1914 1918 World War One Magazines "The Great War"

The first World War magazine was published during the Great War and is a fascinating piece of collectible ephemera or war memorabilia. Full of facts, pictures and information all about the weapons, battles and history of the 1914 1918 war.

1914 1918 World War One

The Great War magazine was first published in 1914 at the start of the war and each mag contains war pictures and facts about the various battles fought by the armies during the war years 1914 to 1918. The information about the trenches in the war and the conditions are very graphical and show how horrific the situation was for all involved.

Trenches in the War

I have almost completed creating a digital version of one of the issues of the Great War magazine and this will be available for download here in the very near future. This issue will contain over 11,000 words about the world war and many pics and interesting World War  One facts.
I have also managed to get some old original first World war documents  and some war posters to add to the 'downloadle'PDF e-book.

Weapons of World War One

The next issue I will be working on is "Victoria Crosses Won during the First Year of the War".

Magazines-Outdoor-Photography-Sale

This week I will be auctioning some outdoor photography magazines and black and white photography mags (from 10pm tonight Sunday 13th Feb 2011) - cheap photography magazines

The magazines are all in a good condition and packed full of interesting and informative articles plus loads of stunning photo's.


If you win more than one please wait until I send you an invoice because I will reduce the postage/shipping cost and you will only pay what it cost to be delivered to you. Packaging is free and they will be carefully packed and posted at the earliest time after the sales have ended.

The photography magazines to be sold will be the following:

Outdoor Photography magazines from 2002 until 2008
Black and White Photography magazines from 2003 until 2007

They are all great magazines especially if you enjoy photography or wish to learn or develop you skills as a photographer. If you collect cameras there are also some interesting articles and photos of classic vintage cameras.

Although these magazines are for the 'film' camera they would still be worth a read because a lot of the information is relevant to today's modern digital camera user.

I will add some more information and pictures about these mags because they are well worth reading and writing about. If there are any issues you wish to own to complete or add to your collection of photography magazines, then please get in touch.

Don't forget to check out my sponsors, its free won't cost you a penny and any support is always welcome, plus you will find a 'great' deal. Or more "back" issues of Outdoor Photography Magazines and options to subscribe to the latest editions.

Outdoor Photography Magazines

Thanks for Looking!

This weeks offer:

If you win more than 4 magazines I will add an extra copy FREE.

THE GREAT WAR MAGAZINE

Last night I finally began to 'digitise', for want of a better word, a wonderful old mag all about the First World War. The magazine was called "The Great War", not that their was anything 'great' about it for the soldiers who fought in the trenches.

The 'great' thing about these old magazines is that they were published during the conflict and each issue reported the events as they occurred, although censored the articles are very factual and at times, very graphic. The magazine was first published in August 1914 and ran for 272 volumes full of photographs of the war, illustrations and articles.

Its a great read and if like me, you have an interest in such things, reading these old mags is unlike anything written after the conflict. I found the articles very interesting and having read many books about the first "World War", its always great to discover new sources of information.

I didn't even know these magazines existed until the other month when I 'won' a box full at a local auction. I have since seen copies selling online and at auctions, they are still relatively cheap if you know where to look and always a 'sound' investment imho. You can even buy the complete set, scanned and on CD which I am very tempted to purchase a copy for myself even though its only the 'scanned' pages.

My collection is small, I have around 30 or so in not too bad a condition considering their age, almost 100 years old and alost 'antique'. I did consider 'ebaying' them soon or at some point, there's only so much one can 'collect'. However, I plan to 'digitise' each copy and type out the text rather than just scan the pages first because apart from being much easier to read and being able to add links and more information about the war, at least I will have a copy to view at my leisure.

I had considered selling each 'issue' as an Ebook download and charging a small fee to cover my cost and time, it takes around 10 hours to type and scan the photo's. Then another couple of hours to do some research and add links and more photo's to the the book. Plus all the other "bits" of interesting information I have gathered to create something that will be worth downloading.

However, I want to give each issue away for free, no charge, no costly 'selling' fees to pay (I am an Ebay veteran!), no packing and posting or should I say 'shipping' (if you live outside the UK) cost.
If anyone wishes to view the first issue then all you have to do is ask and I will send you a copy. Or, pop back to my 'new' blog adventure sometime in the near future and it will be available to view online, plus many other wonderfull things I have discovered. If I can afford to give them away for free then I will.

Below is a 'preview' of The Great War magazine 'ebook' I am currently working on and all being well, it should be available for download very soon! Don't forget to ask me for a copy, its FREE!

THE FRENCH ADVANCE TOWARDS LENS AND THE BATTLE OF “THE LABRYNTH”.

At the time when we wrote the account of the Russian retreat from the Dunajec and Carpathian line, it was not advisable to state the chief reason of the disaster to our allies. The enemy was no doubt well well acquainted with the temporary cause of the weakness of Russia but it was thought best for all friendly historians of war to refrain from discussing the matter. Russia had put most of her eggs in a single basket. More than half her fighting armies throughout the campaign had been supplied with smokeless powder and high-explosive shell from one great munitions factory at Ochta, which is nearer to Petrograd than Woolwich is to London.

Among the leading workers were men of German stock and brilliant talent, drawn from the German population of the Western Russian province, German Secret Service agents appear to have won over some of these men, and the result was that, at the critical hour in the history of Russia, all the works at Ochta were blown up by a series of tremendous explosions in the nitrating tanks, detonating the materials used for shell filling.

Petrograd shook as in an earthquake. Thousands of the trained workmen were killed and nearly all the munitions plant was destroyed. If Woolwich was was wiped out in a similar way by German agents our country would not be crippled; for we have not centralised our manufactures of explosives, Russia was quite crippled.Most of her guns were put out of action because they lacked both shells and charges, and even the supply of smokeless gunpowder for the infantry seems to have run perilously short. Great siege guns were being produced at the Putilof works, capable of coping with largest of ordnance made by Skoda and Krupp; but after the destruction of Ochta there was so extreme a dearth of ammunition's that nothing could be done against the heavy artillery used by General Von Mackensen.

Russia had therefore to fight for time, while her principle Allies came to her assistance by the circuitous Archangel route. In particular Britain and France had to give up all thought of a great offensive, to husband their stocks of ammunition's and pour as much shell and smokeless powder into Russia as they could safely spare.

PS. Although I found this a very interesting war news artical, there are many more interesting ones within each issue.

PPS. Whilst working on another 'project' I discovered a great piece of art painted by one of the 'masters' and considered a Great British Modern Masterpiece.

 

Original 1859 PUNCH Illustrations 99p Each

I have over 50 original Punch prints all dating from 1859 and now that I have completed scanning them, its time to let them go and 99p each is cheap in my opinion. For each additional print purchased, it will be FREE shipping. If you wish to purchase any then please go see my Ebay sales and make a bid.

These are great for framing and all are in very good condition, one of the prints is a large 'fold' out page and great illustration.

I have hundreds of Punch illustration available as downloads and ideal for printing with a home computer. OK, its not like owning an original, but they still make very decorative pictures for framing.

The image below is one I have edited to print out on an A4 piece of paper  to get the best results. I have only tested on a cheap home printer and the results are not bad even with cheap paper.

Try it, just right click and save image to your computer and print away.

You could use a variety of paper and any colour to achieve either a 'new' look or if you print onto parchment paper the print would have that 'aged' look.

They could even be printed out onto canvas, t-shirts or turn them into clipart for digital art,scrapbooks etc. I can think of 101 uses for these wonderful old illustrations, can you?

I will post some more free images soon and if you want to use them then please help your self.

Prints Etchings Vintage Antique

A group of old prints dating from the 1800's and removed from various publications. These are sealed and look like they came from a dealer of ephemera because they have labels on them. They have been dated and priced.

General Beatson engraved by DJ Pound
The antique print of General Beatson is in a good condition for its age,the picture is a scanned image of the actual item.The page measures 7" by 10 1/2" and the print measures just over four and half inches by six inches.

Royal Exchange,c1830, Shepard,Melville
The antique print is in a good condition for its age,the picture is a scanned image of the actual item.The page measures just under 8 inches by just over 10 inches and the print measures just over 5 inches by 7 inches.

General Rosquet 1840s
The antique print of General Rosquet is in a good condition for its age, c1840, the picture is a scanned image of the actual item.The page measures 7" by 10 1/2" and the print measures just under four and half inches by six inches.

RARE CREATURES THE ZIBET OF AMBOYNA THE ZIBIT OF INDIA
The antique print is in a good condition for its age, the page is torn at bottom left hand corner. The picture is a scanned image of the actual item sealed in polythene.The page measures 7x10 inches and the print measures 6 by 7 inches.

Plus the following pieces:
OLD PRINTS HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE PEDLARS TRAVELLERS OVERTAKEN BY STORM WELSH SCENE

OLD PRINT MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT CRAUFORD ROYAL UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION

I have one more print/etching to add to this 'lot' and its titled Hudibras and looks like an etching and on the label is wrote - c1869 23 - not sure if this means 23 pounds? This is a very nice print and the detail is just wonderful.

More original Prints from Burne Jones to Fisher free to download.

I thought I would add some more of these prints because they are just great and the more I delve through the pile, the more great discoveries I uncover. The following pictures of these wonderful old 1930's are by some of the great masters of the times, a real mixed bunch.

Some I like and some and they scan really well, however the actual print looks a little dark to me, not so much from ageing and in fact, there are no signs of age on any of them. Its more a case of the 'printing' method used or maybe its the actual painting, best viewed 'large'.

The originals do have a nice 'canvas' texture and this makes it more difficult to capture the image at its best or worse depending on point of view. The actual prints look fine as a print and if lit correctly would probably be fully appreciated. However and failing that, there's always the possibility of owning a copy as a download or on disc.

If you wish to see how good, or bad they turn out if you want to copy and print yourself then simply click on the image and save the file using the right click and save method. If that don't make sense or want assistance then please let me know I will email you a copy or two.

If you wish to leave a comment about these prints or any other of the things I have here on my blog then I am always pleased, so don't be shy.

Fen Meadow by Mark Fisher RA

The painting by Mark Fisher reminds us of his relationship with Claude Monet in regard to the painting of sunlight. A famous critic once wrote 'Mark Fisher follows the great French master with a difference'. Monet achieved his sunlight by the scientific juxtaposition of the colours of the spectrum. Fisher obtains much the same effectiveness of vibrating light and luminous shadows, but less obviously.In this picture the amazing luminosity that envelops it is obtained by making every object a veritable mirror of the sunlight. One does not actually see the sun blazing in the sky, the visible part of which is indeed covered by the film of a heat haze but its presence is everywhere. One can feel its warmth as keenly as the languid cattle standing in the pools on the swampy land.

The painter's treatment has struck a middle course between scientific impressionism and the age-long tradition of English landscape art. He has discarded the meticulous tree forms, the drama of the storm clouds, the opaque shadows and other aids to picturesqueness with which the early masters of the school sought to make their pictures interesting.

Place of these he has given us absolute as opposed to relative sunlight. Without this his picture would have been dull, the fenland conventionally painted in flat tones would have been more than a little monotonous. The sunlight transmutes the scene into something personal, and so interesting.

Prints of Great Masterpieces

For the past couple of days I have been scanning old prints that date from around the 1930's. They are from an old magazine called "Modern Masterpieces Of British Art" and the mag was published around 1930?

There were published every fortnight and each magazine contained 8 colour reproductions of noteworthy examples of modern British art. The intention was not to illustrate any particular school of British art and to present great works of art by recent and living artist.

The prints were chosen mainly for their popular appeal at the time and covered various subjects including: Landscapes, Biblical and scenes from domestic life, to name a few. There was also a description for each painting and this told you a little about the painter and gave a brief technical explanation about how the artist created such fine work.

There were 200 prints in total plus in some of the magazines there was an additional eight prints included and ready to frame as a 'free' gift. Each painting was printed onto fine art paper, a good quality type that had a 'textured' canvas finish which makes it a little more difficult to scan.

I have uploaded some below and if you click to enlarge I am sure these should print out onto an A4 sheet of paper without any problems. You may need to lighten or darken the picture before printing and if your monitor and software is calibrated for printing, this should not be a problem.

The prints below are just a couple I have chosen and you are more than welcome to print a copy of either for your own use.

Toilers Of The Sea by Sir WQ Orchardson RA

The title of this painting recalls that of a famous book by Victor Hugo but curiously enough the picture is not reminiscent of the accepted style of the gifted artist who painted it. Everyone knows his paintings of large open spaces or rooms, his Napoleon On Board The Bellerophon for example. So this almost intimate picture of a patch of the ocean, a dramatic little scene nevertheless, is a departure from his usual 'mise en scene' and perhaps all the more attractive for its novelty.

Two or three points may be noted in this picture, first and most important is the bold way in which the little boat is slung by the artist right corner from corner to corner of the canvas, a daring and successful executed design to begin with.

We then notice that the sail is close-reefed, the swirl of the waters and the wake thrown up by the boat complete the sense of the driving power of wind and wave. Lastly, the figures are cunningly grouped and are the life of the picture without dominating it. The design however, is the master-touch.

Sir William Orchardson was born at Edinburgh in 1835 and entered the Trustee Academy in 1850. He studied under Scott Lauder and become leader of a group of students including GP Chalmers, William McTaggart, John Pettie, Tom & Peter Graham and John McWhirter.

Coming to London in the 1860's he exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1863 and was elected ARA in 1868, RA in 1877. He was knighted in 1907 and died in 1910.

Besides subject pictures he painted a number of portraits among them Master baby, the artist wife and child. Other well known portraits include that of Sir Walter Gilbey (1891) which ranks with the great portrait paintings of the century.

The Hireling Shepherd by W Holman Hunt

Born in 1827, William Holman Hunt studied art at the Royal Academy Schools where he met and began a lifelong friendship with Millais. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1846. In 1848 came The Flight Of Madeline and Porphyro followed by Rienza in 1849 and Valentine Rescuing Sylvia in 1851.

It was the Keats subject that fired his admiration of Rossetti and was the immediate antecedent to the foundation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, to the principles of which Holman Hunt remained a faithful adherent to the end of his life. His first thoroughly 'Pre-Raphaelite' picture was the Rienza.

In 1850 his canvas A Converted British Family Suffering From Druid Persecution raised a storm of protest. Then in 1852 came Ruskin's defence of the Valentine and Sylvia picture and his continued championship of the Brotherhood's cause.

The Hireling Shepherd was finished in time for the Academy of 1852. Carlyle declared it was the greatest picture by any modern artist.

Holman Hunt holds a unique place in the history of English art and his limited output was due to his super-sensitive reaction to the claims of exact fidelity in the most minute details. He travelled to Egypt then to Jerusalem to paint The Finding of the saviour in the Temple and retired to the desert to paint The Scapegoat.

Even if aesthetic unity was sometimes sacrificed to scrupulous accuracy Hunt's pictures will always remain worthy objects of the most searching study. It may be worth mentioning that the motive of the Hireling Shepherd is found in St John X, 7-14.

Holman Hunt was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1905, he died in London in 1910.