So I like books.
A lot.
And most of them are of serious nature and kind of pointless to talk about. But some are not. They were bought or acquired solely because of their illustrations and/or pictures. In fact, pictures are a definite selling point for me. (So much that I once carried half my weight in art books across an ocean. Well, "carrying across an ocean" meaning "to and from an airport". But the thought counts.)
So I own a few books. And some have pictures. And some are kind of old. And some of the old books with pictures are of.... How can I put this delicately?
Of questionable taste. They are a bit... well, they are kitsch. They are fun.
I don't know what's happening in this picture. But I find it quite disturbing. Attack of the Cupids? A 19tth Century take on LSD?
This I bought in a bookshop in Prague. It depicts a scene from Margaret de Navarre's Heptameron (a kind of low budget version of Boccaccio) and due to the themes of the stories (all sex and violence always tied up in a neat moral ribbon) nearly every story depicts a girl in various states of undress. This one is actually one of the more decent pictures.
This is a photograph from a turn of the century play. It's kind of bizarre.
This is from a book depicting Shakespeare's heroines and villainesses.
They are waving their daddy goodbye when he goes to work. I die of sugar shock every time I see it.
Times were rough and people got ill. But even uneduucated teenage girls are appalled at the medical treatments available at the time.
This is from a book about wedding traditions in Europe. Apparently the British are too boring to have real local traditions.
A British actress (Miss Neilson) in the role of Rebecca. Featured in an extremely conservative magazine, which is like an everlasting fountain of kitsch, if not inventor of it.
The "new" opera in Paris. This dates from 1873.
This is a scene from some novel or play. Kitsch at its finest.
And this is the preview for "if I ever do a picspam again", but still kitschy as hell: Fairy Tales. This one is particularly grim. (What a terrible pun. I am sorry.)
Apparently (from giving FW a cursory glance) fandom is still batshit insane. I am glad as much as things change, they stay the same.