Customer Reviews

BibliOdyssey: Amazing Archival Images from the Internet

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Here's a stunning phrase: visual materia obscura. As in, all the beautiful, eccentric, frightening and illuminating images you can find -- if you know how to look for them -- in the Web's dustiest, most erudite archives.

Nobody knows how to look better than PK, creator of BibliOdyssey, the blog -- a showcase for 1000 years of works on paper, many related to the book arts, and, IMHO, the most optically seductive site on the Web, keeping its fans up till dawn with the wonder of it all. It's only natural that BibliOdyssey should morph into a book -- and a gorgeous one at that. Brought out by swank FUEL Design in London, the book is the perfect
companion to the blog, but only if you like medieval herbals, meticulous 18th century drawings of microscopic critters, cloud maps, comet anatomy, mysterious geared machines from the Baghdad Caliphate, Renaissance prosthetics, outrageous costumes, ornate nakedness, heart-stopping calligraphy, antiquarian cookbooks and anything to do with Fr. Athanasius Kircher.

PK, an Australian mystery blogger, has a marvelous, totally
unpretentious way of introducing you to his favorite finds. If it sounds like he just discovered them himself -- well, he did. And I wish a lot of culture vultures would imitate his tone when they write or teach or even leave the house. Not to be sneezed at is the Foreword by famous British artist Dinos Chapman. And the binding itself is worth the price.

Heavens! Buy this fabulous book for the holiday (or for upcoming Valentine's Day) -- it's the same price publishers of absolute dogmeat are asking for material that won't hold your attention for half an hour. If you don't love it, someone you know will love YOU for giving it to them.

Through the BibliOdyssey weblog, the author is a treasure hunter in the musty backwaters of the academic undernet; researching, resurrecting and cataloguing (mostly) public domain illustration from centuries past. All manner of curious visual esoterica is illuminated, from the religious to the scientific to the surreal and profane.

This deluxe book is a fitting tribute to the author's hobby site, featuring both old and new material, with excellent reproductions of selected works framed with typeset care, wrapped in a gold-foiled hardcover.

It is not an academic treatise, but a passionate collection of discovered objects, and the author humbly professes not to be an authority on the subject matter presented. As a consequence, the collection is all the more accessible as we share in the wonder and technique of the artworks, free to be enjoyed without the constraints of context.

This work would make a fine gift to any suitable gentleman, lady, family, library or studio serious about history, curiosity or creativity.

Visit the weblog for a taste if you will, but it must be said, these works were intended to be seen and felt on paper, and this book does them that justice!

This book is such a beautiful visual journey. I received it for Christmas and have not had enough time to sit down and read it cover to cover yet. Though the time I have spent perusing the book is all the encouragement I need to make the time. PK's commentary is both informative and accessible throughout. The author's love and passion for this work shines through, and makes it a captivating book.

Those who search for treasure in uncharted sections of old bookstores or forgotten regions of the library will love this book. It offers page after page of wonderous (re)discovery. The images are enthralling, beautiful. In an image-saturated present, these illustrations retain the power to hold onto your eyes. It's a tribute to that power that the pictures in Bibliodyssey have made a circle from printed matter to electronic database back to printed form.
Unlike some visual culture journals like Cabinet, Bibliodyssey sticks to the bare facts about each find, leaving you to research further if you desire. The collector's love for his material shines through the casual delivery. The lack of academic research on each find has the effect of preserving them in an untouched state.
The images are somewhat grouped together in the way of a well-written introduction by Dinos Chapman. I find Chapman a bizarre choice for this job given his recent hostility toward rare printed images...

I bought this book sight unseen, after becoming hooked on the Bibliodessey site. I was very disappointed in the rather dull, uninteresting pieces that were chosen. Very few were of the 'wow' nature that the site often displays. A few were interesting, and I am always interested in illustrative art from any age, so I'm glad to have seen the ones chosen. But I'm very sorry I spent my money, and plan to just stick with daily perusing the site instead.

I've been a faithful fan of PK's intriguing website BibliOdyssey for a number of years so I was delighted to learn a selection of his wonderful treasures would be published in book form. The book now has a special place in my art library - that is, when I can keep it on the shelf. I've lent it to friends and family a half dozen times and being reluctant to pull it away from someone who is enjoying it, I've replaced my original copy a few times now.

BibliOdyssey carries on in the fine tradition of a "cabinet of curiosities" or a "Kunstkammer" - a wondrous collection of arts and curiosities. It includes images of obscure drawings, diagrams, prints, maps, broadsides, and illustrations carefully culled from dusty corners of the world's libraries, museums, and archives. Turning each page is like pulling open a new cabinet drawer, each filled with a display to entice curiosity, amusement, wonder, or awe.

The collection gives us a glimpse of the science, medicine, learning, and industry of yesterday, as well as window into the imagination, amusements and pop-culture of the past - from the sublime and the fantastic to the quirky and ribald. There are anthropomorphic vegetables, maps, and serpents; bestiaries of fantastic or fearful creatures; ingenious medical and scientific devices; amusing cartoons and caricatures; and much, much more. Each entry is accompanied by PK's thoughtful and well-written explanatory text, which feeds you just enough but leaves you wanting more. And for those who want more, each entry offers a website to the source to whet your need for further explorations.

The book is also a sensory delight - it's a finely crafted book that feels good in the hand. The matte cover is de-embossed with sample imagery; the pages within are of quality paper and the coloration of the ancient texts handled artfully. Kudos to author and publisher alike for a job well done - and to the original artists, philosophers, inventors, and dreamers as well, who would no doubt be delighted to know that their work lives on. I hope there will be a follow-on collection at some later date!

this book is fun...could use a little more description of each link or site to make it more useful

The images are amazing, whether you see them in their original setting, on BibliOdyssey, or in this great book.

Several years ago the New York Public Library started the NYPL Digital Gallery which "provides access to over 600,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more." I've explored those images, and many more collections of images from other libraries, with great pleasure.

I've also enjoyed websites of those who download images that strike their fancy and post them on their websites. Some of my favorites include "Luminous Lint" (photography), "strange maps" (maps), "Futility Closet" (Miscellany), and " BibliOdyssey ".

PK, the webmaster writes: "You can expect everything from astronomy to zoology and from Art Nouveau to the Renaissance...I like to think that the trajectory of the book aims somewhere roughly between our internet users' penchant for a concentrated package of beguiling ephemera and as an introductory overview of the cultural wealth accessible from web archives for Luddites."

Fair enough. And fair enough that it's odd to think of images being converted from paper to electronics and then back again to paper. The printing and paper are high quality, and the reproductions seem true to the online images. Their larger size in the book makes them even more impressive.

One point is clear, though, PK has generally chosen images with a dark quality -- the falling man in the three piece suit on the cover speaks for the collection. I might have chosen an entirely different set from the stacks. Nonetheless, this book is a suggestive and informing journey through the treasures contained in the world's great libraries.

Robert C. Ross 2008