mikl-em's combine

A glimpse of the first photographic self-portrait by Robert Cornelius from 1839. Via fuckyeahhistorycrushes:

In 1839, a year after the first photo containing a human being was made, photography pioneer Robert Cornelius made the first ever portrait of a human being.

On a sunny day in October, Robert Cornelius set up his camera in the back of his father’s gas lamp-importing business on Chestnut Street in Center City, Philadelphia. After removing the lens cap, he sprinted into the frame, where he sat for more than a minute before covering up the lens. The picture he produced that day was the first photographic self-portrait. It is also widely considered the first successful photographic portrait of a human being.

[…] the words written on the back of the self-portrait, in Cornelius’ own hand, said it all: “The first light Picture ever taken. 1839.” 

(via oldenglishmiscellany)

A recent recreation of the first artistic rendering of prehistoric time, originally painted  by Henry De la Beche in 1830”. Via biomedicalephemera, who notes: “Reblogging for the poem and Duria Antiquior link. Both of them are excellent.” via microecos:

Adapted from Duria antiquior the single most important piece of paleoart ever produced. Not a bad version, though censoring out the pooping fish was a mistake.

unnaturalist:

There once was an Ichthyosaurus,
Who lived when the earth was all porous,
Be he fainted with shame
When he first heard his name,
And departed a long time before us.

biomedicalephemera:

Animaux perdus [“Lost Animals” - colloquial term for extinct creatures]

*kercrunch*

Dictionnaire Pittoresque d’Histoire Naturelle et des Phenomenes de la Nature. F. E. Guerin, 1833.