David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :
'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)
(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.
.
From the Rare Books Collection of the Library of Congress,
via the International Children's Digital Library
www.childrenslibrary.org
Gobolinks or Shadow Pictures
For Young and Old
Ruth McEnery Stuart ~ Albert Bigelow Paine
1896
That's the cover above, and the back cover is two down.
The image below,
The Butterfly Man, is one of 73 pages of similar mirror beings. These can be quickly scanned over and then viewed individually : click
here then click on READ THIS BOOK
THE BUTTERFLY MAN.A very gay fellow was he -
As gay as a mortal could be.
And he fluttered about
Till at last he turned out
A Butterfly man, as you see.
