Specimens

64 pages, 22 illustrations.
1 1/2" x 1 1/8"

Even though I'm not a scientist, I've always had a fascination with laboratory glassware, perhaps from watching Mad Scientist movies. If I really had all the flasks and retorts I wanted, what would I put in them?

This little book is my idea of a modern Cabinet of Curiosities: everyday, and some not-so-everyday, objects in laboratory glassware and specimen jars. Animal (Bigfoot, elbows, Walt Whitman), vegetable (nepenthe (the plant, not the mythological character), Queen Anne's lace, horse chestnuts), and mineral (Bugatti, trains, parasols), and some that defy categorization ( Bacchus, Caltrans). I'm sure, with this as a starting point, you'll come up with your own idiosyncratic collection.

I've based my collection on interesting words. If you like the sound of a Pulchinella in an Erlenmeyer flask, this is the book for you.

The book is bound in tan paper printed with gold fleur-de-lys (another good candidate for the collection). There is a paper title pasted on the front, and decorative endpapers picturing specimens that didn't make it into the main collection ( giant squid, appletini).

Also available in microminiature here: Specimens

This product was added to our catalog  October 24, 2009