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'I dropped a little at the races today - but I'll clean up later!'

Echoes of Antiquity: A 1930s View of Siracusa

There is something hauntingly beautiful about old sepia-toned "real photo" postcards. This view of the Teatro Greco in Syracuse, Italy, dates back to approximately 1936.

Unlike modern tourist photos, this shot emphasizes the raw, desolate majesty of the koilon (the seating area) integrated into the limestone landscape. At the time this photo was taken, the theatre was already over 2,400 years old.

The Eternal Bloom: Agrigento, 1937

Body Text: There’s a specific kind of nostalgia found in black-and-white photography of flowers. This postcard, printed in 1937, depicts the Temple of Juno in Agrigento framed by blooming almond trees.

The back of the card (swipe/scroll to see) features the stamp of the Edizione del Museo Civico and the Fascist era dating convention (Year XV), providing a stark historical context to such a serene, natural scene.

Ancient ruins and spring blossoms—a duo that never goes out of style.

Read the full post on the blog: Postcard Postscripts: The Eternal Bloom: A 1930s Glimpse of Agrigento’s Temple of Juno

Fancy leaved caladium in color. 1958.

"Intarsia ornaments dated Bologna, 1495. They afford studies in pendant and vertical forms, set out by exceptional areas in solid backgrounds."

Historic design in printing. 1923.

Stylized heraldic design motifs for interior decoration.

Studies in design. 1876. Christopher Dresser.

"Mammato cumulus, forerunner of the tornado." Cloud and weather atlas. 1944.

Druidical Circle. Mona the druidess or, The astral science of old Britain. 1904.

“Human Statue of Liberty” comprised of 18,000 officers and men at Camp Dodge, Des Moines, ca. 1917/18.

Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ, A Eunuch’s Dream, 1874.

Total Eclipse of the Sun, 1882. Chromolithograph after a pastel drawing by astronomer, artist, and amateur entomologist Étienne Léopold Trouvelot, who died on this day in 1895.