27.3.14

The "Victorian Blood Book", 1854


I recently came across the amazing 'Victorian Blood Book
and found it too fascinating and beautiful not to share.  


Enjoy the images, and click here to learn more 
about this intriguing publication from 160 years ago.



Via the Harry Ransom Center website:

"
Evelyn Waugh ... was an inveterate collector of things Victorian 

(and well ahead of most of his contemporaries in this regard). 
Undoubtedly the single most curious object in [his] entire library is 
a large oblong folio decoupage book, often referred to as the 
'Victorian Blood Book'.

 Its decoupage was assembled from several hundred engravings, many taken from books of etchings by William Blake, as well as other illustrations from early nineteenth-century books. The principal motifs are natural (birds, animals, and especially snakes) and Christian (images of the crucifixion, scenes from the Bible, and crusaders). Drops of red india ink and extensive religious commentary have been added to many of the images.  "





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