The featured antique in New York Cottages & Gardens’ Fall Style issue is our mid-18th-century armillary sphere by French globe maker Louis-Charles Desnos (magazine page shown left), under the title “Orbit of Influence.” The full page article quotes George as to “what makes it special”: “This is a particularly early example of an armillary sphere by a famous maker. It was produced during the Age of Enlightenment, when astronomy was considered an important component of a well-rounded intellect.” George also notes it is unusual to see an armillary sphere of this age in such good condition. Read more here: http://bit.ly/orbitinf On sale through Oct. 15, 2016. (http://www.georgeglazer.com/news/features.html)
Navigators or “Navvies” building the London Underground in the late 1800’s - early 1900’s. Navvies were cheap labourers and mostly miners from Cornwall, or farmers from Scotland and Ireland. They were willing to go wherever there was work and found steady work with railway companies across Britain. Building the Underground was a long and dangerous process. There were many serious injuries and deaths during construction, including a horrific incident where two men were killed by an exploding boiler of a steam engine. They also had to contend with frequent floods. The Navvies also had a rather bad reputation of men who worked hard and played even harder, unwinding in the evenings with legendary drinking sessions that almost always ended in a mass brawl. The railway company was hit with several complaints from the police, landlords and members of the public, all of whom demanded that the men be properly managed.
This young man’s tailcoat, with its high turned-down collar, narrow back, and wide lapels, exemplifies the exaggerated silhouette fashionable in post-revolutionary France. Striped textiles, modish from the 1760s, were ubiquitous in the dress of both sexes by the end of the century. In menswear, stripes served as a decorative substitute for the ornate, polychrome embroidery of earlier suits. The trend reflects the influence of the Islamic world and neoclassical taste; in earlier centuries, stripes had pejorative connotations in the West and were associated with the clothing of socially marginalized groups.
Recreation of British regulars playing baseball during the 1745 Jacobite rising. Base-ball, a predecessor of rounders, was described in John Newbery’s Pretty Little Pocket Book, published in England in 1744.
The New Practical Navigator,was the most popular navigational text of the late 18th century and was written by John Hamilton Moore 1795
This work contains the various methods of lunar observations, all the important tables for calculating course, time and position. But also other important aspects of navigation at sea. This book was a popular textbook among the midshipmen to learn navigation.
