#pagefrights

Science Saturday / Halloween Crossover

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and what better way to celebrate than to look at a “scientific” work about monsters, Gaspar Schott’s Physica Curiosa!

Gaspar Schott was 17th-century German Jesuit scientist whose compilations, “experiments,” and deep interest in magic occasionally led to some pretty dodgy publications of his own – much to the delight of his 21st-century readers! Such is the case with his Physica Curiosa (almost-full title below), published in Würzburg (Herbipolis) in 1662. 

This two-volume set explores the physical curiosities of the known and unknown worlds, mixing (as the extended title suggests) observed fauna, flora, and astronomical phenomena with fabulous beasts, monsters, angels, demons, specters, and portents.

P. Gasparis Schotti ... Physica curiosa, sive Mirabilia naturæ et artis libris XII. comprehensa; quibus pleraque, quæ de angelis, dæmonibus, hominibus, spectris, energumensis, monstris, portentis, animalibus, meteoris, &c. rara, arcana, curiosaq́ue circumferuntur, ad veritatis trutinam expenduntur, variis ex historia ac philosophia petitis disquisitionibus excutiuntur, & innumeris exemplis illustrantur ...

You can browse a digital copy of Physica Curiosa online through the Internet Archive! Which seems like a great Halloween activity. There is also a full moon tonight! SPOOKY!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

View our other posts about Physica Curiosa.

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This little animation for Bat Week is from Imao Keinen's Keinen shūgajō v. 4 published 1906 in Kyoto. While a lot of his work is more elaborate than this set, you can find some exceptional sumi-e or black ink painting (with the occasional pop of color) inside the 7 volumes we’ve digitized. 

Kui Xing, stellar patron of the literati, is associated with the constellations and a servant to Wenchang, the God of Literature. The name Kui Xing, or Star Ghost, also refers to stars in the Big Dipper constellation. He is often depicted standing on one leg, clutching a brush in one hand and a tablet in the other, as well as standing on the head of a turtle waving a Chinese brush in the air.

Portrait of Kuixing stellar Alternate Title :Kui xing xiang bing zan Transliterated (Pinyin) Title :Kui xing xiang

“To give an accurate description of their shape is a thing impossible. Some  of them appear with horns that they bend to every shape; some seem to have but one leg and a tail, others seem to have three; some have bodies somewhat of the shape of a tadpole; others bear a distant resemblance to the porpoise; others exhibit the shape of a catfish with the head of a grass-hopper; others resemble nothing under the sun, but are wholly sui generis.” 

Magnified #PageFrights from The Book of Wonders (Boston, circa 1872).

Thomas Marshall in his stylish Halloween costume, 1925. Possibly the first and only non-terrifying clown.

Opening the 1960 Chanticleer has always been a bit of a page fright....