also functions as a business -- if it goes out of business), items created or archived in the SL format will also cease to exist unless the SL world and technology itself is preserved in some library or museum archive.

Making a movie of your Second Life adventures

Making a movie on SL for free

1. Download fraps at http://www.fraps.com/download.php
Fraps, a freebie, allows you to do video capture of whatever program you have on your screen. Fraps has a version with more capabilities for $39. Basically the freebie version will capture video to a small screen. If you want a bigger size movie, you'll have to pay.

2. Install fraps.

3. Go through the settings of fraps. (remember the general settings as you have to go into the program into turn it off or it is on all the time. It does have a slight lag affect on SL which can be a bummer when SL is also lagging so I only turn it on when I am "filming".
On the movie section, check the hotkey for starting recording -- it is probably F9. Also check where the movies are saved to and change it to the folder that you want.

4. Open SL, go to where you want to film (your setting)

5. Click F9 whenever you are ready to film. Fraps films is in short bursts. You will see a changing number in the top left part of the screen. When the number is red, you are filming. When it is white or yellow, it is done. So if you are walking, you will film the end point over again in the start of the next burst. Pay attention and check your short films. this will also give you a chance to film from several different angles.

6. If you have windows, you have a freebie movie editing program called windows moviemaker. However, just to keep things more interesting, let's download another freebie called Wax, a movie editing program.
a. Download it at http://www.debugmode.com/wax/download.htm
b. Install it.

7. Double click on Wax.

8. In the menubar, under "project" click on "add media files" and then do so.

9. Make a title image and end image as a jpg in Photoshop or Powerpoint. Add them into media files.

10. Add your title jpg file into the tracks under the 00:00. Decide how long you want it to last by dragging out the end of the file.

11. Add the next file under it. If it is just a video file with no audio, only one title track will feature the track. If you have audio, it will appear under the video track. If you don't want the total media file, select your beginning point by dragging in from the beginning point. You'll see that the beginning blue point shift. Do the same with the end point. Click in the middle of the file and drag it to the left so that it starts just after the title jpg.

12. Add the next media field under the previous one. Drag it to the right so that it is after the next file. Decide your beginning and end points.

13. Keep doing this until you are done.

14. Add the end jpg.

15. Now that you are done, go under the top menu "project" and click on "render"

First Folio

When looking to recreate something in SL, you need to look at the item as it was. It helps that institutions are beginning to make books of historical available online by scanning them.

Title page from Shakespeare's First Folio	Several libraries have a scanned copy of Shakespeare's first publication of a collection of his work also known as the First Folio published in 1623. The Miami University, University of Victoria, and the University of Pennsylvania all have posted a copy. The Victoria website even allows you to compare more than one copy of First Folio to each other. The Brandeis First Folio versus the New South Wales First Folio. This can be interesting to some because then when a printer found a mistake while printing, he
corrected the error so the books after that would have the correction but the ones with the error would be sold as part of the original run (So a run of 1,000 may have a number corrections incorporated into the run). So you can see how early in the run the book was by how many errors it still had. When you look at the first folio, the words look different but actually they aren't. It's just a case of understanding the spelling	Rosalind in "Shakespeare Illustrated" by Robert Walker Macbeth, 1888
A snippet from "As you Like it". (Right click on it and select "view image" to see it larger.) Take a look at the spellings. At the end of the first line, "loue" is actually "love." On the third line, "ƒhall we part ƒweet girle?" is pronounced "Shall we part sweet girl?" On the eigth line, "griefes your ƒelfe" is "griefs your self". It doesn't take long to adjust once you get used to it and soon it's fairly easy to read it with the right pronunciation.	conventions at the time. "V" was used for the "U" in print. So "us" becomes "vs". If they ran out of a "w" they would use 2 v's as "vv". The "S" can be either an "S" or an elongated "s" which looks like an "ƒ" with a truncated dash. The elongated "s" used to be quite common but disappeared in newspapers in the early 1800s according to Nathan Redshield. Even today, some Shakespearean actors like seeing the original text because it tells them how a word is meant to be pronounced as Ian Thal explained in his blog,

"Something exciting happens when one recites and rehearses Shakespeare's words as they were written by members of the King's Men. The spellings are those of the early 17th century, not those to which we are accustomed to reading in more modern editions (the better of which are incredibly valuable due to all the scholarly notes) but as David pointed out in the first rehearsal, the spellings often provide hints as to where to place emphasis. Indeed, what I have discovered is that by reading the First Folio phonetically, I do not need to think about iambic pentameter-- I hear it as I recite the lines, nor do I have to think about my accent-- the accent is there in the spellings." (Ian Thal)

Shakespeare, stained glass, 1903. Carnegie Library,Vancouver BC photographed by Patrick Burns

There are a few tutorials on the first folio on the internet. Gregory Doran, Chief Associate Artistic Director, Royal Shakespeare Company, gives a talk on video at http://www.rscshakespeare.co.uk/first_movies.html. UPenn gives multimedia slide presentations on different aspects of the first folio at http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti/furness/eric/teach/index.cfm. Reading, speaking and enjoying Shakespeare is a powerpoint on pronunciation, language and acting in Elizabethan England for teens. It does a few definitions but makes a nice simple intro.

Resources
Royal Shakespeare Company


The First Folio of Shakespeare: The Norton Facsimile by William Shakespeare, Charlton Hinman ed. The review by Amazon makes this book sound very cool so I am including it. "Charlton Hinman's facsimile of Shakespeare's First Folio was a colossal achievement when it was first published in 1968, and its reputation is further enhanced by this beautiful second edition. Looking for a way to provide scholars with a reliable version of Shakespeare's text, Hinman invented a device that sped up the collation process, allowing him to compare 82 of the surviving copies of the Folio and bring to light features of Shakespeare's work that have been--and continue to be--edited out of most modern editions. A Midsummer Night's Dream, for example, contains what are known as false starts, fragments of earlier versions of certain speeches. These traces of the composition process survive only because the printers, working directly from Shakespeare's handwritten copy, were not given a chance to thoroughly proofread their work. Though they would make crucial changes during the printing process, it was too wasteful to throw away pages that were already printed. Thus, when they went to bind the Folios, each book contained a fascinating patchwork of corrected and uncorrected copy."

"Also hidden beneath the familiar text of the plays is a portrait of the printers who created the book. Their names remain unknown, but Professor Hinman was able to track individuals' work by examining their spelling habits. Their story is as important to this book as the works of literature that it contains. The many errors the printers introduced into the text of Shakespeare's work still provide fertile ground for theatrical and academic debate. Hamlet, for example, wishes that his "too, too solid flesh would melt."--or is it his "sullied" flesh, or perhaps his "sallied" flesh? Which is Shakespeare, and which is an error? We cannot blame the printers; they spent long hours setting page after page of tiny type, working in a cramped space that smelled strongly of the stale urine they used to soften the inking pads. It is ironic that the most revered symbol of English high culture owes its existence--in part, at least--to the productive bladders of a handful of pressmen. This book gives these men their due, demonstrating the extent to which Shakespeare's plays were the work not just of one man but of a whole society. "

Applause First Folio of Shakespeare in Modern TypeComedies, Histories and Tragedies, 2000.
The First Folio of Shakespeare 1623 by William Shakespeare, Doug Moston, 1995.
The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the WorldPaul Collins, 2009.

William Caxton

Caxton Showing the First Specimen of His Printing to King Edward IV at the Almonry, Westminster by Daniel Maclise, 1851.

From Wiki: William Caxton (c. 1415~1422–c. March 1492) was an English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. As far as is known, he was the first English person to work as a printer and the first to introduce a printing press into England. He was also the first English retailer of printed books (his London contemporaries were all Dutch, German or French).

Game of Chesse, from Jacobus de Cessolis, Westminster, about 1483 (Medieval Woodcuts Clipart Collection)

Sarum Missal, 1487: "This missal is the only surviving copy of the first ever edition of the pre-Reformation English prayer book and contains the first instance of Caxton's use of his publisher's mark as well as being an exceptionally early example of dual-colour printing." The Art Fund, http://www.artfund.org/artwork/10154/missale-ad-usum-sarum-sarum-missal

The full text of 2 of his works are in Gutenberg project. (By the way, this is a really worthy project which is commercial free so please donate to it when you get the chance. Dialogues in French and English. By William Caxton. (Adapted from a Fourteenth-Century Book of Dialogues in French and Flemish.) edited from Caxton's printed text (about 1483), with introduction by Henry Bradley, M.A., Joint-Editor of the New English Dictionary. Caxton's Game and Playe of the Chesse. 1474.

Fig. 11 Woodcut of a King and a Bishop playing chess, illustrated in William Caxton, Game and Playe of the Chesse,(London: Elliot Stock, 1883)viewed on the kostis velonis blog



The Game of Chess was the second book printed in the English language. The first book, also printed by Claxton was The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, also translated from French (of Raoul le Fèvre) and also in 1474. Caxton printed almost 100 books, and of these 20 were translations from French or Dutch into English. The Game of Chess has the second distinction of being the first book to be reprinted! "(The Printing Press)

The State Library of Victoria has a display of images of the woodcuts from the Myrrour of the Worlde in an online exhibit in a flash slideshow.

"Myrrour of the Worlde is one of the first English illustrated books, a translation of L’image du Monde (1464) - which in turn was chiefly derived from the medieval Latin text Imago Mundi. It is an introduction to the history of science, covering: geography, economics, music, cosmography, zoology, meteorology and astronomy. Myrrour of the Worlde ... was produced by England’s first printer, William Caxton (1422–91)."


From Chess Archaelogy, Jacopo da Cessole (Jacobus de Cessolis) was an Italian monk (1) from the Dominican brotherhood.

Books on or by William Caxton

William Caxton and English Literary Culture by N.F. Black, 2003.
Dialogues in French and English by William Caxton, reprinted 2010

16th century books

So books from the 16th century on are considered books and not incunables.  I found a nice site -- they do sell the books but they also show scans of at least a couple pages from each book which is nice.

The Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Company, LLC  

Here are a few pages from their site.

 

Orlando Furioso

 
 

Same book -- what I think is interesting is those little hands that hold the book open to the page you are reading.  I have never seen that before.

  

 Bible.  Latin. Vulgate. 1513. Biblia cum concordantiis veteris et novi testamenti necnon et iuris canonici. Lugduni: M. Jacobum Sacon, 1513. Folio (34.5 cm, 13.5"). Revised edition, following the first of 1506, of Jerome’s Vulgate as printed by Jacques Sacon for Anton Koberger of Nuremberg. 

 

This is from another Latin Vulgate Bible. 1529.  Textus Biblie. [colophon: Impressum autem Lugduni {i.e.,Lyons}: per Joha[n]nem Crespin, M.ccccc.xxix {1529}].  Look at the little lion under what looks like a little carousel of books.

 

I like this one.  Appropriately, the site titled it the Bear Bible, the first Bible in Spanish. "Reina. 1569.  La Biblia, que es, los sacros libros del vieio y nueuo testamento. [Basel: Thomas Guarinus for or with Samuel Apiarius], 1569."  Interestingly enough, the Spain became staunchly anti-Reformist so bibles had to be printed in Latin (or maybe Hebrew) so the Spanish author, Reina, had to escape to Geneva to avoid prosecution. The next time a Bible was allowed to be printed in Spanish was 300 years later. The site has this bible priced at $28,750. 

 

This is from the first Latin Bible printed in England. "1580. Tremellius–Junius.  Testamenti veteris Biblia Sacra sive libri canonici, priscae Iudaeorum Ecclesiae a Deo traditi, Latini recens ex Hebraeo facti, brevibusque scholiis illustrati ab Immanuele Tremellio & Francisco Iunio.... Londini: Henricus Middletonus, impensis G.B., 1579–80. 4to (21.6 cm, 8.5")".  

 

This is from a book on Julius Caesar in German. I like the intricacy of the woodblock print. "Julius der erst römisch Keiser von seinem Leben und Krieg, erstmals uss dem Latein in Tütsch gebracht vnd mit andrer Ordnung der Capittel und uil zusetz nüw getruckt. [Strassburg: Durch Joannem Grüninger, vff sant Adolffs des heiligen Bischoffss, 1508]. Folio (31 cm; 11.5")"

 

One of the most interesting things on this site is not a book but a single page.  It is a certificate from King Phillip (signed in his name by his sister Juana [Joanna Habsburg] de Austria who was acting regent from 1554-1559) bestowing a coat of arms to Villanueva, one of the Spanish conquistadors who went to the New World with Cortes.  You can see the full page on their C-H page near the bottom. The detail is amazing and they show close up scans of quite a number of them.  It is being sold for $125,000.  

 

These little cherubs sit atop leopards? dragons? at the top of the page.  Whatever they are, I think they are pretty cool looking.