Truth

~TRUTH~

~From Four Basic Principles of Numerology, Frank Householder, 1921~

Flammarion
Flammarion, 1888

The Cosmos is infinite. I am a part
Of the Cosmos, its head and its heart.
If God include all, shall He not compass me?
If He is, then I am. If I am, is not He?
No matter how infinitesimal I,
I am one with infinity. Why should I cry
I am nothing, if nothingness still may include
The desire and the dream of all Infinitude?
I am small? Be it so. But I also am great
While my smallness is part of God’s ample estate.

 

Ex Libris: The Art of Possession

bookplate_of_charles_grave_hudson
Bookplate of Charles Grave Hudson. Died 1813.

Ex libris, or bookplates, are placards inscribed with the name of a tome’s owner and affixed to the inside of its cover. Ex libris establish some amount of provenance — a clue into the history of a book’s possession. The art decorating bookplates is often heraldic, fantastic, ornate, and gorgeous. This collection is comprised mostly of plates created in Europe during the 17th & 18th centuries.

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From the Fables of Zambri, the Parsee

~1874~

A rustic, preparing to devour an apple, was addressed by a brace of crafty and covetous birds:

“Nice apple that,” said one, critically examining it. “I don’t wish to disparage it — wouldn’t say a word against that vegetable for all the world. But I never can look upon an apple of that variety without thinking of my poisoned nestling! Ah! so plump, and rosy, and — rotten!”

“Just so,” said the other. “And you remember my good father, who perished in that orchard. Strange that so fair a skin should cover so vile a heart!”

Just then another fowl came flying up.

Rustic and Crafty Birds

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The Crow and the Pitcher: A Fable

~ From Aesop’s Fables, Robinson edition, 1895~

crowfable

A Crow, ready to die with thirst, flew with joy to a Pitcher, which he saw at a distance. But when he came up to it, he found the water so low that with all his stooping and straining he was unable to reach it. Thereupon he tried to break the Pitcher; then to overturn it; but his strength was not sufficient to do either. At last, seeing some small pebbles lie near the place, he cast them one by one into the Pitcher; and thus, by degrees, raised the water up to the very brim, and quenched his thirst.”