Appletons’ cyclopaedia of applied mechanic

Davis & Furber wool-carding machine.
From Appletons’ cyclopaedia of applied mechanic vol. 2, edited by Park Benjamin, New York, 1880.
(Source: archive.org)

Park Benjamin (1849–1922) was an American patent lawyer, physician, and writer. He was born in New York City, graduated at the United States Naval Academy in 1867, resigned from the Navy in 1869, and graduated at the Albany Law School in the following year. He was associate editor of The Scientific American from 1872 to 1878 and subsequently edited Appleton's Cyclopedia of Applied Mechanics and Cyclopædia of Modern Mechanism.

Besides numerous magazine articles dealing for the most part with scientific subjects, he published also:

    Shakings or Etchings from the United States Naval Academy (1867)

    Wrinkles and Recipes (1875)

    The End of New York (1881)

    The Age of Electricity (1886)

    The Voltaic Cell (1892)

    The History of Electricity (1895)

    History of the United States Naval Academy (1900)

    Modern Mechanism (1905)

Squier’s Cuba sugar-mill.

The Lane and Bodley saw-mill.

The Leavitt pumping engine.

The Schneider eighty-ton steam-hammer.

Steam compression of cotton: the Champion compress.

The Sellers planing-machine

Metal-turning lathe.

 

More info available on each machine/Illustration (click on each photo caption).

The song of Hiawatha, 19th C

Oh my little friend, the squirrel.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", “The Song of Hiawatha”, and “Evangeline”. He was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's “The Divine Comedy”.

Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, which was then a part of Massachusetts. He studied at Bowdoin College. After spending time in Europe he became a professor at Bowdoin and, later, at Harvard College. His first major poetry collections were “Voices ofthe Night” (1839) and “Ballads and Other Poems” (1841). Longfellow retired from teaching in 1854, to focus on his writing, living the remainder of his life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a former headquarters of George Washington. 

His first wife Mary Potter died in 1835, after a miscarriage. His second wife Frances Appleton died in 1861, after sustaining burns when her dress caught fire. After her death, Longfellow had difficulty writing poetry for a time and focused on his translation. He died in 1882.

Longfellow wrote many lyric poems known for their musicality and often presenting stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and also had success overseas. He has been criticized, however, for imitating European styles and writing specifically for the masses.

Above&Below illustrations drawn by Harrison Fisher, from The song of Hiawatha, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Indianapolis, 1906. Found the book in a reasonable quality scan at -as usual this year 2015- archive.org (link provided here). :: Really hard to make a selection of only 4 and finally I selected colour examples but B&W drawings are simply amazing, pure motion catched...

And he loved the lonely maiden

With both hands his face he covered

Painted many shapes and figures

The underground world, 19th C

Interior of an iron mine.
From The underground world, by Thomas Wallace Knox, Hartford, 1877. Original title is a real description (not too much to say: "The underground world : a mirror of life below the surface, with vivid descriptions of the hidden works of nature and art, comprising incidents and adventures beyond the light of day")

Thomas Wallace Knox (1835 - 1896) was a journalist, author, and world traveler, known primarily for his work as a New York Herald correspondent during the American Civil War. As an author, Knox wrote over 45 books, including a popular series of travel adventure books for boys.

Knox was well known for his written attacks on William Tecumseh Sherman and his Union soldiers, which reintroduced into the public debate the issue of Sherman's sanity. His work was controversial as he published important information pertaining to the Vicksburg Campaign. Knox was acquitted on spy charges but found guilty of disobeying orders

Falling in of a mine. Amazing illustrations like the trapper boy and "children picking up", old women at work... incredible work conditions on the industrial revolution

Sections of an English coal mine.

Miners descending a shaft.
From The underground world, by Thomas Wallace Knox, Hartford, 1877.

This book can be purchased via amazon, link provided, BIO text is mostly copy pasted from wikipedia (couldn't find more info about this Book but complete title provides a very good approach). I do recommend visiting archive.org where is scan is hosted, link here