3 postcards of the taxidermic tableaux of Herr Walter Potter, found on the Wunderkammer Tumblr.

On a related note, Morbid Anatomy now has in stock several more copies of Pat Morris' definitive illustrated books on Walter Potter and the history of taxidermy. More on those books here; you can order copies of them by clicking here.

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...you can’t grasp the Wellcome collection unless you can see the poetry in it. But until quite recently, the irrepressible curiosities and juxtapositions that make the collection captivating were regarded as an irrelevance, an embarrassment and a confounded nuisance to the people charged with putting it in order. When Henry Wellcome displayed his collection for the first time, he decreed that the museum should be “strictly professional and scientific in character”. His collection has resisted successfully ever since...

From the article "The Wellcome at 75" by Marek Kohn in the Financial Times magazine. You can read the full article--from which the above was excerpted--by clicking here. You can view the complete slideshows--from which the above images are drawn--by clicking here and here. Click on images to see much larger images.

Thanks to the afore mentioned Ross Macfarlane for bringing this article to my attention!

Image captions top to bottom:

1. Models of human skulls in ivory, silver and wood
2. A pair of phrenological busts, 1821
3. Tattoos. Wellcome acquired 300 tattoos collected by a Paris surgeon who was active in the late 19th century. They are kept in boxes for fear that they were treated with toxic chemicals
4. Ivory anatomical figures, 17th-18th century
5. Roman votives. Romans would offer models of afflicted body parts to a god to beg or give thanks for cures. The model on the left is also Roman but was not one of these votive offerings. It came from Pompeii, where it may have adorned a shop front
6. Wax model of decomposing body in coffin, Italian, late 1700s
7. Plaster death mask of Victorian murderer James Bloomfield Rush
8. Stuffed coiled snake, 1897
9. Chinese porcelain fruit containing couple in sexual foreplay

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Oh, if only I lived in London... November 10th at The Wellcome Collection:

From Blue Beads to Hair Sandwiches: Edward Lovett's Folklore Collection
Speaker: Ross MacFarlane, Research Officer, Wellcome Library.
Date: 10 November 2011, 15.00 - 16.00
Cost: This event is FREE. Reserve 90 minutes prior to start.

Explore the world of Edward Lovett, whose collection of amulets and curious objects lies at the heart of the 'Charmed Life' exhibition, through the Wellcome Library's archives.

You can pick up your free ticket for this event from the Information Point from 13.30 on the day. Tickets are issued on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please put coats and bags in the cloakroom to the rear of the foyer before meeting your guide, on the third floor, ten minutes before the event begins.

You can find out more by clicking here.

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This weekend, October 15th and 16th, please join the Morbid Anatomy Library and Observatory as we join dozens of other Gowanus-based galleries and artist studios in opening our spaces to the public for the Gowanus Artists Studio Tour, or "A.G.A.S.T."

Following are the full details: Hope to see you there!

Gowanus Artists Studio Tour (A.G.A.S.T.)
Saturday October 15th and Sunday October 16th 12-6
543 Union Street at Nevins, Brooklyn
Free and Open to the Public

Directions: Enter the Morbid Anatomy Library and Observatory via Proteus Gowanus Gallery

R or M train to Union Street in Brooklyn: Walk two long blocks on Union (towards the Gowanus Canal) to Nevins Street. 543 Union Street is the large red brick building on right. Go right on Nevins and left down alley through large black gates. Gallery is the second door on the left.

F or G train to Carroll Street: Walk one block to Union. Turn right, walk two long blocks on Union towards the Gowanus Canal, cross the bridge, take left on Nevins, go down the alley to the second door on the left.

You can find out more information about A.G.A.S.T., and get a full list of participants, by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory and the exhibition now on view by clicking here.

Photo of The Morbid Anatomy Library by Shannon Taggart.

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The Midnight Archive--the new web-based video documentary series "centered around the esoteric and always exotic personalities that spring from Observatory"--has just launched a fantastic new episode, this one based the amazing Guinness Collection of Automata at the Morris Museum; you can view it above by clicking play.

Here is what Ronni Thomas, the film maker behind the series, has to say about this particular episode:

Tucked away, in a quiet and pleasant suberb of New Jersey, there exists one of the most fascinating collections of artistic engineering ever collected. The collection belonged to Murtogh Guinness, of the Guinness brewing company. Its contents are, what I can only describe as the early days of robotics, engineered for our ancestor’s entertainment. Dolls that perform incredible tasks, full orchestras in the middle of your parlor, and my favorite of course, a banjo that plays itself. The collection is maintained and managed by Jere Ryder who began his interest at a very early age. He is now entrusted to the collection at the Morris Museum located in Morristown New Jersey. Keep your eyes on the Brooklyn Observatory as they occasionally take a field trip out. The museum is located at 6 Normandy Heights Road Morristown, NJ and well worth the trip if you are nearby - Jere is not only very knowledgeable on the subject but also a fantastic tour guide... Thanks a ton, Mr. Ryder, we’ll see you soon no doubt!

For more on the series, to see former episodes, or to sign up for the mailing list so as to be alerted to future uploads, visit The Midnight Archive website by clicking here. You can also "like" it on Facebook--and thus be alerted--by clicking here. To find out more about Observatory, click here. To find out more about the Guinness collection at the Morris Museum, click here. There is also a wonderful, highly illustrated catalog for this exhibition, which Morbid Anatomy distributes. More on that here.

PS. To see brand new episodes of The Midnight Archive on the big screen and to meet the filmmaker, please come to the Observatory Halloween/Day of the Dead/Screening party! Click here for more on that.

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I just stumbled upon the lovely wax and nature print artwork of artist Valerie Hammond. You can see more of her work by visiting her gallery website by clicking here. All images are drawn from this website.

Via the Phantasmaphile Tumblr.

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It is easy to miss these four little brooches, tucked away as they are in the far corner of Medicine Man alongside Egyptian canopic jars, mortuary crosses and even a shrunken head. But these examples of European mourning jewellery demonstrate an ambiguity at the heart of Henry Wellcome’s collection – the potential for the human subject to become material object after death.

Medicine Man is full of curios serving as literal or metaphorical extensions of the human body, and, like most medical collections, also features artefacts formerly part of the body itself. These brooches are no exception, each containing samples of human hair, neatly arranged and set behind glass.

Hair is certainly a material that occupies the narrow ground between person and thing – in life as much as death. Although it is ‘dead’ matter (as only the follicle contains living cells), once separated from the body, our hair is capable of outlasting us. These qualities of durability, alongside the fact that it is easily removed from the body and can be manipulated into almost any shape, led to the widespread use of hair in the 18th and 19th centuries as a tangible way to remember an absent loved one. Encased in a locket, ring or brooch, a lock of hair stood in for the recently departed, whose memory, it was hoped, would endure for as long as the jewellery itself.

But detached hair, alienated from its natural location on the body, can also provoke disgust – a reaction any of us who have found a stray hair in our food can identify with. The anthropologist Mary Douglas proposed that any ‘matter out of place’, including hair, becomes dirt, posing the threat of chaos and disorder unless carefully gathered and contained (1966)...

Read the full story from which the above image and text are excerpted on the Wellcome Collection blog by clicking here.

Image: Mourning brooches containing the hair of a deceased relative. Wellcome Images

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This Thursday at Observatory! Hope very much to see you there,.

The Empire of Death: Spectacular Ossuaries and Relics in the 16th and 17th Centuries
Lecture and book signing with Dr. Paul Koudounaris, author of The Empire of Death
Date: This Thursday, October 13
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy and Atlas Obscura
** Books will be available for sale and signing

For five years, Dr. Paul Koudounaris has traveled the world to document a largely overlooked history: the decoration of religious shrines with human bones and remains in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His newly published book The Empire of Death (Thames and Hudson) presents a collection of Koudounaris' photographs and texts chronicling these incredible sites, many of which are not open to the public and have never before been photographed.

The research for this unique book took the author to over 70 preserved charnel houses and skeletal shrines on four continents to document the once common use of human remains for the veneration of the dead in Christian culture. Among other tribulations, in the course of completing his research, the author was pursued by malevolent spirits, handcuffed to a table in a striptease bar by a prurient monk, forced to undergo a religious pilgrimage and exorcism, and arrested by the Austrian police.

Tonight, join Dr. Koudounarishis for an illustrated talk in which he will provide historical insights into the sites and people who created these marvelous objects and spaces, a discussion of the veneration of the dead in Christian culture, and fantastical travel anecdotes, all illustrated by his breathtaking photographs of these unforgettable artifacts.

Paul Koudounaris received a PhD in Art History from UCLA in 2006, which a specialty in the Baroque. He has taught at major universities in the Los Angeles area, and has written for dozens of magazines and newspapers in several countries, specializing in articles about veneration of the dead.

You can find out more--and get directions to Observatory--by clicking here. To find out more about the beautifully designed and richly illustrated book--and order a copy for yourself!--click here.

All Photo: © Dr. Paul Koudounaris, from his book The Empire of Death

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