November 6, 2009, Filed Under: Art, Books + ManuscriptsExplore the New Publication "Magic, 1400s–1950s" The Ransom Center’s performing arts collection documents several popular entertainments, including vaudeville, the circus, pantomime, puppetry, and magic. TASCHEN Books recently published Magic, 1400s–1950s, and included more than 30 images from the Center’s collections. Edited by Noel Daniel, the 650-page book is a multilingual edition, with content in English, French,… read more
October 27, 2009, Filed Under: Books + ManuscriptsUpdate on the "Victorian Blood Book" This large, oblong decoupage book contains more than 40 collages consisting of carefully assembled engravings from books. The decoupage has been embellished with hand-colored drops of “blood” and handwritten religious commentaries. The emphasis throughout is on images of the Crucifixion, birds, and snakes, all dripping with blood. The album, familiarly… read more
September 17, 2009, Filed Under: Books + ManuscriptsWhich biblical stories are illustrated in this fore-edge painting? Last year the Ransom Center received as a gift a bible printed in 1481, in Basel by Johan de Amerbach, that was adorned with a 19th century fore-edge painting by bibliophile John T. Beer. The scene is described in a checklist of Beer’s fore-edge paintings simply as “A scene on… read more
