Dear Reader,
You found my secret letter!
I created this space to upload scans of historical letters, photographs and manuscripts from my personal collection and provide notes on historical context.
Take your time looking around, I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.
— Balthamous
Fig 1. Letter to Baronne Marie Françoise Éléonore Alexandrine Elisabeth de Dopf (1818–1859) concerning health and family.
Fig 2. Letter Continued.
Fig 6. A wax seal from 1741.
The document it is attached to is written in French. It discusses complaints concerning a shipment of cochineal beetles which was delayed after action from the British during the Austrian War of Succession.
Fig 7. A curiously unposted birthday letter with handwriting only on the front. Signed Henny + Willy.
Fig 3. University student, approximately 1930s. Found in a 1927 copy of Poetica Erotica.
Fig 4. Kursk State University history group, 1940.
The central figure with the rather unfortunate facial hair is potentially either associate professor Пётр Дмитриевич Макаров or
faculty head Яков Васильевич Демещенко.
Fig 5. Late 1890s photo.
Her name has been lost to time.
Fig 8. Photo of the Second Torii gate at Nara, 1890s.
I am not confident on this but sign on the left of the shrine appears to read "寶物拝觀" (Exhibition of Shrine Treasures). If my translation is wrong please let me know on my guestbook!
Fig 9. Negative of a bored kid skipping stones, 1930s.
This photo has been geolocated to just outside Ottawa, Ontario along the Rideau River.