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Le Poulpe Colossal

If this isn’t quite the ur-Kraken of illustration history, it’s one of them, reproduced countless times when sea monster depictions are required. The source is Histoire naturelle, générale et particuliere, des mollusques, animaux sans vertèbres et a sang blanc (1802) by Felix de Roissy, some of whose other illustrations are in this Flickr set from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

There are further cephalopodic curios in the BHL Mollusks and Invertebrates sets, the example below being from Résultats des campagnes scientifiques accomplies sur son yacht (1889), a fine collection of what the French would call aquarelles.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Abysmal creatures
• Fascinating tentacula
• Jewelled butterflies and cephalopods
• The art of Rune Olsen
• Octopulps
• Coming soon: Sea Monsters and Cannibals!

The art of Rob Clarke

International Monster (1993).

I found this drawing on a Tumblr site, as I recall, then traced its lineage back to the artist’s own Tumblr, and his own website where he states that “This site contains fucked up shit. If that bugs you please go away.” After all that it was a surprise to discover that Rob Clarke was one of the artists whose work was featured in the Dirty Comics exhibition in San Francisco back in October, a show to which I also contributed. There’s another of what he calls his “penis python things” on his Tumblr pages, while his website contains a “menagerie of nasty pigs, dogboys, gymbunnies, trolls, bears and other critters”, some of which are for sale.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The gay artists archive

The Flatiron Building

The Flatiron Building, Detroit Publishing Company (1903).

Beautiful Century posted this view of New York’s Flatiron Building at the weekend which had me looking for a larger copy. Happily this is one of the many high-resolution photos at the Shorpy Historical Archive where it’s possible to scrutinise a wealth of detail. Old photos like this are, as Michael Moorcock once said about old postcards, a form of time travel, especially when they’re as good as those in the Shorpy collection. The Flatiron was a popular subject for photographers—famously so in Edward Steichen’s 1904 nocturne—and Shorpy has many more examples such as the street-level view below. Both these photos show a common feature of pictures taken before the age of the motor car: people standing in the middle of the road. The Flatiron also has an oblique connection with Julian Biggs’ film via the mysterious origins of the phrase “23 skidoo“.

The Flatiron Building, Detroit Publishing Company (c. 1905).

Reinhart Wolf photographed many of New York’s skyscrapers in the late 1970s, the Flatiron included. I have a book of those photos and noticed in his Flatiron view that one of the circular decorations on the foremost angle of the building near the top is now missing (compare his view with the Shorpy photos). Every time I look at the Flatiron now I think of that missing chunk of masonry. Was it removed or did it fall? If the latter, when did this happen and what damage did it cause?

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Edward Steichen

Cheeky Frawg Books

Being a new ebook imprint from Ann & Jeff VanderMeer:

Cheeky Frawg Books has launched a new website. Does it sell our ebooks? Yes! But very…cheekily. It’s an interactive and mysterious experience you truly won’t want to miss, in a 180-degree scrollable environment. Free content, hidden treasures, singing fish, the animated Myster Odd video, and, of course, the full catalogue of Cheeky Frawg ebooks, including Amal El-Mohtar’s The Honey Month and the ODD? anthology, featuring Jeffrey Ford, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Amos Tutuola, Hiromi Goto, Nalo Hopkinson, and many more.

Cheeky Frawg specializes in quality, self-aware e-books. We hand-craft every e-book on a letterpress using only the best, most perfectly formed 00000s and 111111s. Forthcoming titles include the legendary The Encyclopedia of Victoriana by Jess Nevins, It Came From the North: Finnish Weird edited by Jukka Halme and Tero Ykspetäja, Jagganath by Swedish sensation Karin Tidbeck and Don’t Pay Bad for Bad by iconic Nigeria writer Amos Tutuola.

Note: A percentage of direct sales in December will go to aid iconic fantasy editor, artist, and writer Terri Windling, who is suffering from financial woes.

In the first run of titles is the ebook edition of The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals whose print edition I designed a while back. And mention of Amos Tutuola reminds me that I’ve had a copy of his My Life in the Bush of Ghosts for years and still not read it. While we’re on the subject of Ann & Jeff’s projects, a reminder that Weird Fiction Review is still posting unique pieces of weird fiction, interviews and essays.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Weird Fiction Review

23 Skidoo by Julian Biggs

An 8-minute film by Julian Biggs from 1964 (IMDB says 1965) which turns the streets of Montreal into post-apocalypse tableaux.

This short black-and-white film shows eerie scenes of a downtown without people. The effect is disturbing. The camera shoots familiar urban scenes, without a soul in sight: streets empty, buildings empty, yet everywhere there is evidence of recent life and activity. At the end of the film we learn what has happened.

Being a film funded by the National Film Board of Canada, the only place to see this would appear to be on their website. That would be fine if the streaming worked but every time I’ve tried using the latest iteration of their site the connection seizes up. Other viewers may have better luck.