Sunday Picture Theme is #Spirit

Spirits of Gold River

The theme of the day for January 5, 2025 is #Spirit. Chainsaw carvings of Ryan Cook in Gold River, British Columbia (from 2017).

Daily Picture Theme

The Daily Picture Theme is "The Big Photo Album of Our Community” on Spoutible, a social media site. Everyday a different theme is posted and folks post matching photos withe hashtag #DailyPictureTheme. I repost my contributions on my website My Strange Life. Enjoy.

Now for something completely different

I’ve been reviewing newspapers and documents from the 1800s, There was a copy of a book of illustrations called “Scraps” that was the work of David Claypoole Johnston of Boston. I discovered a Wikipedia entry for him.

Johnston was born in Philadelphia, the son of William Johnston and Charlotte Rowson, an actress who was sister-in-law of author actress and educator Susanna Rowson. In 1815, Johnston had studied engraving as an apprentice of Philadelphia engraver Francis Kearney, and he himself became an engraver of original caricatures, which were too controversial for publishing. In 1821, he switched to a theatrical career, appearing for the first time at the Walnut Street Theatre on 10 March 1821, as Henry in Speed the Plough. He performed for five seasons with theatre companies in Philadelphia and Boston.

Afterward, he retired from the stage and set up an engraver's office in Boston. His most important early work was a series of etched and lithographed character portraits of well-known American and British actors. In the years between 1829 and 1849, he published nine numbers of his annual comic Scraps, made of four plates, each containing nine or ten separate humorous sketches.

This is one of the illustrations from Scraps

The Overturned Stage - an illustration from 1830 by D.C. Johnston

Happy New Year

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