South by East: Notes of Travel in Southern Europe (page 1/3)

See all the images…

Portrait of Michael Angelo

“Memorials of Michael Angelo meet one at every turn in Florence. His city is justly proud of him. Mrs. Oliphant speaks of him as “the greatest Florentine master, he who stands alone among the crowd, exceeding all as his gigantic statues tower over all other works, alone at once in greatness and in [...] [more...] [$]

Ornate initial letter “W” with silhouettes of naked women

This ornate capital letter W has a long vertical tail or stem of trellis-work beneath the letter, which is an “inhabited initial” with two women inside it. One of the women, who are drawn as dark shaded silhouettes and face each other, is holding a large shallow bowl. The other woman pours a jug or ewer of liquid into the bowl. it is possible that behind the jug there is a pomegranate. The other initials in this series are religious in nature, so I suspect a libration is involved.

In the book, the large black letter W is five lines of text high, and the stem is another eight and a half lines, giving a total (of course) of thirteen and a half lines. The [more...] [$]

Front Cover

Red buckram (I think) with gold leaf. [$]

Decorative chapter head with styilized birds and green men

A decorative woodcut used above a chapter title at the start of the book. The image is a “foliate border” because it contains vines and leaves, but there are also two bird heads and two heads [more...] [$]

Entrance to the harbour of Messina.

The harbour of Messina, today a large and modern city, was in the 1870s protected by a fort (still present). Today there is a large stone column with a statue on top of it very prominently placed on the nearest building. In the picture there is a steamship (combining steam and sail) and other ships and boats, as well as [more...] [$]