The Brabant Chronicle, 14th Century ("Brabantsche Yeesten")

Believe it or not, this Jan Van Boendale's 14th century manuscript chronicle was discovered in the 19th century in a tobacconist shop… where was used as wrapping paper.

The chronicle is divided in five parts or books, of which the first four describe the history of Brabant before Jan Van Boendale lifetime (link goes to a poor author's BIO I could find in english), and the fifth is devoted to the three dukes contemporaneous with him: Jan I (d. 1294), Jan II (d. 1312), and Jan III (d. 135).

The scene showing the killing of the Duchess above is Marie of Brabant (link to wikipedia's BIO), who was beheaded by her husband for adultery- following the standard practice for women found guilty of adultery; however, proof of guilt of adultery on her part could never be validated. Maria was the fifth of six children born to Duke Henry by his first wife. Her mother Maria was a daughter of Philip of Swabia.

The Chronicle of Brabant (“Brabantsche Yeesten”) is owned and hosted by the Royal Library of Belgium (in French). This site I recently discovered has -in my opinion- a good digitalization project ongoing, excellent high res quality- but is purely online based.

The Brabant Chronicle is a voluminous work of around 16,000 lines and was not written in one effort. First version dates from 1316, the fifth from 1347, and a sixth version may have been written around 1351, each one providing an updated version of the history of the Duchy.

The Secret Teachings, 20th Century

Manly Palmer Hall (1901-1990) was a Canadian mystic and philosopher author, most famous for his 1928 –he was only 27- work “The Secret Teachings of All Ages” (Original title “An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy: Being an Interpretation of the Secret Teachings concealed within the Rituals, Allegories and Mysteries of all Ages”)

I had the opportunity to investigate Manly Palmer Hall works thanks to an amazing preservation center and digitalization project I recently discovered: The Internet Archive which has been one of best documentation funds –at least in volume- I could check so far. Probably they will have to improve the search engine for anonymous users, but the indexation is excellent. Manly Palmer Hall available resources are hosted on the Getty Research Institute, a well known old friend; that has a subsite on the internet archive project.

About Manly Palmer, being a child he was drawn to the arcane world of mysticism, esoteric philosophies, and their underlying principles. His young interest was solidified by meeting —and becoming a student of— Sydney J. Brownson, a civil war veteran (link to his bio). Hall delved deeply into "teachings of lost and hidden traditions, the golden verses of Hindu gods, Greek philosophers and Christian mystics, and the spiritual treasures waiting to be found within one's own soul."  

In 1934, Manly Palmer Hall founded the Philosophical Research Society (PRS) in Los Angeles, California, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the study of religion, mythology, metaphysics, and the occult. This Society is still active, but I had problems to reach their web page; so I found that there's a University of Philosophical Research, same street address (Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles CA).

Manly Palmer was also Knight Patron of the Masonic Research Group of San Francisco. On June 28, 1954, Hall initiated as a Freemason into Jewel Lodge No. 374, San Francisco (now the United Lodge)

He took the Scottish Rite Degrees a year later, and received his 32° in the Valley of San Francisco. On 1973 (47 years after writing The Secret Teachings of All Ages), he was recognized as a 33° Mason (the highest honor conferred by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite) at a ceremony held at the Philosophical Research Society.

John Gould's "Birds of Asia", 19th Century

The greatest figure in bird illustration -as per University of Glasgow description- after JJ Audubon was John Gould (1804 – 1881); an English ornithologist that published a huge number of monographs on birds illustrated by plates, produced with the assistance of his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart.

When Charles Darwin presented his mammal and bird specimens collected during the second voyage of HMS Beagle to the Geological Society of London at their meeting on 4 January 1837, the bird specimens were given to Gould for identification. He set aside his paying work and at the next meeting on 10 January reported that birds from the Galapagos Islands which Darwin had thought were blackbirds, "gross-bills" and finches were in fact "a series of ground Finches which are so peculiar" as to form "an entirely new group, containing 12 species." This story made the newspapers.

Travels & Other works

• In 1838 the Goulds sailed to Australia, intending to study the birds of that country and be the first to produce a major work on the subject. They took with them the collector John Gilbert. The result of the trip was The Birds of Australia (I DO recommend this link from Glasgow University Library special collections department). It included a total of 600 plates in seven volumes, 328 of which were new to science and named by Gould. He also published A Monograph of the Macropodidae, or Family of Kangaroos (1841–1842) and the three volume work The Mammals of Australia (1849–1861).

• In 1830 a collection of birds arrived from the Himalayas, many not previously described. Gould published these birds in "A Century of Birds" from the Himalaya Mountains (1830–1832). The text was by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and the illustrations were lithographed by Gould's wife Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Coxen, of Kent.

Most amazing anecdote on his BIO -at least in my opinion-: Gould had a strong interest in hummingbirds. He accumulated a collection of 320 species, which he exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851. But he had never seen a live hummingbird, even when he actively tried

List of publications

"The birds of Asia"; 1850-83 7 vols. 530 plates, Artists: J. Gould, H. C. Richter, W. Hart and J. Wolf; Lithographers: H. C. Richter and W. Hart; Parts 33-55 completed after Gould's death by R. Bowdler Sharpe; Vol VI :Artist and lithographer: W. Hart

"The birds of Australia"; 1840-48. 7 vols. 600 plates; Artists: J. Gould and E. Gould; Lithographer: E. Gould. There is a later Supplement published in 1851. 1 vol. 81 plates; Artists: J. Gould and H. C. Richter; Lithographer: H. C. Richter

"The Birds of Great Britain"; 1862-73. 5 vols. 367 plates; Artists: J. Gould, J. Wolf, H.C. Richter and W. Hart; Lithographers: H. C. Richter and W. Hart

"Birds of Europe"; 1832–37. 5 vols. Drawn from nature & on stone by J. & E. Gould. Printed by Hullmandel.

"The birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands, including many new species recently discovered in Australia"; 1875-88. 5 vols. 300 plates; Parts 13-25 completed after Gould's death by R. Bowdler Sharpe; Artists: J. Gould and W. Hart; Lithographer: W. Hart

"A monograph of the Odontophorinae", or partridges of America; 1844-50 1 vol. 32 plates; Artists: J. Gould and H. C. Richter; Lithographer: H. C. Richter

"A monograph of the Ramphastidae", or family of toucans; 1833-35. 1 vol. 34 plates; Artists: J. Gould, E. Gould, E. Lear and G. Scharf; Lithographers: E. Gould and E. Lear;

"A monograph of the Trochilidae", or family of humming-birds Supplement, completed after Gould's death by R. Bowdler Sharpe; 1880-87. 5 parts. 58 plates; Artists: J. Gould and W. Hart; Lithographer: W. Hart

"A synopsis of the birds of Australia", and the adjacent islands; 1837-38 1 vol. 73 plates; Artist and lithographer: E. Gould