“SMALL Business Saturday”

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Small Business Saturday is November 24, 2012 this year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Small Business Saturday is a nationwide event and in 2012 small businesses across America need all the support they can muster.

I’m asking you to please support the Day and spread the word. Tell your family, friends and colleagues to “shop at least one small business on Small Business Saturday, November 24, 2012″.

Let’s do what our economy, neighborhoods and whole families need us to do . . . be the example, SUPPORT our local small businesses. Many small businesses are in our own neighborhoods; so close in some instances we can even walk to and support!

Shop small businesses on Saturday, Nov 24, 2012 (yes, the Saturday after Thanksgiving). This is an excellent opportunity for all of us doing what we need to do at the same time!

I’m hoping come November 24th, lots and lots of shoppers will participate and support our local small businesses on Small Business Saturday, November 24, 2012.

I’m volunteering to build a list of small businesses from responses received from this email’s reading audience from around the country and distribute updated editions as frequently as required. Let’s do this!.

I’m updating will all small business locations/websites received.

I’ll start with my home state and city and, you, please add your state and city.

CALIFORNIA
(additional listings for California and Los Angeles are needed and welcomed)

LOS ANGELES:

Darren’s Nov. 24th Small Business Saturday “SPECIAL” is AMARA coffee for $10! (Saturday only.)

A great gift item! AMARA is 100% Arabica coffee from Cameroon’s Boyo region. The coffee sold in 12 oz. bags offers the buyer choices of bean and ground and light and dark roasts. This “special” is priced a ‘$2.50 below the store’s regular price of $12.50 a bag.

This Small Business Saturday special will end when the store’s supply is depleted or at store’s close on Saturday.

AMARA coffee is a brand of coffee sold in Darren’s Unique Gifts throughout the year.

“Small Business Saturday”

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Small Business Saturday is November 24, 2012 this year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Small Business Saturday is a nationwide event and in 2012 small businesses across America need all the help they can muster.

I’m asking you to please support the Day and spread the word. Tell your family, friends and colleagues to “shop at least one small business on Small Business Saturday, November 24, 2012″.

Let’s do what our economy, neighborhoods and whole families need us to do . . . SUPPORT our local small businesses. Many small businesses are in our own neighborhoods!

Shop small businesses on Saturday, Nov 24, 2012 (yes, the Saturday after Thanksgiving). This is an excellent opportunity for all of us doing what we need to do at the same time!

I’m hoping come November 24th, lots and lots of shoppers will participate and support our local small businesses on Small Business Saturday, November 24, 2012.

I’m volunteering to build a list of small businesses from responses received from this email’s reading audience from around the country and distribute as frequently as required. Let’s do this!.

I’ll start with my home state and city:

CALIFORNIA (please add more listings for California and Los Angeles)Los Angeles

Darren’s Unique Gifts
5406 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
(323) 965-8181

Experimenting with colour palette in a printed pattern, playing around on photoshop with saturation, brightness and etc.

“Small Business Saturday”

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Small Business Saturday is November 24, 2012 this year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Small Business Saturday is a nationwide event and in 2012 small businesses across America need all the help they can muster.

I’m asking you to please support the Day and spread the word. Tell your family, friends and colleagues to ”shop at least one small business on Small Business Saturday, November 24, 2012″.

Let’s do what our economy, neighborhoods and whole families need us to do . . . SUPPORT our local small businesses. Many small businesses are in our own neighborhoods!

Shop small businesses on Saturday, Nov 24, 2012 (yes, the Saturday after Thanksgiving). This is an excellent opportunity for all of us doing what we need to do at the same time! 

I’m hoping come November 24th, lots and lots of shoppers will participate and support our local small businesses on Small Business Saturday, November 24, 2012.

I’m volunteering to build a list of small businesses from responses received from this email’s reading audience from around the country and distribute as frequently as required. Let’s do this!.

I’ll start with my home state and city:

CALIFORNIA (please add more listings for California and Los Angeles)
Los Angeles
Darren’s Unique Gifts
5406 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA  90019
(323) 965-8181

The purpose of this Blog is to have a meeting place where we can all find inspiration and suggestions for how to develop and stay on a diet that is filled with vegetables, healthy proteins, and fewer carbs.

I call this the Creative Nutrition Blog because the meals are created simply, without the use of fancy recipes. This is a philosophy of cooking that says “just get in the kitchen, see what’s in the fridge, throw it together into something delicious- quickly- and use the flavors and foods that we love”.

If you have decided that this is the diet you should be on, then this site is a place where you can go for ideas on what to make and how to shop. And, when you come up with a meal that is so good you just have to share it with someone, share it with us.

My husband is the main chef in our home, so a lot (if not most) of these recipes reflect his method of “no recipes, just make food” kind of cooking. I think of it as “guy-cooking”.

My husband wasn’t forced to eat this way, but he made a choice. At 55, with a new diagnosis of Insulin Resistance, he decided he would cure it, not live with it. He rejected the idea that just because his mother had Type II Diabetes, that this was a genetic problem. After all, he knew what he had been eating for the previous 50 years; probably a lot of the foods everyone recognizes from their own diets. He knew he was a carb-aholic. He wasn’t overweight, he exercised every day, and he still managed to damage his metabolism by eating lots of bread, ice cream, pancakes, candy, cookies, cake, tortillas, etc, etc, etc.

After reading “Dr. Gundry’s Diet Evolution”, and a year of following Dr. Gundry’s suggestions for changing his diet, he now has fasting blood sugars in the 80s, has enviably low cholesterol levels, and terrific blood pressure. He feels great. He doesn’t have joint pain or inflammation anymore. No more low energy or sluggishness.

I joined my husband on this food journey as a way to support his endeavors. It’s pretty hard to eat healthy when people in your own home have all their little goodies lying around, tempting you into torment. My impression? I’ve never felt better. I have energy, no bloating or gas, good digestion, and what seems like less swelling in my feet at the end of the day.

But most of all, we love the foods. Meals are full of delicious flavors. The cravings for bread and sweets have vanished. (They never go away completely, but they don’t run our lives anymore.)

Everyone should evaluate their diet/health plan with their care provider. This blog is not a substitute for getting medical care. A lot of providers will view this diet as extreme, or untested. But the research is out there. I have included links here to help you do your own research and decide for yourself, hopefully with the guidance of a medical provider, how you should be eating.

I hope you enjoy this Blog, and that you find it useful. Mostly, I hope you find these foods as delicious as we do, and that you see the health improvements that occur when you learn to eat like this.

I look forward to hearing from all of you as you use these cooking ideas or share with us some of your own. I encourage everyone to talk about food. Share your experiences with your friends and relatives. Encourage each other with good ideas. Help a friend say “no” when the donuts are brought to work, or you are both at a wedding, trying not to eat the bowl of pasta!

Let’s get Creative about our Nutrition, and improve our health, One Plate at a Time!

For one thing, the 1651 edition includes several new illustrations. Most striking is the completely made-over title page, part of which I’ve mentioned in an earlier post. This title page also appears on the 1631 edition (and perhaps others; I suppose one thing to add to the “to-do” list is a catalog of title pages among editions). I apologize for the poor image quality; while my iPhone camera actually does quite a fine job when given the chance, I was in a bit of a hurry, and ended up with several blurs. I do have better photographs of each of the individual sections.

There are many interesting images packed into the tight space, and I’ll spend another post examining each more closely, including the tableau at the bottom which, supposedly, includes a portrait of Crooke himself. What I found most unfortunate about this UW copy is that the library has placed their identifying stamp directly on the back of the title page, causing the bright blue ink to bleed through right in the middle of the text at center. I mentioned this to Donna Hirst, curator of the John Martin Rare Book Room at the medical library here at UIowa. She explained that some sort of permanent identifying mark is necessary in case the book should be stolen; however, she agreed with me that the placement of the UW stamp was a travesty. I wonder if perhaps they were worried the title page itself might be torn out, given that it’s arguably the most interesting visual in the book. Although I’d rather see it some place more unobtrusive, I do like the idea of a permanent mark being placed on the book by each and every one of its owners, as a matter of provenance as well as narrative—it’s part of the book’s own story.

The images within the 1651 Mikrokosmographia also vary from the 1615 edition. There are new additions, as well as alterations to existing illustrations. One of the most striking changes to previous images that I noticed involves the illustration of the female reproductive system; the original detailed illustration of the genitals has been erased into a featureless blob.

1615 edition (UIowa copy)

1651 edition (UW copy)

Given that Crooke’s original inclusion of such explicit images caused vehement protest, but he insisted on printing them anyway (apparently to no consequence), I was initially surprised to see the more demure version in this later edition—until I double-checked my dates. Crooke died in 1648, meaning this later edition was published three years after his death. Thirty-six years later, the censors gained some ground, although I can’t help but think of this victory as rather little, and awfully late. I’m anxious now to check the intervening editions for this image.

1. Set the text for the title, author and publisher and design a title page in both symmetrical and asymmetrical formats. Use serif type for the symmetrical versions, and sans-serif for the asymmetrical designs. Do at least six versions of each, working through them in detail. Be sure to pay attention to the type style and the type size. Use the same visual in all your layouts, so that the difference becomes clear when changing the type and layout.
2. Consider the use of type and spacing in each version and pay attention to the grouping of information. For example, is the title of the book more important than the name of the author? Do you think the type should be more prominent than the visual? Make notes of your findings in each version.
3. Choose your favourite layout of symmetrical and asymmetrical formats respectively. Now make one version where you combine both formats into one.
4. Hand in your layouts as high-res PDFs and remember to include a write-up of your findings.

Title page of a book is almost like the cover of a book but simpler and is the page often after the cover and the recto of its verso known as the title leaf.  (That was a running sentence!)  It usually contains the title of the book, its author and name, year and place of publication.

As the task described, I was to make some title pages using symmetrical and asymmetrical styles. It was fun to use  the asymmetrical style as I was able to experiment a lot. A lot of freedom where to place the elements and make changes to the types used. On the other hand, I was very much limited when I started thinking for the symmetrical style. After making the first one, I was stuck and thought I couldn’t find more compositions. Of course, I did manage although not that creative but I believe if I am to give it more time, I will be able to find new ways to compose a symmetrical style title page. The third part of the task was to combine the two styles in which I was unsure on how to do it. Even after looking at the example on the book. I may come back to this article when I find the answer. I did try one composition…see the gallery!  Regarding the types: Everytime I change the type, I needed to adjust the spacing and my type frame. I used Adobe Indesign in composing and saved it as high resolution PDF as instructed but I ended up using photoshop converting it to jpeg because I thought I wouldn’t be able to upload PDF here.

symnopic2

symnopic3

serifnopic

asymcow3

asymcow2

sanslay1

A database is like an elephant, it never forgets.

Even though this dilemma may be a touch ‘off-putting,’ I still feel obligated to cast away my thoughts, where they may hopefully be herd and talked about. Hence I should tell you a little on what you may expect from this site.

This site is a culmination of my thoughts, views and observation of others. It seeks to analyze a broad Range of topics, mainly concerning the impacts, situations, dilemmas and other factors the new age Homosapian must go through. Therefore, Thought Breakdown is solely a reflection of those who agree, feel they can relate or benefit, from the conscious of a learning University Student.

T.M

Follow the link to after the jump if you are incredibly interested in typography, or you’re in my class, or you are just plain bored. This book layout has several elements that I like. I like the all caps text. I like the red on the cover, it plays on the dichotomy of boundaries. They mimicked the red and black on the cover with grey and black on the title page. However, I don’t like the totally centered type on the title page.

I don’t much like the type choice for the header, but I like the grayscale, black  and pink. The movement from the black to the pink is nice, connected by the thin line.

The cover is a little cluttered, but it is balanced by the light type inside on the title page. I like the first page especially because of the spelled out chapter number, and larger chapter name.

Wow, that certainly screams at you! But, I like that it is bold. Screams 80′s?

I like how the title page uses asymmetrical thirds to place the text, offset by the illustration. The eye opening is a little kitschy, but probably appropriate for the genre of crime novels.

I understand the use of the diagonal type, but it might be a bit too obvious, but I like the simplicity of the title page and the opening page.

The front cover is too cluttered but I like the text treatment of the drive in and title. I don’t like the typewriter font at all.

I like the balance of the all caps and lower case, and the balance of the grey and black.

I like the white blocks used to divide the author and title.

The heavy, painterly lettering on the title is nice, with the v turned into a raven. It is balanced by the light, widely kerned author

I checked out a lot of crime novels since the genre of the book I am supposed to design for is the same. This one just seemed to really fit the stereotype, with red, black and splattered blood.

I like the right aligned text.

I like the right aligned text.

I’m not crazy about the cover, but I like the black type over the light grey.

I had to capture this one that just screams stereotypical crime novel. A look at what not to do: totally centered text, tacky graphics, and kitschy typeface.

I captured this one cause it made me think about what if the cover had the opening line on it since its so famous.

I like the grunge text/print treatment.

I like the white text over black rectangle. I also don’t mind the centered text that is justified. I also included the contents and text.

I like the opening page because of the all caps, light type.

I like the chapter number spelled out and so much separated from the body.

I don’t like the cursive type on the title page, but I do like the layered type on the cover.

Follow the link to after the jump if you are incredibly interested in typography, or you’re in my class, or you are just plain bored. This book layout has several elements that I like. I like the all caps text. I like the red on the cover, it plays on the dichotomy of boundaries. They mimicked the red and black on the cover with grey and black on the title page. However, I don’t like the totally centered type on the title page.

I don’t much like the type choice for the header, but I like the grayscale, black  and pink. The movement from the black to the pink is nice, connected by the thin line.

The cover is a little cluttered, but it is balanced by the light type inside on the title page. I like the first page especially because of the spelled out chapter number, and larger chapter name.

Wow, that certainly screams at you! But, I like that it is bold. Screams 80′s?

I like how the title page uses asymmetrical thirds to place the text, offset by the illustration. The eye opening is a little kitschy, but probably appropriate for the genre of crime novels.

I understand the use of the diagonal type, but it might be a bit too obvious, but I like the simplicity of the title page and the opening page.

The front cover is too cluttered but I like the text treatment of the drive in and title. I don’t like the typewriter font at all.

I like the balance of the all caps and lower case, and the balance of the grey and black.

I like the white blocks used to divide the author and title.

The heavy, painterly lettering on the title is nice, with the v turned into a raven. It is balanced by the light, widely kerned author

I checked out a lot of crime novels since the genre of the book I am supposed to design for is the same. This one just seemed to really fit the stereotype, with red, black and splattered blood.

I like the right aligned text.

I like the right aligned text.

I’m not crazy about the cover, but I like the black type over the light grey.

I had to capture this one that just screams stereotypical crime novel. A look at what not to do: totally centered text, tacky graphics, and kitschy typeface.

I captured this one cause it made me think about what if the cover had the opening line on it since its so famous.

I like the grunge text/print treatment.

I like the white text over black rectangle. I also don’t mind the centered text that is justified. I also included the contents and text.

I like the opening page because of the all caps, light type.

I like the chapter number spelled out and so much separated from the body.

I don’t like the cursive type on the title page, but I do like the layered type on the cover.

These are all my scrapbooks. While my outside labeling is a bit on the ghetto side (chipboard shapes tied on the spines with ribbons), it does serve it’s purpose. The first page of each scrapbook was always something I tried to make unique. I used to think of it like a table of contents page of a book as one book used to include a full year or section of a year.

Here’s a few examples of my scrapbook title pages through the years:

In 2007, my title page consisted of 12 circles labeled with the month and color coordinated embellishments. Around the circles, I’d write about highlighted events that filled the pages within the book.

(supplies: patterned paper: EK Success; Stickers: Jolee’s, EK Success; Chipboard letters: Heidi swapp)

In 2008, I continued this same trend, only this time going for all the black and white embellishments in my collection. I also made sure there was more room to write about these adventures and little notes about the month.

(supplies: patterned paper: Stacy Clair Boyd; Stickers: Jolee’s, Target $1 spot, bookworks)

Apparently in 2009, I got a little lazy. I went with these 7 gypsies calendar journaling cards and used them to write in our stories, without any embellishment accents. This really looks more ‘table of contents’ like.

(patterned paper: 7 gypsies)

Starting in 2010, I began using a photo to start off the books. This is also the last year that my book truely started on the first of the year. Now, when they get too fully, I just continue onto another book and keep going, with no true stating title page.

(supplies: sticker: Jolees)

Sharing With:

Cherished Bliss, The Crafty Blogstalker, SYTC

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Scrapbooking with Memorabilia

Scrapbooking….my car

As I waited this summer for the move and for school to start, I compiled a list of the books I wanted to check out from the UIowa library. I was thrilled to find so many great items in the catalog, things I would have had to request through interlibrary loan at the University of South Dakota (although their early modern section is none too shabby, thanks to diligent attention from Dr. Darlene Farabee). However, when I got to campus, there was a good number I could not find on the shelves. And it wasn’t just the library construction; a re-check of the catalog showed that, indeed, several of the books were checked out.

As I’ve experienced the irritation of having a library book on my office shelf recalled, I’m reluctant to pull that move on someone else unless I really do need the volume. One book I just could not live any longer without seeing was A Printer of Shakespeare: The Books and Times of William Jaggard by Edwin Eliott Willoughby (1934). The title practically promised mention of Crooke, and I was not disappointed. (I have to admit, immediately checking the index of a volume for Crooke’s name has become such a habit I do it almost reflexively, even to non-early-modern books.)

In his first chapter, Willoughby explains that his primary motivation for writing the book is to shift the general opinion regarding Jaggard from “infamous pirate, liar and thief” (Swinburne’s label) to “the conclusion that he was an honest, prosperous, puritan printer who occasionally . . . made a slip” (Willoughby 3-4). Willoughby’s approach is blatantly biased and plainly dated, but I like the book all the more for just those reasons; the writing is lively, personal, and opinionated. In full disclosure, I haven’t finished the entire volume yet, but it’s been quite an enjoyable read. I’m pleased to come across anyone interested in this set of characters, but to find someone passionately concerned with one of them is a genuine delight.

Jaggard’s relationship to Crooke, of course, is an important one. They were involved both professionally and personally, and I wonder sometimes how much light their relationship might shed on such interactions in turn-of-the-seventeenth-century London. Although several later sources agree that Crooke and Jaggard initially met when the former treated the latter for syphilis, Willoughby is the first I’ve read that is distinctly derogatory regarding Crooke’s work on the case. Willoughby also provides some further insight regarding the source of this information, the Sloane manuscripts (which, as I’ve mentioned before, it seems I will have to travel to London to see). Willoughby writes:

In the Sloane Manuscripts, preserved at the British Museum, is recorded the history of Jaggard’s treatment [for syphilis] (MS. Sloane, 640 ff. 192 a, 266 b, 275 a). The physician who attended the case—we fear in none too skilful a manner—is not identified but he may have been Dr. Helkiah Crooke with whom Jaggard later, at least, seems to have been upon good terms. (103)

Amusingly, Willoughby quite handsomely avoids using the word “syphilis” directly, instead describing how Jaggard’s body

was racked by a disease which is terrible even to-day when all the forces of modern science are marshalled against it, and in the time of Jaggard, with the lack of knowledge of sanitation, was so common that its name was a by-word on the street and stage. . . . Finally, either the disease, or the mercury treatment for it, deprived William Jaggard of that sense which is so necessary to a printer, his sight. . . . In spite of his blindness, William Jaggard struggled on. (102-03)

Indeed, even if Crooke was to blame for the outcome of Jaggard’s tribulation, it seems to me that Jaggard himself would have been unlikely to recognize it, and the two men do seem to have struck up some sort of friendship, for their relationship continued. In his chapter on “The Books of William Jaggard,” Willoughby provides a breakdown of the sorts of books Jaggard printed.

History and Heraldry     –      –     33%

Religion   –      –      –      –      –     30%

Literature      –       –       –       –     18%

Science   –      –       –       –       –     11%

Other subjects  –      –       –       –     8%

Willoughby explains:

Jaggard’s fondness for large illustrated folios and his friendship for [Thomas] Milles and [Augustine] Vincent no doubt accounts largely for the expenditure of so large a proportion of his time and capital in the printing of books and heraldry, and his production of scientific books was no doubt stimulated by the same preferences and his friendship for Topsell and probably for Crooke. (186)

I don’t know enough about Jaggard’s contemporaries to know how this breakdown compares to what other printers were producing, nor am I certain how this compares to what we know about general reading preferences of the time. Elsewhere, Willoughby, like others, credits some of Jaggard’s interest in Crooke’s anatomy volume to Jaggard’s father’s membership in the Barber-Surgeons’ Company: “And no doubt Jaggard was proud to be the publisher of his learned work dedicated to his father’s guild” (106).

Of the two works Jaggard himself issued in 1615, Willoughby calls Mikrokosmographia the “much more important work” (the other was something by Thomas Adams titled The Blacke Devill, Lycanthropy and The Spirituall Navigator; 106). Willoughby helpfully explains that “Crooke’s Mikrokosmographia appeared in three issues, the first in 1615, a second in 1616, and a third in 1618. Besides the changes on the title-page various alterations were introduced in the preface” (106-07). Intriguingly, an image Willoughby includes in this section of his book reproduces the “TITLE-PAGE OF THE RARE SECOND ISSUE OF CROOKE’S MIKROKOSMOGRAPHIA, from the apparently unique copy in the University of Chicago libraries” (plate inserted between pp. 106-07). The title page certainly does look very similar to the majority of the 1615 copies I’ve seen, with the exception of the year in the final line at the bottom of the page; it does include the claim about the monarch I’ve discussed in previous posts. I’m going to have to do some more research, as at the moment I’m not sure exactly what Willoughby means by “issue,” and I’m curious whether 1616 copies are really as rare as he implies.

Why did I want to start a blog? Because I want to share what I know and what I learn in life. I want to make a positive impact in people’s lives. I want to inspire people to live differently, and share stories of those who inspire me. I want to help change the world, and make it a healthier and greener place to live.

So who am I anyways? I am a healer by trade, a philosopher by nature, and a hippie at heart. I like to be active and outdoors. I’m Eco friendly and a veggie.

So read on for a collection of thoughts, recipes, hiking trails, natural first aid tips and more!

This final line of the title page identifies one more important relationship for Crooke. William Jaggard (1568-1623) is best known as the printer of the first folio of Shakespeare, which was completed the year of his death. However (unsurprisingly, I suppose), I find his role in the production of Mikrokosmographia equally interesting.

Jaggard was the son of a barber-surgeon; he met Crooke when he required treatment for syphilis. In his ODNB entry on Jaggard, Stanley Wells writes that Jaggard went blind from the disease “about 1612″; O’Malley records that the printer “suffered from a syphilitically induced blindness in 1612 and turned to Dr. Crooke in what was a vain effort to recover his lost sight” (5). (Both cite Sloane manuscript 640 at the British Museum as the source of this information, but I’ve been unsuccessful in my attempts to find any images of that manuscript online.) According to O’Malley, “the two men became friends,” and when Jaggard told Crooke of his plans to publish a translation of Paré, the physician convinced the printer to take on his own “extensive anatomical treatise for which Crooke had long been collecting material” (6). I find it intriguing that both O’Malley and Wells use the verb “persuade” to describe the way Jaggard was hired as a printer (O’Malley in regard to Crooke; Wells in regard to Thomas Pavier, for whom Jaggard printed the Shakespeare folio). At this point in my readings, I have the impression that Jaggard was rather malleable in his business dealings, perhaps in part because of his blindness. I’m not saying that Crooke and Pavier were aggressively manipulative, but Jaggard does come across as somewhat passive in his transactions with these men. This could be important because it would also have bearing on the issue of the origin and verifiability of the title-page claim about Crooke serving as James I’s personal physician; although Jaggard would have had more to lose for publishing a false claim, he could have been “persuaded” into it by Crooke, if that was the nature of their relationship.

In addition to Crooke and Jaggard’s documented doctor-patient relationship, a search of the Map of Early Modern London reveals that Jaggard’s location in the Barbican was not far (to the north) from St. Anne’s lane, where Crooke lived at the time his book was published, and that the Barber-Surgeons hall, where Crooke’s book was used and the company’s anatomies were conducted, was located in between. I find the physical proximity of these locations a point worth noting. I wonder, for instance, if this nearness is the reason Crooke was called upon to treat Jaggard for his syphilitic blindness in the first place. The College of Physicians was some distance away, on Knightrider Street (south of St. Paul’s). Ironically, because of Jaggard’s blindness, when the College called on the printer to threaten him regarding the objectionable parts of Crooke’s work, it was his wife Jane who appeared before them on his behalf. She apparently was either free from or did not suffer such severe symptoms of the disease.

The cover is textured, and the narrow lettering of the title gets somewhat lost because of this. Despite this, I can see what this typeface was trying to achieve – it looks squashed, playing with the book’s focus on restricted spaces.

The most shocking thing about this book is that when you open it, here’s what the end-paper/first page looks like:

The Mikrokosmographia title page illustration (1615 edition), reproduced two ways. Top: Photograph (unevenly lit) of the copy held at the University of Iowa; Bottom: Photocopy from C.D. O’Malley’s Bulletin of the History of Medicine article reproducing another 1615 edition copy

The lower half of Crooke’s title page features the images of two bodies, one male and one female. Like the rest of Crooke’s illustrations (and much of his text), these originated in other sources, “the veined man from a zodiacal chart on phlebotomy and the woman from an almanac,” according to Elizabeth Lane Furdell in Publishing and Medicine in Early Modern England (52). C.D. O’Malley, who sees the inclusion of these images on the title page as a blatant flaunting of Crooke’s defiance in regard to the book’s attempted suppression, identifies the illustrations as “a male and a pregnant female figure borrowed from Bauhin’s Theatrum anatomicum, the latter one of the so-called indecent figures previously condemned by the College” (8). That these sources cite different origins for the illustrations may be due to differing images in subsequent editions; the 1631 Mikrokosmographia title page is much more intricate but still includes the two figures. The female appears softer but retains her previous posture and form, while the male undergoes more significant changes; although he remains veined and inexplicably one-armed, his veining is less detailed (appearing more stylistic and less scientific), he is turned to face the center of the page, and a conveniently placed lily grows to cover his more potentially offensive parts. This may have appeased Crooke’s more prudish readers, but there is an odd juxtaposition in revealing the man’s circulatory system while veiling his external genitalia.

A photocopy of the reproduction of the engraved 1631 title page provided by O’Malley in his Bulletin of the History of Medicine article and credited to the “Wellcome Trustees”; the image no doubt originates from a copy held by the Wellcome Trust in England.

Although there appears to be little in the image to verify that this is, indeed, a pregnant woman (as O’Malley notes), the same illustration does appear in the volume’s Book Four, “Of the naturall parts belonging to Generation,” where it is labeled: “Table x. sheweth the portrature of a woman great with child whose wombe is bared and the Kel taken away, that the stomacke, the guttes and the wombe might bee better seene” (V6^v). According to the OED, “kel” is more commonly spelled “kell” and, given this context, would refer to “the fatty membrane investing the intestines”; this is what later becomes the word “caul” (although the alternate spelling “calle” also appears as early as 1382). In any case, this female figure is certainly an excellent example of the “self-demonstrating” anatomy subject Jonathan Sawday describes in The Body Emblazoned (113), as she coldly offers her best-kept secrets to the reader’s gaze.

—

* As always, for complete bibliographic information on the sources used in this entry, see Further Reading

I continue to be surprised by the tangents this project takes me on, but then I have to remember that was part of my goal in creating this blog. My current knowledge base is incredibly limited, so exploring the various issues that arise in the Crooke book gives me the opportunity to read further and learn more about aspects of seventeenth century England I would never have thought to explore. I have a lot more research to do before I can offer any real insight on the true nature of the relationship between Crooke and James I, so I’m going to continue that work behind the scenes and keep moving with the book here.

Oh, but look! That’s easier said than done. The next line on the title page reads:

Published by the Kings Majesties especiall Direction and Warrant according to the first integrity, as it was originally written by the AUTHOR.

As I’ve mentioned, we’ll come back to Crooke and the king. But I believe that the second part of this sentence – “according to the first integrity, as it was originally written by the AUTHOR” – refers to another significant event related to Mikrokosmographia: the attempted suppression of its publication.

C. D. O’Malley explains, “Although the Microcosmographia bears imprint of 1615 and Crooke’s preface is dated ‘last of May’ of that year, parts of the work had been printed and were in circulation as early as November 1614″ (7).* The preview caused consternation among two groups, one religious and one professional. John King, Bishop of London, objected to both the text and illustrations of the sections devoted to human reproduction, particularly the elucidation regarding the female reproductive system, on grounds of indecency. He appealed to the College of Physicians, who had their own objections to the use of the English vernacular being used to disseminate knowledge they considered part of their professional domain. O’Malley writes,

The result was a decision that the President of the College, Sir William Paddy, and one of the Censors, Dr. Edward Lister, should wait upon the Bishop of London to propose that the Microcosmographia not be published at all and that some compensation be awarded the publisher for the costs he had endured; or, at the very least, book four ["Of the natural parts belonging to generation"] be deleted. (8)

Called before the College, Crooke took a month to make an appearance and then apparently refused to accede, as the College next tried to intimidate his publisher and the President threatened to burn all copies of the book he could get his hands on. In a final effort to induce the cooperation of the author and publisher, the College delegated two of its fellows to emend the offensive portions, but with no greater success, and finally the book was printed in its original form, “according to the first integrity, as it was originally written by the AUTHOR.” I find it intriguing that after all this righteous indignation and furious threatening, there appears to have been no real negative consequences to Crooke’s blatant defiance – aside from its cooling affect on his relationship with the College of Physicians, which was none too warm to begin with. This relationship, like that of Crooke to James I, is another complicated one I need to research further before I can offer any greater insight.

* For complete bibliographic information on this source, see “Further Reading“

The title is in gold ink (imitation) that really stands out against the blue background. The cover image is very dark, but this makes the white text easy to read.

And as well as the extremely attractive cover, this book also has lovely design elements on the inside. First, the half-title page:

Simple yet effective, it repeats the typeface used on the cover. Then we have the title page:

The title page is given extra emphasis by being given a double-page spread with lovely illustrations with a ‘wood-cut’ feel to them. This style of illustration is continued throughout the book.

Each part of the book has its own part-title page:

Then each chapter heading has a key motif. This refers to the fact that the book is about unlocking secrets (the US edition features keys as the central image on the cover).

The end result of all this interior designy goodness is that when closed, there is a rather nice pattern formed:

Here’s the frontmatter (apologies for the shadow of my camera). I think the page-borders (reminiscent of parchment) are a great way to add interest to what can be a relatively boring part of a book. However, I’m not sure that the mixture of typefaces was the best choice for the title-page.

Moving on to the chapter pages, each new chapter has a page of illustrations (from one of the character’s journals) and a very decorative chapter title. The text associated with the illustrations is somewhat difficult to read, but feels hand-lettered, like you really are seeing a real page from the character’s journal.

The decorative chapter title seems a little too much, particularly for a small paperback. We have an archway with the name of the chapter, an image, then a quote from one of the character’s research notes, then a dropcap. Altogether, this page-spread feels very squashed.

Speaking as the target market, however, I have to say I loved these extra design details when I was actually reading the book. I imagine the layout was less squashed in the hardback edition.

                                                                ~Goethe 

I explored my sources on Crooke for commentary on this issue. As I’ve mentioned before, Crooke’s biography has not been the subject of much study to date. Most scholars who cite his text as a representation of seventeenth-century anatomy knowledge in England are, understandably, not much concerned with the finer points of his life story. My favorite one-sentence summation of Crooke’s identity comes from Elizabeth D. Harvey, who calls him “Helkiah Crooke, seventeenth-century physician and promoter of the dissemination of medical knowledge into the vernacular” (295-96).* This is certainly accurate, but whether Crooke really was personal physician to James I has little or no bearing on that. Jonathan Sawday mentions the matter in passing when he introduces “the anatomist and physician to James I, Helkiah Crooke” (110). Elizabeth Lane Furdell observes, “Although Crooke described himself as ‘Physitian to His Maiestie, and his Highnesse Professor in Anatomy and Chyrurgery,’ the Fellows in the College of Physicians did not approve of his book” (52); this brings up another interesting issue I plan to explore in this blog, but rather elides the question of whether Crooke’s claim was legitimate or not.

The authors specifically interested in Crooke’s biography have slightly more to offer, but not much, in part because they are so few in number. The most recent of these is William Birken’s entry on Crooke in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2010); Birken mentions “Crooke had a strong[...] ally in James I” and “the continuing support of James I,” but doesn’t take a clear stance on the issue (or, indeed, even directly mention it).  Edward O’Donoghue, chronicler of Bethlehem Hospital where Crooke was keeper from 1619-1635, wrote the following in 1914:

Hilkiah [sic] Crooke was a Suffolk man of parts and learning, and, after studying at Cambridge and Leyden, was appointed in 1604 physician to James I. In the next year he wrote a book on anatomy (“Mikrokosmographia”), which he dedicated to his royal patron. (157)

The only source O’Donoghue credits for this passage is a 1631 copy of Mikrokosmographia. It is clear he must be somewhat confused, for although portions of Crooke’s text were in circulation in 1614, it was first published in 1615 – ten years after O’Donoghue’s timeline. Other idiosyncrasies make O’Donoghue’s reliability dubious. More promising is C. D. O’Malley’s 1968 article in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, which, if my research has been thorough, appears to be the only source that clearly denounces Crooke’s claim. O’Malley writes, “[Crooke] became attached to the royal medical service, but certainly not, as it is sometimes said, as one of the king’s personal physicians” (3). He provides some insight into his reasoning, explaining the fact that Crooke sought election as a Candidate of the College of Physicians in 1610 “is indication that he was not one of the king’s personal physicians, since they with royal support passed directly to the Fellowship” (3-4). This certainly makes sense to me, but I have to admit that when I went back and took this closer look, I was surprised to realize that O’Malley was the only clear voice in this camp; as you’ll note from previous posts, this is the side I stand with.

*For full bibliographic information on all sources used in this post, see Further Reading

The book I’m examining today is Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson. On opening the cover, the first thing you notice is the lovely end-paper. The end-paper has been carefully chosen to reflect the book’s content (the author’s father is a taxidermist, and this is an important part of her childhood).

Then comes the front matter, starting with the title page:

I think the dark grey verso page gives more weight to the title page. The cow on the title page also continues the animal theme from the end-paper and cover (the cover features a mouse), without being too repetitive.

Here’s a page spread from the book, with a pretty traditional layout. I’ve labelled the margins in order from largest to smallest (1 being the largest margin). If you don’t include the running head, the top margin is larger than the outside margin.

What’s most striking about this page spread is the leading – the space between each line is large enough to be noticeable. It’s still readable, but I think it’s pushing the maximum leading narrative text can have before each line becomes too separated.

The running heads are also notable for being centre-aligned and not closely anchored to the text panel.