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Title: Namazu-e (catfish print)
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1855
Description: According to Japanese legend, earthquakes were caused by the movements of a monster catfish that lived under the island of Japan. Immediately following the great Ansei earthquake of October 2, 1855, woodblock prints called Namazu-e (“catfish pictures”) appeared in Edo (now Tokyo), the most affected area. These imaginative and sometimes brutal depictions served as a unique source of information and reassurance to the local population. Here the monster Namazu (is lifting up the great stone of the Kashima Shrine by which it has been fixed under the ground for a long time. Carpenters and plasterers are encouraging the monster Namazu so they can make money repairing earthquake damage.

Title: George Biddell Airy, KCB. “Astronomy.” (“Men of the Day” series)
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1875
Description: Vanity Fair Print, “Men of the Day,” No. 115. November 13, 1875. Caricaturist: Carlo (“Ape) Pellegrini (1838-1889). George Biddell Airy, born in Northumberland and educated at Trinity College Cambridge, developed the “undulating theory of light.” He was one of Britain’s foremost astronomers in the nineteenth century, distinguished as both the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University and Astronomer Royal, a position he attained at age 34.

Title: Namazu-e (catfish print)
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1855
Description: According to Japanese legend, earthquakes were caused by the movements of a monster catfish that lived under the island of Japan. Immediately following the great Ansei earthquake of October 2, 1855, woodblock prints called Namazu-e (“catfish pictures”) appeared in Edo (now Tokyo), the most affected area. These imaginative and sometimes brutal depictions served as a unique source of information and reassurance to the local population. Here people who suffered from the Ansei earthquake are trying to castrate the Namazu so that it can no longer cause earthquakes,

Title: Namazu-e (catfish print)
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1855
Description: According to Japanese legend, earthquakes were caused by the movements of a monster catfish that lived under the island of Japan. Immediately following the great Ansei earthquake of October 2, 1855, woodblock prints called Namazu-e (“catfish pictures”) appeared in Edo (now Tokyo), the most affected area. These imaginative and sometimes brutal depictions served as a unique source of information and reassurance to the local population. Here an expert is giving a lecture on the monster Namazu and pointing out the postion of the great stone which is supposed to keep it from violence.

Title: Elmer/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Engraving of Franklin seated, holding the January 1776 issue of the London Evening Post in his right hand, and reading it with pince-nez (not his usual spectacles); under his left hand is a copy of Richard Price’s 1776 pamphlet, Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty... Inspired by a 1780 oil painting by Stephen Elmer (d. 1796). [Note: Speculation as to whether the picture represents Franklin at all; identification as Franklin is only documented by 2 engravings made from this painting after Elmer’s death.]

Title: Martin/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Portrait of Franklin seated at a table, wearing glasses and chin resting on thumb of right hand, reading a manuscript. Reproduction of Franklin signature below portrait. Engraving by T. B. Welch after a 1772 replica painting by David Martin (1737-1798) [note the plain, round, upholstered back of chair], in possession of the American Philosophical Society.

Title: Portrait of Thomas Edison (1847-1931)
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1911
Description: Photogravure reproduction of a charcoal-sketched portrait of Edison, done by Emanuel Grosser. The signatures of both Edison and Grosser appear below the sketch, as does the date. Photographische Gesellschaft, Berlin.

Title: Portrait of Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Format: photograph: negative
Description: Engraved portrait of French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher Pascal, done by Henry Meyer (1782-1847) after a portrait done by French painter Philippe de Champagne [Champaigne] (1602-1674), most notably famous for executing many religious paintings for Marie de Medici and Richelieu. Published by Charles Knight, London.

Title: Portrait of Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
Format: photograph: negative
Description: Engraved portrait of French philosopher, mathematician and scientist Descartes. Original stipple engraving by Joseph Collyer (1748-1827). Published by G. Kearsly of London.

Title: Portrait of Lord Kelvin (1824-1907)
Format: photograph: negative
Description: Portrait photo of older Lord Kelvin (Sir William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs), the Irish-Scottish mathematical physicist and engineer. Done in profile (with signature). Photograph by J. Russell and Sons. Swan Electric Engraving Co., Ltd.

Title: Duplessis-Valade/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Portrait of Franklin, in three-quarter right profile, dressed in a coat with fur collar. Below portrait, a scene depicting the the Founding Fathers at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Proof of engraving, after a ca. 1785 oil painting, probably by French portrait painter Jean Valade (1709-1787), which is after a 1778 painting by Joseph Siffred Duplessis (1751-1831).

Title: Portrait of Costantino Grimaldi (1667-1750)
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1704
Description: Engraved portrait of Italian philosopher Costantino Grimaldi, done by Paulus Pilaia, Rome, 1704; drawn by Domenico Finelli.

Title: Portrait of Michael Faraday (1791-1867)
Format: photograph: print
Description: Photogravure reproduction of a painted portrait, done by Thomas Phillips (1770-1845) in 1842, of Faraday as a young man. Photographische Gesellschaft, Berlin, ca 1910.

Title: Nini-Walpole/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: print: engraving
Description: Right profile of Franklin with short hair, wearing a fur hat. From a 1777 medallion by Jean Baptiste Nini, after a drawing by Thomas Walpole (1755-1840). Engraved by James Hopwood (ca 1752-1819). Published by George Nicholson.

Title: A Friday Evening Discourse at the Royal Institution, 1904
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1906
Description: Photograph of the famous oil painting done by Henry Jamyn Brooks (1865-1925), entitled, “A Friday Evening Discourse at the Royal Institution, 1904. Sir James Dewar on Liquid Hydrogen. Presented May 1906, to the Royal Institution by Dr. Ludwig Mond and Other Members.” Henry Dixon & Son, Ltd, photographers. British chemist Mond (1839-1909) with a generous endowment to the Royal Institution, established the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory, of which Professor Dewar (1842-1923) became its director. Dewar, famous for being the first to liquify and eventually solidify hydrogen, was knighted in 1904.

Title: Portrait of Count Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)
Format: photograph: print
Description: Photogravure reproduction of engraved print of Italian physicist Count Alessandro Volta portrait, original done by Giovita Garavaglia (1790-1835) [possibly after portrait done by Bettoni]. Photographische Gesellschaft, Berlin, ca 1910.

Title: Namazu-e (catfish print)
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1855
Description: According to Japanese legend, earthquakes were caused by the movements of a monster catfish that lived under the island of Japan. Immediately following the great Ansei earthquake of October 2, 1855, woodblock prints called Namazu-e (“catfish pictures”) appeared in Edo (now Tokyo), the most affected area. These imaginative and sometimes brutal depictions served as a unique source of information and reassurance to the local population. Here the Kashima Shrine god is holding the catfish down while the people who suffered from the Ansei earthquake are attempting to capture, cook and eat the Namazu.

Title: Portrait of George Stokes (1819-1903)
Format: photograph: print
Description: Reproduction of a stipple and line-engraved portrait of Irish mathematician and physicist Sir George Gabriel Stokes; done by engraver Charles Henry Jeens (1827-1879) whose signature also appears on portrait. Stokes was one of the most influential scientists of the era, was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University and Secretary of the Royal Society. His most famous work was in the field of fluid mechanics.

Title: Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1799
Description: Inscription reads: “Sir Isaac Newton. when Bachelor of Arts in Trinity College, Cambridge. Engraved by B. Reading from a Head painted by Sir Peter Lily in the Possession of the Right Honorable Lord Viscount Cremorne.” The engraving is after a portrait of Newton done by Dutch/English baroque portrait painter Sir Peter Lily [better known as Sir Peter Lely; “lely” is the Dutch word for “lily.”] (1618-1680), renowned for his Van Dyke-influenced style.

Title: Portrait of Kenelm Digby (1603-1665)
Format: photograph: print
Description: Engraved portrait done by Nicholas de L’armessin II (ca 1632-1694) of English eccentric and student of natural science, Kenelm Digby, who was interested in astrology and alchemy; and was also a founding member of the Royal Society. The engraving is after a painting of Digby done by Flemish Baroque painter Sir Anthony Van Dyck [Vandyke] (1599-1641), who was a friend of Digby’s. [Note: The L’armessin name was that of a famous 17th and 18th century French family of engravers, printers, and booksellers. It could be that the engraving of Digby was done instead by N. de L’armessin III (ca 1640-1725). When researching, one finds a blur as to which works were completed by who.]