Historic authenticity of the Spanish SAN FELIPE of 1690

San Felipe Model

Reprinted from FineModelShips.com with the kind permission of Dr. Michael Czytko

The SAN FELIPE is one of the most favoured ships among the ship model builders. The model is elegant, very beautifully designed, and makes a decorative piece of art to be displayed at home or in the office.

Doubts on San Felipe’s historic authenticity I have heard voiced or seen many times, mainly in forums on ship history and ship modelling. There was the contribution of Toni Alvarez Silva of April 1999 in some forum, who went three times to the Museo Naval in Madrid. He could not get any information there whether the San Felipe existed or not. He also contacted Mantua and Artesania Latina and asked them about their model kits of the San Felipe, without getting convincing responses.

The three San Felipe ship models (123) in this webpage were probably made from these kits. The plans of the kits are based on drawings of the “San Felipe” that were published in the 1950s by the Departamento de Falanges del Mar“ (see below).

Most probably a Spanish three-decker with the name “San Felipe” did not exist in 1690. As outlined by Mr. Leber the plans and model ship kits show construction elements of hull and rigging of Spanish ships of the line around 1700. But the question remains: Why don’t the kit makers refer to a ship like the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas Nuestra of 1688? That ship did exist and has been described in detail (see below).

I would like to quote a work of Dr. Markus Leber of 20 Juli 2009 who in recent years has studied the historical background of the first two three-deckers that were launched in Spain.

Spanish three-deckers around 1700 (by Dr. Markus Leber, 20 July 2009)

Many ship modellers are fascinated by three-deckers. Heavily armed and with compelling decorations they were symbols of power, representing their nation and royal dynasty. Unfortunately on Spanish three-deckers around 1700 there is only sparse literature in English or German, and part of that is not always correct. Spanish literature sources and talks with Spanish historians give new interesting insights on that topic.

1. The „Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas” (1688)

The first proven three-decker of the Spanish navy was the „Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas“. Construction of that ship began in 1682 by the shipbuilder D. Antonio De Amas at the Colindres (Cantabria) shipyard. The displacement of the ship might have been about 1500 tons.

In 1687 José Antonio de Gaztañeta (1656 – 1728) visited the shipyard to catch up on the work at the new flagship. As admiral of the Spanish Armada Gaztañeta did influence the Spanish ship building markedly, till the 18th century. His book „Arte de Fabrica Reales” of 1691 [1] contains detailed drawings of the „Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas“. There is a view of the stern, a side view and a detail drawing of the stern gallery (see Fig. 1 and 2). The ship is shown as small three-decker without elevated forecastle, carrying 90 to 94 guns.
After launching in 1688 the ship was transferred to Santoña and completed. In May 1690 the masts were set in place. The ship’s painting by Martin Amigo is from that year (see Fig. 3). It is an oil painting on canvas 210 * 135 cm. Today that painting is in the parish church „Iglesia de la Asunción“ in Arcenillas, Zamora.

Side view of the „Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas“ by José Antonio de Gaztañeta

Figure 1: Side view of the „Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas“ by José Antonio de Gaztañeta

Stern views of the „Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas“ by José Antonio de Gaztañeta

Figure 2: Stern views of the „Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas“ by José Antonio de Gaztañeta

Oil painting of the „Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas“ by Martín Amigo in the year 1690

Figure 3: Oil painting of the „Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas“ by Martín Amigo in the year 1690

The painting is consistent with the drawings by Gaztañeta. Both contemporary sources show that the „Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas“ was designed and built as a three-decker. In the Museo Naval in Madrid there is a model of the Nuestra Senora that has been built to these sources. It is interesting to compare the stern section of the painting of Martin Amigo with the high resolution photos of the corresponding page of Gaztañeta’s manuscriptum and the stern of the model.

The contemporary sources contradict statements that the “Real Felipe” of 1732 was the first Spanish three-decker [2, 3].

Little is known about the subsequent use of the „Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas“. On 15 October 1690 the ship left Santoña for Cadiz, escorted by the ships of the line „San Carlos“ and „San Juan“, and some merchant ships. In the years thereafter she was mainly used in Cadiz. The ship took part in an expedition, in 1700, to expel the Scots from the Gulf of Darien in the Caribbean. In 1702 she was in Cadiz when the city was besieged by an Anglo-Dutch squadron [10].
During the War of the Spanish Succession the ship was in a bad shape. Because of that her guns were taken from her and used by other ships of the line. In 1705 the ship was finally broken up in Cadiz.

2. The „Real Felipe“ (1732)

The ship was named after Philipp V of Spain, the first Bourbon ruler of Spain, who in the War of the Spanish Succession managed to defend his throne against the claims of the Austrian Habsburgs.
The ship was built by Ciprián Autrán and Pedro Boyer using the system and the new design specifications of Antonio de Gaztañeta. The work on the shipyard of Guarnizo in Santander was finished in 1732. This three-decker was a giant of 1965 tons that could take up to 114 cannon. At that time only the French Foudroyant was larger.

In a register of 1740 the crew was stated to be 1152 men. The “Real Felipe” proved to be a firm vessel of great firepower. In the battle of Toulon on 22 February 1744 she was repeatedly attacked by British ships [4]. She could repulse all attacks and fought “like hell”, according to English sources. However, the ship was damaged so badly that she was never completely repaired, due to high cost. In 1750 she was finally broken up.

The „Real Felipe“ is supposed to be the largest and most beautiful ship of the Spanish fleet at that time. Strangely, despite of that there is no proven contemporary illustration of her. In books, articles or Internet one can find many depictions, but they are all different and none of them is contemporary. Jose Ignacio Gonzales-Aller Hierro, the former curator of the Museo Naval in Madrid, provided some information. He has published several books about the Spanish fleet, and about the inventory of the Museo Naval. In his publications „Navío Real Felipe“ [5] and „El navíos de tres puentes en la Armada española“ [6] he in detail outlined the history of the ship. So he should know about contemporary sources. He told me that there are indeed no proven contemporary drawings or paintings of the ship. Even with the most prominent drawing of the ship (see Fig. 4) one does not know when the drawing was made and by whom.

The first illustration of the „Real Felipe“ was made in the second half of the 18th century by José Manuel de Moraleda y Montero. The artist was born only in 1750, the year when the ship was broken up.
In 1796 a series of engravings about the battle of Toulon 1744 was made by some artists. The “Real Felipe” is depicted differently each time, depending on the artist. Jose Ignacio Gonzales-Aller Hierro stated to me that the ships depicted do not correspond to Spanish ships of the line during the first half of the 18th century.
In the 20th century some drawings of the ship were made by Rafael Berenguer Moreno de Guerra. However, his drawings differ from the one shown in Fig. 4. In the book „El Buque en la Armada Espanola“ [8] of 1981 one can find a somewhat sketchy reconstruction of the “Real Felipe”. This depiction, too, differs from those of the 18th century and looks like being based mostly on imagination.

Side view drawing of the „Real Felipe“, author and time of origin unknown, Museo Naval Madrid

Figure 4: Side view drawing of the „Real Felipe“, author and time of origin unknown, Museo Naval Madrid

3. The origin of the three-decker „San Felipe“

In the English- and German-speaking countries there have only few models been built of the Spanish three-deckers that really existed around 1700. Instead, the „San Felipe” became the most prominent one and a well-known ship. The ship is often connected to the Italian historian Vincenzo Lusci as originator. Despite of that the draft is older and not of Italian, but Spanish origin. Only the dubious dating to 1690 is mentioned by Vincenzo Lusci for the first time.
The first drawing of the “San Felipe” was published in the 1950s by the Departamento de Falanges del Mar“. The Spanish historian Juan Carlos Mejias Tavero presented this drawing in his 2006 article „San Felipe, Real o Ficción“ [7].

Part of the first drawing of the „San Felipe“, published by the „Departamento de Falanges del Mar“.

Figure 5: Part of the first drawing of the „San Felipe“, published by the „Departamento de Falanges del Mar“.

Fig. 5 shows part of this drawing. There are marked discrepancies to the drawing by Vincenzo Lusci and the Mantua model kit drawings. The taff-rails at the stern are more elaborately decorated and the ornamentation of the stern is different. Instead of the round ornaments below the galleries there is a deck with round windows. It is not known who exactly made this drawing.

In the book „El Buque en la Armada Espanola“ [8] there is a illustration of the “San Felipe” (page 177) which was drawn by Rafael Berenguer Moreno de Guerra. Above that illustration is a commentary „Interpretation de Berenguer de un navio espaniol de tres puentes de finales del siglo XVII, o principios del XVIII“. Hoping to get some more information about the origin of the “San Felipe”, a Spanish speaking member of the “Arbeitskreis historischer Schiffbau”, Mr. Peter Böhmer, phoned the Spanish historian Berenguer. Mr. Berenguer is famous for his many drawings of Spanish ships of war that are cited in many books and articles. The meanwhile 88-year-old explained to Mr. Böhmer that the drawing was made by a Spanish ship modeller in the 1950s. According to Berenguer the draft should originally represent the “Real Felipe” of 1732. But because of the poor historical sources a draft was generated that combined some properties of Spanish ships of the line in early 1700s.

A connection of „Real Felipe“ and „San Felipe“ can be found elsewhere in Spanish literature [9]. Several times models of the “San Felipe” have been named “Real Felipe of 1732”. Mejias Tavero [7], in his article about the „San Felipe“, too, refers to the „Real Felipe“ and to drawings of the “Arte de Fabricar Reales”. One can assume that the ”San Felipe” might be just another interpretation of the poorly documented Spanish flagship “Real Felipe” of 1732.

Irrespectively of this, for a ship modeller the question remains whether the “San Felipe” has at all properties of Spanish ships of early 18th century. To judge about this we can only refer to the few contemporary drawings of Antonio de Gaztañeta. There is a lines drawing of 1712, shown in Fig 6, that is compared to the lines of the “San Felipe”.

Comparison of the lines of the "San Felipe" with contemporary sources,

Figure 6: Comparison of the lines of the “San Felipe” with contemporary sources,
left: lines in the original plan of the “San Felipe” of the Departamento de Falanges del Mar,
middle: lines of a Spanish ship of the line, 1712, by Antonio de Gaztañeta,
right: lines of a Spanish ship of the line, 1750, by Jorge Juan

The forms of the hulls look quite similar, indeed. At the top futtocks the “San Felipe” hull is built much narrower than at the water line. The lines of the underwater hull close to the stern are bent to midships. By that the ship looks especially wide at the waterline. This form is shown by a 1712 lines drawing of Gaztañeta, too. Even though Gaztañeta’s lines represented larger two-deckers, the documents show that the „San Felipe“ has some similarity to Spanish ships of the line in early 18th century.
As the lines of 1750 show, the form of the hull did change. The ship’s side was more vertical now and the underwater hull was bulkier towards the stern.

Some details of the „San Felipe“ can be found in other contemporary drawings. Fig. 7 shows a drawing of a Spanish two-decker around 1700 (archive of Sevilla). This ship also has the round gunports on the forecastle and the poop. The bowsprit enters the front bulkhead at some elevation and not at deck level. Someone who knows the “San Felipe” can recognize contours of the model. Mejias Tavero deduced some details of the decoration from drawings of the „Arte de Fabrica Reales.

The “San Felipe” plans and the ship models show some properties of Spanish ships of the line around 1700. However, one question remains: Why don’t the kit makers refer to a ship that did exist at that time and that has been described quite in detail?

Drawing of a Spanish two-decker around 1700. Archive of Sevilla.

Figure 7: Drawing of a Spanish two-decker around 1700. Archive of Sevilla.

4. Literature:

[1] José Antonio de Gaztañeta (1687-1691), Arte de Fabrica Reales, reprint in 1992 by Lunwerg Editores, Barcelona, ISBN: 84-7782-213-1

[2] Thomas Feige (2007), Der spanische Dreidecker San Felipe von 1690 – Phantasie oder Wirklichkeit, Das Logbuch, Ausgabe 1, Seite 31 – 39

[3] Saint Hubert (1986), Ships of the line of the Spanish Navy, Warship, Volume Num 37, page 65 – 69

[4] Carlos Martínez-Valverde (1983), La campaña de don Juan José Navarro en el Mediterráneo y la batalla de cabo Sicie (1742-1744), Revista de Historia Naval, nº 2, page 5 -29

[5] José Ignacio González-Aller Hierro (1986), Navío Real Felipe, Revista de Historia Naval, nº 14, page 47 – 52

[6] José Ignacio González-Aller Hierro (1985), El navíos de tres puentes en la Armada española, Revista de Historia Naval, nº 9, page 45 – 76

[7] Carlos Mejias Tavero, Antonio Alcaraz (2006), San Felipe, Real o Ficción, Más Navíos, Nº13, page 36 – 41 and/or: Argonauta, Revista euroamericana de modelismo, 2008,
http://revistaargonauta.blogspot.com/2008/02/san-felipe-real-o-ficcin_04.html

[8] Enrique Manera Regueyra, Carlos Moya Blanco, Jose Maria Martinez-Hidalgo, Pedro Castineiras Munoz et al. (1981), El Buque en la Armada Espanola, printed by Silex, ISBN: 84-85041-50-X

[9] Josè Luis Alcofar Nassaes (1980), Los tres puentes españoles, Revista General de Marina, Nº199, 79 – 101
[10] José Ignacio Gonzáles-Aller Hierro et al., Modelos de Arsenal del Museo Naval, Evolutión de la constructión naval española, siglos XVII – XVIII, Lunwerg Editores, Barcelona 2004, ISBN 84-7782-959-4, Spanish with English translation

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From Wikipedia:

Stoke Park – the original house

Stoke park was the first English country house to display a Palladian plan: a central house with balancing pavilions linked by colonnades or [...] Read more →

Traditional JuJutsu Health, Strength and Combat Tricks

Jujitsu training 1920 in Japanese agricultural school.

CHAPTER V

THE VALUE OF EVEN TEMPER IN ATHLETICS—SOME OF THE FEATS THAT REQUIRE GOOD NATURE

In the writer’s opinion it becomes necessary to make at this point some suggestions relative to a very important part of the training in jiu-jitsu. [...] Read more →

Blunderbuss Mai Tai Recipe

Blackbeard’s Jolly Roger

If you’re looking for that most refreshing of summertime beverages for sipping out on the back patio or perhaps as a last drink before walking the plank, let me recommend my Blunderbuss Mai Tai. I picked up the basics to this recipe over thirty years ago when holed up [...] Read more →

A Few Wine Recipes

EIGHTEEN GALLONS is here give as a STANDARD for all the following Recipes, it being the most convenient size cask to Families. See A General Process for Making Wine

If, however, only half the quantity of Wine is to be made, it is but to divide the portions of [...] Read more →

Ought King Leopold to be Hanged?

King Leopold Butcher of the Congo

For the somewhat startling suggestion in the heading of this interview, the missionary interviewed is in no way responsible. The credit of it, or, if you like, the discredit, belongs entirely to the editor of the Review, who, without dogmatism, wishes to pose the question as [...] Read more →

What’s the Matter?

A rhetorical question? Genuine concern?

In this essay we are examining another form of matter otherwise known as national literary matters, the three most important of which being the Matter of Rome, Matter of France, and the Matter of England.

Our focus shall be on the Matter of England or [...] Read more →

King James Bible – Knights Templar Edition

Full Cover, rear, spine, and front

Published by Piranesi Press in collaboration with Country House Essays, this beautiful paperback version of the King James Bible is now available for $79.95 at Barnes and Noble.com

This is a limited Edition of 500 copies Worldwide. Click here to view other classic books [...] Read more →

Fed Policy Success Equals Tax Payers Job Insecurity

The low level of work stoppages of recent years also attests to concern about job security.

Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan The Federal Reserve’s semiannual monetary policy report Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate February 26, 1997

Iappreciate the opportunity to appear before this Committee [...] Read more →

A History of Fowling – Ravens and Jays

From A History of Fowling, Being an Account of the Many Curios Devices by Which Wild Birds are, or Have Been, Captured in Different Parts of the World by Rev. H.A. MacPherson, M.A.

THE RAVEN (Corvus corax) is generally accredited with a large endowment of mother wit. Its warning [...] Read more →

Travels by Narrowboat

Oh Glorious England, verdant fields and wandering canals…

In this wonderful series of videos, the CountryHouseGent takes the viewer along as he chugs up and down the many canals crisscrossing England in his classic Narrowboat. There is nothing like a free man charting his own destiny.

Artist Methods

Como dome facade – Pliny the Elder – Photo by Wolfgang Sauber

Work in Progress…

THE VARNISHES.

Every substance may be considered as a varnish, which, when applied to the surface of a solid body, gives it a permanent lustre. Drying oil, thickened by exposure to the sun’s heat or [...] Read more →

Carpet Cleaner Formulae

The Ardabil Carpet – Made in the town of Ardabil in north-west Iran, the burial place of Shaykh Safi al-Din Ardabili, who died in 1334. The Shaykh was a Sufi leader, ancestor of Shah Ismail, founder of the Safavid dynasty (1501-1722). While the exact origins of the carpet are unclear, it’s believed to have [...] Read more →

Gold and Economic Freedom

by Alan Greenspan, 1967

An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense-perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire — that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard is an instrument [...] Read more →

Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois and the Dulwich Picture Gallery

Noel Desenfans and Sir Francis Bourgeois, circa 1805 by Paul Sandby, watercolour on paper

The Dulwich Picture Gallery was England’s first purpose-built art gallery and considered by some to be England’s first national gallery. Founded by the bequest of Sir Peter Francis Bourgois, dandy, the gallery was built to display his vast [...] Read more →

Mocking Bird Food

Mocking Bird Food.

Hemp seed……….2 pounds Rape seed………. .1 pound Crackers………….1 pound Rice…………….1/4 pound Corn meal………1/4 pound Lard oil…………1/4 pound

 

Home Top of Pg. Read more →

How to Make Money – Insurance

Life insurance certificate issued by the Yorkshire Fire & Life Insurance Company to Samuel Holt, Liverpool, England, 1851. On display at the British Museum in London. Donated by the ifs School of Finance. Photo by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)

From How to Make Money; and How to Keep it, Or, Capital and Labor [...] Read more →

Of Decorated Furniture

DECORATED or “sumptuous” furniture is not merely furniture that is expensive to buy, but that which has been elaborated with much thought, knowledge, and skill. Such furniture cannot be cheap, certainly, but the real cost of it is sometimes borne by the artist who produces rather than by the man who may [...] Read more →

Beef Jerky

BEEF JERKY

Preparation.

Slice 5 pounds lean beef (flank steak or similar cut) into strips 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, 1 to 2 inches wide, and 4 to 12 inches long. Cut with grain of meat; remove the fat. Lay out in a single layer on a smooth clean surface (use [...] Read more →

Rendering Amber Clear for Use in Lens-Making for Magnifying Glass

by John Partridge,drawing,1825

From the work of Sir Charles Lock Eastlake entitled Materials for a history of oil painting, (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1846), we learn the following:

The effect of oil at certain temperatures, in penetrating “the minute pores of the amber” (as Hoffman elsewhere writes), is still more [...] Read more →

Banana Propagation

Banana Propagation

Reprinted from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA.org)

The traditional means of obtaining banana planting material (“seed”) is to acquire suckers from one’s own banana garden, from a neighbor, or from a more distant source. This method served to spread common varieties around the world and to multiply them [...] Read more →

David Starkey: Britain’s Last Great Historian

Dr. David Starkey, the UK’s premiere historian, speaks to the modern and fleeting notion of “cancel culture”. Starkey’s brilliance is unparalleled and it has become quite obvious to the world’s remaining Western scholars willing to stand on intellectual integrity that a few so-called “Woke Intellectuals” most certainly cannot undermine [...] Read more →

Chinese Duck Cooking – A Few Recipes

Chen Lin, Water fowl, in Cahill, James. Ge jiang shan se (Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yuan Dynasty, 1279-1368, Taiwan edition). Taipei: Shitou chubanshe fen youxian gongsi, 1994. pl. 4:13, p. 180. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. scroll, light colors on paper, 35.7 x 47.5 cm

 

Sea and River Fishing

An angler with a costly pole Surmounted with a silver reel, Carven in quaint poetic scroll- Jointed and tipped with finest steel— With yellow flies, Whose scarlet eyes And jasper wings are fair to see, Hies to the stream Whose bubbles beam Down murmuring eddies wild and free. And casts the line with sportsman’s [...] Read more →

Valentine Poetry from the Cotswold Explorer

 

There is nothing more delightful than a great poetry reading to warm ones heart on a cold winter night fireside. Today is one of the coldest Valentine’s days on record, thus, nothing could be better than listening to the resonant voice of Robin Shuckbrugh, The Cotswold [...] Read more →

Tuna and Tarpon

July, 16, l898 Forest and Stream Pg. 48

Tuna and Tarpon.

New York, July 1.—Editor Forest and Stream: If any angler still denies the justice of my claim, as made in my article in your issue of July 2, that “the tuna is the grandest game [...] Read more →

Fresh Water Angling – The Two Crappies

 

July 2, 1898 Forest and Stream,

Fresh-Water Angling. No. IX.—The Two Crappies. BY FRED MATHER.

Fishing In Tree Tops.

Here a short rod, say 8ft., is long enough, and the line should not be much longer than the rod. A reel is not [...] Read more →

A General Process for Making Wine

A General Process for Making Wine.

Gathering the Fruit Picking the Fruit Bruising the Fruit Vatting the Fruit Vinous Fermentation Drawing the Must Pressing the Must Casking the Must Spirituous Fermentation Racking the Wine Bottling and Corking the Wine Drinking the Wine

GATHERING THE FRUIT.

It is of considerable consequence [...] Read more →

U.S. Plant Variety Protection Act – Full Text

WIPO HQ Geneva

UNITED STATES PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION ACT

TITLE I – PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION OFFICE Chapter Section 1. Organization and Publications . 1 2. Legal Provisions as to the Plant Variety Protection Office . 21 3. Plant Variety Protection Fees . 31

CHAPTER 1.-ORGANIZATION AND PUBLICATIONS Section [...] Read more →

Life Among the Thugee

The existence of large bodies of men having no other means of subsistence than those afforded by plunder, is, in all countries, too common to excite surprise; and, unhappily, organized bands of assassins are not peculiar to India! The associations of murderers known by the name of Thugs present, however, [...] Read more →

Platform of the American Institute of Banking in 1919

Resolution adapted at the New Orleans Convention of the American Institute of Banking, October 9, 1919:

“Ours is an educational association organized for the benefit of the banking fraternity of the country and within our membership may be found on an equal basis both employees and employers; [...] Read more →

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Officers and men of the 13th Light Dragoons, British Army, Crimea. Rostrum photograph of photographer’s original print, uncropped and without color correction. Survivors of the Charge.

Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the [...] Read more →

The First Greek Book by John Williams White

Click here to read The First Greek Book by John Williams White

The First Greek Book - 15.7MB

IN MEMORIAM

JOHN WILLIAMS WHITE

The death, on May 9, of John Williams White, professor of Greek in Harvard University, touches a large number of classical [...] Read more →

Vitruvius Ten Books on Architecture

VITRUVIUS

The Ten Books on Architecture

TRANSLATED By MORRIS HICKY MORGAN, PH.D., LL.D. LATE PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY

IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND ORIGINAL DESINGS PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF HERBERT LANGFORD WARREN, A.M.

NELSON ROBINSON JR. PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE IN HARVARD [...] Read more →

JP Morgan’s Digital Currency Patent Application

J.P. Morgan Patent #8,452,703

Method and system for processing internet payments using the electronic funds transfer network.

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention include a method and system for conducting financial transactions over a payment network. The method may include associating a payment address of an account [...] Read more →

Carpenters’ Furniture

IT requires a far search to gather up examples of furniture really representative in this kind, and thus to gain a point of view for a prospect into the more ideal where furniture no longer is bought to look expensively useless in a boudoir, but serves everyday and commonplace need, such as [...] Read more →

Commercial Tuna Salad Recipe

Tom Oates, aka Nabokov at en.wikipedia

No two commercial tuna salads are prepared by exactly the same formula, but they do not show the wide variety characteristic of herring salad. The recipe given here is typical. It is offered, however, only as a guide. The same recipe with minor variations to suit [...] Read more →

Proper Wines to Serve with Food

Foie gras with Sauternes, Photo by Laurent Espitallier

As an Appetizer

Pale dry Sherry, with or without bitters, chilled or not. Plain or mixed Vermouth, with or without bitters. A dry cocktail.

With Oysters, Clams or Caviar

A dry flinty wine such as Chablis, Moselle, Champagne. Home Top of [...] Read more →

Country House Christmas Pudding

Country House Christmas Pudding

Ingredients

1 cup Christian Bros Brandy ½ cup Myer’s Dark Rum ½ cup Jim Beam Whiskey 1 cup currants 1 cup sultana raisins 1 cup pitted prunes finely chopped 1 med. apple peeled and grated ½ cup chopped dried apricots ½ cup candied orange peel finely chopped 1 ¼ cup [...] Read more →

Protecting Rare Books: How to Build a Silverfish Trap

Silverfish damage to book – photo by Micha L. Rieser

The beauty of hunting silverfish is that they are not the most clever of creatures in the insect kingdom.

Simply take a small clean glass jar and wrap it in masking tape. The masking tape gives the silverfish something to [...] Read more →

Herbal Psychedelics – Rhododendron ponticum and Mad Honey Disease

Toxicity of Rhododendron From Countrysideinfo.co.UK

“Potentially toxic chemicals, particularly ‘free’ phenols, and diterpenes, occur in significant quantities in the tissues of plants of Rhododendron species. Diterpenes, known as grayanotoxins, occur in the leaves, flowers and nectar of Rhododendrons. These differ from species to species. Not all species produce them, although Rhododendron ponticum [...] Read more →

Here’s Many a Year to You

” Here’s many a year to you ! Sportsmen who’ve ridden life straight. Here’s all good cheer to you ! Luck to you early and late.

Here’s to the best of you ! You with the blood and the nerve. Here’s to the rest of you ! What of a weak moment’s swerve ? [...] Read more →

The Intaglio Processes for Audubon’s Birds of America

Notes on the intaglio processes of the most expensive book on birds available for sale in the world today.

The Audubon prints in “The Birds of America” were all made from copper plates utilizing four of the so called “intaglio” processes, engraving, etching, aquatint, and drypoint. Intaglio [...] Read more →

The English Tradition of Woodworking

THE sense of a consecutive tradition has so completely faded out of English art that it has become difficult to realise the meaning of tradition, or the possibility of its ever again reviving; and this state of things is not improved by the fact that it is due to uncertainty of purpose, [...] Read more →

The Apparatus of the Stock Market

Sucker

The components of any given market place include both physical structures set up to accommodate trading, and participants to include buyers, sellers, brokers, agents, barkers, pushers, auctioneers, agencies, and propaganda outlets, and banking or transaction exchange facilities.

Markets are generally set up by sellers as it is in their [...] Read more →