Opus – Page 158 – Encyclopædia of the sublime

The Pencil of Nature

The Pencil of Nature, published in six instalments between 1844 and 1846, was the first photographically illustrated book to be commercially published. Written by William Henry Fox Talbot, the book detailed Talbot's development of the calotype process and included 24 calotype prints, each one pasted in by hand, illustrating some of the possible applications of the new technology. Since photography was still very much a novelty and many people remained unfamiliar with the concept, Talbot felt compelled to insert the following notice into his book: "The plates of the present work are impressed by the agency of Light alone, without any aid whatever from the artist's pencil. They are the sun-pictures themselves, and not, as some persons have imagined, engravings in imitation."

Julia Hafstrom

Julia Hafstrom is a swedish model.

Snake wine

Snake wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by infusing whole snakes in rice wine or grain alcohol. The drink was first recorded to have been consumed in China during the Western Zhou dynasty and considered an important curative and believed to reinvigorate a person according to Traditional Chinese medicine.

Portmeirion

Portmeirion is a popular tourist village in North Wales. It was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village and is now owned by a charitable trust.

Everclear

Everclear is a brand of neutral grain spirit that is available at concentrations of 75.5% alcohol (151 proof) and 95% alcohol (190 proof). Due to its high alcohol content, Everclear is illegal, unavailable, or difficult to find in many areas.

Jules Renard

Spanning from 1887 to a month before his death in 1910, The Journal of Jules Renard is a unique autobiographical masterpiece that, though celebrated abroad and cited as a principle influence by writers as varying as Somerset Maugham and Donald Barthelme, remains largely undiscovered in the United States. Throughout his journal, Renard develops not only his artistic convictions but also his humanity, as he reflects on the nineteenth-century French literary and art scene and the emergence of his position as an important novelist and playwright in that world, provides aphorisms and quips, and portrays the details of his personal life-his love interests, his position as a socialist mayor of Chitry, the suicide of his father-which often appear in his work.

Insel Verlag

Insel Verlag is a German publishing house.

Resolute desk

The Resolute desk is a large, nineteenth-century partners' desk often chosen by presidents of the United States for use in the White House Oval Office. It was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 and was built from the timbers of the British Arctic Exploration ship Resolute.

Michelangelo – La Dotta Mano

Guaranteed for 500 years (a more and more common requirement today with museums), this special limited edition of only 33 copies worldwide, all numbered and signed, is a pictorial essay on the sculptures of the grand-master of the Renaissance in Italy.

Ama divers

Ama are Japanese divers, famous for collecting pearls. The majority of ama are women. Japanese tradition holds that the practice of ama divers may be 2,000 years old. Traditionally, and even as recently as the 1960s, ama dived wearing only a loincloth. Even in modern times, ama dive without scuba gear or air tanks, making them a traditional sort of free-diver.