Botanical watercolors of flowers, plants and fruits. Dutch. ca. 1730-1760. Attributed to the Dutch botanical artist Pieter van Loo. Found on the website of Bernard Quaritch Ltd. They are in London but I found out about them at the antiquarian book fair here last fall.

*Le Coton.* 1730-1760. Dutch. Watercolor on thick Dutch paper with Strasburg lily watermarks. Attributed to Pieter van Loo. Image © Bernard Quaritch Ltd. Fair use license. via https://www.quaritch.com/books/loo-pieter-van-i-attributed-i/156-watercolours-of-flowers-plants-and-fruits/G968/

*La Grenade.* 1730-1760. Dutch. Watercolor on thick Dutch paper with Strasburg lily watermarks. Attributed to Pieter van Loo. Image © Bernard Quaritch Ltd. Fair use license. via https://www.quaritch.com/books/loo-pieter-van-i-attributed-i/156-watercolours-of-flowers-plants-and-fruits/G968/

*Amaranthe, crête de coq.* 1730-1760. Dutch. Watercolor on thick Dutch paper with Strasburg lily watermarks. Attributed to Pieter van Loo. Image © Bernard Quaritch Ltd. Fair use license. via https://www.quaritch.com/books/loo-pieter-van-i-attributed-i/156-watercolours-of-flowers-plants-and-fruits/G968/

*Le gros Blanquet.* 1730-1760. Dutch. Watercolor on thick Dutch paper with Strasburg lily watermarks. Attributed to Pieter van Loo. Image © Bernard Quaritch Ltd. Fair use license. via https://www.quaritch.com/books/loo-pieter-van-i-attributed-i/156-watercolours-of-flowers-plants-and-fruits/G968/

These volumes were in the library of Jérôme-Frédéric Bignon (1747–1784), who succeeded his father as royal librarian to Louis XV in 1770.

1897 images of cranes taken from Frans Ernst Blaauw (F. E. Blaauw)’s work “A Monograph of the Cranes” which had a number of contributors and illustrators too. Published in London and in Leiden.

*The common crane.* Plate I, Page 1 of F. E. Blaauw’s *A Monograph of Cranes.* H. (Heinrich) Leutemann, illustrator. Collections of the Smithsonian Libraries. Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/monographcranes00blaa/page/I/mode/1up

*The Mantchurian (sic) crane, adult and chick.* Plate III, Page III of F. E. Blaauw’s *A Monograph of Cranes.* H. (Heinrich) Leutemann, illustrator. Collections of the Smithsonian Libraries. Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/monographcranes00blaa/page/III/mode/1up

*The hooded crane.* Plate IV, Page IV of F. E. Blaauw’s *A Monograph of Cranes.* H. (Heinrich) Leutemann, illustrator. Collections of the Smithsonian Libraries. Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/monographcranes00blaa/page/IV/mode/1up

*The American crane.* Plate V, Page V of F. E. Blaauw’s *A Monograph of Cranes.* H. (Heinrich) Leutemann, illustrator. Collections of the Smithsonian Libraries. Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/monographcranes00blaa/page/V/mode/1up

*The Sarus crane.* Plate VII, Page VII of F. E. Blaauw’s *A Monograph of Cranes.* H. (Heinrich) Leutemann, illustrator. Collections of the Smithsonian Libraries. Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/monographcranes00blaa/page/VII/mode/1up

*The Demoiselle crane, chick.* Plate Xa, Page Xa of F. E. Blaauw’s *A Monograph of Cranes.* H. (Heinrich) Leutemann, illustrator. Collections of the Smithsonian Libraries. Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/monographcranes00blaa/page/Xa/mode/1up

Imagery from Levi Walter Yaggy’s “Geographical Maps and Charts”(1887/93). So much prettier than the GPS on your phone.

*Planetary System: Eclipse of the Sun; The Moon; The Zodiac Light: Meteoric Shower*\ with five opening flaps, from *Yaggy’s Geographical Study*, 1887. Levi Walter Yaggy, maker. In the public domain due to age. via https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/yaggy-geographical-maps?utm_source=newsletter

*Physical Geography*, with the map’s subterranean layer displayed, from *Yaggy’s Geographical Study*, 1887. Levi Walter Yaggy, maker. In the public domain due to age. via https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/yaggy-geographical-maps?utm_source=newsletter

*Planetary System: Eclipse of the Sun; The Moon; The Zodiac Light: Meteoric Shower*. Chart, backlit with central flap open to reveal the Chart of the Heavens, from *Yaggy’s Geographical Study*, 1887. Levi Walter Yaggy, maker. In the public domain due to age. via https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/yaggy-geographical-maps?utm_source=newsletter

*Geography: Physical, political, geological and astronomical.* Title page. 1887. from *Yaggy’s Geographical Study*, 1887. Levi Walter Yaggy, maker. In the public domain due to age. via https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/yaggy-geographical-maps?utm_source=newsletter

Dress like the Empress Josephine. Watercolors by Adam Buck. Living from 1759 to 1833, he was principally active in London. His patrons included George IV and the Duke of York.

*An Elegant Couple Admiring Lely’s Venus*. 1801. Irish/British. Watercolor heightened with white over black chalk. Signed and dated *Adam Buck/1801* on the lower left. Adam Buck, watercolorist (1759-1833). Image © 2023 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/old-master-and-british-works-on-paper/an-elegant-couple-admiring-lelys-venus

*Tambarina.* A young girl lying on a step beneath a railing, resting on a striped cushion and shaded by the tambourine lying over her head. 1799. Hand-colored aquatint. After Adam Buck. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum. Fair use license. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/452247001

*First Steps.* 1808. Irish/British. Watercolor. Adam Buck, watercolorist (1759-1833). Private collection. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://enfilade18thc.com/2015/07/18/exhibition-an-elegant-society-adam-buck-artist-in-the-age-of-austen/

“Der Wintergarten in der Kaiserlichen königlichen Hofburg zu Wien.” The winter garden of Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. Lithographs from an 1852 folio put together by Franz Antoine who was an Austrian horticulturalist and gardener.

Der Wintergarten in der Kaiserlichen königlichen Hofburg zu Wien (Vienna). (Winter gardens at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna.”) 1852. Plate I. Image 26 of a folio created by Franz Antoine. Collections of Dumbarton Oaks. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/der-wintergarten/page/n26/mode/1up

Der Wintergarten in der Kaiserlichen königlichen Hofburg zu Wien (Vienna). (Winter gardens at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna.”) 1852. Plate II. Image 29 of a folio created by Franz Antoine. Collections of Dumbarton Oaks. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/der-wintergarten/page/n29/mode/1up

Der Wintergarten in der Kaiserlichen königlichen Hofburg zu Wien (Vienna). (Winter gardens at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna.”) 1852. Plate III. Image 32 of a folio created by Franz Antoine. Collections of Dumbarton Oaks. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/der-wintergarten/page/n32/mode/1up

Der Wintergarten in der Kaiserlichen königlichen Hofburg zu Wien (Vienna). (Winter gardens at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna.”) 1852. Plate IV. Image 36 of a folio created by Franz Antoine. Collections of Dumbarton Oaks. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/der-wintergarten/page/n36/mode/1up

*Der Wintergarten in der Kaiserlichen *königlichen* Hofburg zu Wien* (Vienna). (Winter gardens at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna”). 1852. Plate VII. Image 44 of a folio created by Franz Antoine. Collections of Dumbarton Oaks. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/der-wintergarten/page/n44/mode/1up

*Der Wintergarten in der Kaiserlichen *königlichen* Hofburg zu Wien* (Vienna). (Winter gardens at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna). 1852. Plate IX. Image 50 of a folio created by Franz Antoine. Collections of Dumbarton Oaks. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/der-wintergarten/page/n50/mode/1up

*Der Wintergarten in der Kaiserlichen *königlichen* Hofburg zu Wien* (Vienna). (Winter gardens at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna). 1852. Plate X. Image 53 of a folio created by Franz Antoine. Collections of Dumbarton Oaks. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/der-wintergarten/page/n53/mode/1up

*Der Wintergarten in der Kaiserlichen *königlichen* Hofburg zu Wien* (Vienna). (Winter gardens at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna). 1852. Plate XI. Image 57 of a folio created by Franz Antoine. Collections of Dumbarton Oaks. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/der-wintergarten/page/n57/mode/1up

Watercolors with porcelain (china). Benjamin Walter Spiers, artist. Living from 1845 to 1894, he was a London painter of genre scenes and still-lifes.

Studies. 1876. British. Watercolor. Benjamin Walter Spiers, watercolorist (1845-1894). Bears signature, inscription and date Scratch Club Marks/December 1976/”Studies”/B. W. Spiers (on label affixed to the reverse). Image © Bonhams 2001-2022. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. Fair use license. via https://www.bonhams.com/auction/27488/lot/7/benjamin-walter-spiers-british-1845-1894-studies/

Worthless old knicknacks and silly old books. 1878. British. Pencil and watercolor heightened with bodycolor on paper. Benjamin Walter Spiers, watercolorist (1845-1894). Signed with initials and dated B.W.S./1878 on the lower right; inscribed This snug little chamber is cramm’d in all nooks/with worthless old knicknacks and silly old books/Thackeray’s “Cane-bottomed Chair”/by B.W. Spiers/70 Hereford Rd/Bayswater (on an artist’s label on the reverse of the frame). Image © Bonhams 2001-2022. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. Fair use license. via https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23944/lot/36/

Old China.1879. British. Watercolor and pencil on paper. Benjamin Walter Spiers, watercolorist (1845-1894). In the public domain due to age. via https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/Benjamin-Walter-Spiers/319590/Old-China,-1879-(toilet-and-pencil-on-paper).html

Out and about with Czech painter Václav Brožík who worked in the Academic style. Living from 1851 to 1901, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.

*Mistr Jan Hus před Kostnickým koncilem (Master Jan Hus before the Constance Council.)* 1883. Czech. Oil on canvas. Václav Brožík, painter (1851-1901). Collections of the Old Town Hall, Brožík Hall, Prague. In the public domain in the United States because the artist died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vaclav_Brozik_-_Hus.jpg

Zvolení Jiříka z Poděbrad za krále českého. *(Election of Jiřík of Poděbrady as King of Bohemia.)* 1898. Czech. Oil on canvas. Václav Brožík, painter (1851-1901). Collections of the Old Town Hall, Brožík Hall, Prague. In the public domain in the United States because the artist died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vaclav_Brozik_-_Volba.jpg

**Polyxena z Lobkovic**, *ochraňuje ve svém domě královské místodržící Slavatu a Martinice, svržené z oken královského hradu v Praze roku 1618* (*Polyxena of Lobkowitz* *safeguarding the royal officials Slavata and Martinic, thrown out of windows of the royal castle in Prague in 1618*.) Undated, by 1901. Czech. Oil on canvas. Václav Brožík, painter (1851-1901). Image source: dorotheum.com. In the public domain in the United States because the artist died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brozik_Vaclav_017.jpg

*Tu felix Austria nube (engagement of Louis Jagiellon to Maria Habsburg).* 1896. Czech. Václav Brožík, painter (1851-1901). Collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Belvedere Museum, Vienna. In the public domain in the United States because the painter died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:V%C3%A1clav_Bro%C5%BE%C3%ADk_-*Tu_felix_Austria_nube*–*2768a-b*-_Kunsthistorisches_Museum.jpg

Antique hand-fans. All of these from a current Sotheby’s auction catalogue. Please note that a few which were made in the 18th and 19th centuries have elephant ivory sticks and guards. To my mind that makes it all right to use here. If it bothers you please look at the other two.

Hand-fan with a painted vellum leaf depicting various scenes of agricultural labor, contained by broad decorative borders depicting flora, fauna and chinoiserie figures. Elephant ivory sticks and guards, the sticks finely pierced with foliate patterns and and creating silhouette scenes against the mother-of-pearl ground of an elegant group with a horse-drawn carriage. The pierced guards with a ground of colored foil. 1760-1770. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/hotel-lambert-une-collection-princiere-volume-v-lecrin/an-ivory-and-painted-vellum-fan-1760-1770?locale=en

Hand-fan with the vellum leaf depicting a mythological scene, possibly Diana and Actaeon. Pierced horn sticks with stylized foliate patterns. The pierced guards with a central medallion of a vase of flowers surmounted by a ribbon and a plaque containing the number “662”. Early 19th c. French. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/hotel-lambert-une-collection-princiere-volume-v-lecrin/a-horn-and-vellum-fan-french-early-19th-century?locale=en

Horn and silk hand-fan. Pierced and sequined silk leaves the horn sticks and mounts studded with silver. 19th c. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/hotel-lambert-une-collection-princiere-volume-v-lecrin/a-horn-and-silk-fan-19th-century?locale=en

Hand-fan with a chicken-skin leaf and elephant ivory sticks and guards. The ivory sticks and guards pierced with floral motifs and a fine mesh ground enclosing scenes of musicians and painters, bound using a mother-of-pearl washer, the chicken-skin leaf depicting a group of *chinoiserie* figures within vignettes of fruit, flowers and insects. Mid 18th c. Probably French. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/hotel-lambert-une-collection-princiere-volume-v-lecrin/an-ivory-fan-probably-french-mid-18th-century?locale=en

Lace and mother-of-pearl hand-fan. The sticks and guards in finely pierced mother-of-pearl and heightened with gold foil, the sticks including two engraved portrait medallions, the guards centrally featuring an ornate monogram studded with diamonds and a lady with a fan surmounted by a cherub. The leaf in Ponte-de-Gaze lade with a floral pattern. The box being marked *Spaulding and Company/Jewelers and Silversmiths/36 Avenue de l’Opera/Paris.* 1890-1900. Made in Paris, France by Spaulding and Company. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/hotel-lambert-une-collection-princiere-volume-v-lecrin/a-lace-and-mother-of-pearl-fan-by-spaulding-1890?locale=en

Imagery from the “Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey” made under the direction of the secretary of the Interior for the 34th Congress in 1858 by William H. Emory.

*Noco-Shimatt-Tash-Tanaki, Grizzly Bear. Seminole Chief.* 1858. American. Page 76. Chromolithograph. Arthur Schott, artist. Sarony and Company, New York, lithographers. Collections of the Peter H. Raven Library, Missouri Botanical Garden. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/91674#page/76/mode/1up

*Falls of the Rio Salado.* 1858. American. Page 93 of a Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey done by William H. Emory for the 34th Congress. Sarony and Company, New York, lithographers after a drawing by J. E. Weyss. Collections of the Peter H. Raven Library, Missouri Botanical Garden. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/91674#page/93/mode/1up

*Lipan Warrior.* 1858. American. Page 108 of a Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey done by William H. Emory for the 34th Congress. Sarony, Major, and Knapp, New York, lithographers after a drawing by A Schott. Collections of the Peter H. Raven Library, Missouri Botanical Garden. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/91674#page/108/mode/1up

My new romance novel “Cloudlands: the House on Emeralda Key”.

Good morning! I do other kinds of creative work too and so am posting with a copy of the front cover and an Amazon link as I am beyond thrilled as it took two years from start to finish and I am thrilled it is done. Thinking some of you might be interested in reading it too. The characters are fictional but everything else is researched to my research standards that you see here with the various posts. Thank you for following me! Sarah.