We Discover the Old Dominion -- 1916

Book by Louise Closser Hale, illustrated by her husband Walter Hale. Twenty-eight pencil drawings and a map of their route. Published by Dodd, Mead in 1916. Fun to read, but surprises you every few pages with racist comments of the kind that were very common in 1916 but now quite unacceptable. Click one of the images below to see a larger version, as usual.

San Jose, California, 1902

Drying prunes in the sun. San Jose, silicon valley; once upon a time called Blossom Valley, and at one time the primary source of prunes for the world. San Jose is my home.

There's an accent on the e in San José, because without it, in Spanish the emphasis would be on the Jo instead of the sé. In American English we pronounce it Hoe-zay' as our attempt to honor the original name of the town. But only the local government offices bother with the accent.

The photograph originally appeared as part of an article entitled "The Olive and the Prune" in the January 1902 issue of FOUR-TRACK NEWS, a publicity magazine for the New York Central Railroad which a few years later morphed into TRAVEL MAGAZINE.

Dinant Upon the Meuse -1860

From the book Europe Illustrated - Its Picturesque Scenes and Places, published about 1860, comes this engraving of the town of Dinant Upon the Meuse in Belgium, drawn by Thomas Allom and engraved by M. J. Starling. It's typical of the kinds of things you can find on eBay if you poke around the image and art sections.

In this case eBay has it listed in the category Art > Prints > Antique (Pre-1900) > Topographical. It's one of the items listed by eBay seller historicpaper2.

Small picture here; click for nice large one (I hope).