On 1 February 2008 at 5 am a fire ripped through Deyrolle, the famous old entomology and taxidermy store in the heart of Paris. Its historic collections of thousands of butterflies and rare insects, stuffed animals and minerals, built up since it opened in 1831, went up in smoke….
“Mendiant a la porte de l’eglise” (or Begger at the Church Door) — L. Wenner, 1920s
This photograph of the first hippopotamus in England since prehistoric times, named Obaysch, was taken in 1852 by the splendidly named Don Juan Carlos, Duke of Montizón.
(Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, London, 1852)
via guardian
Pierre, South Dakota, 1939
From The Art of the American Snapshop 1888-1978 by Sarah Greenough and Diane Waggoner
edt:
Gli avatar online e le loro controparti reali.
Lens culture photo book review: alter ego by robbie cooper
(via mrmt)
When little girls played games in fourth-century Syria, they played at monks and demons: one dressed in rags, would put her little friends into stitches of laughter by exorcising them.
Peter Brown, «The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity», 1971
photo by Emma Lewis Coleman
(via liquidnight and substrom)
One week after being discovered, she experienced difficulties adjusting to civilized life. Local police reported that she was only able to say three words: “father”, “mother” and “stomachache”
