Human Flags.

The pictures below were taken by photographers Arthur Mole and John Thomas who toured army and naval bases in the latter years of the first world war taking these large scale patriotic style photographs, primarily for an advertising campaign to sell war bonds.

The photographs were designed over the course of a week and were marked out on the ground with ribbons so that the troops would know were to stand. The finished design was then photographed from a specially constructed 70 foot tower.

The planning for the layout had to be precise due to the large areas involved, for example, the statue of liberty design stretched over 1235 feet from head to toe and used over 18 000 men.

Human flag, taken at the Great Lakes Training Station 1916-17. captioned as "10 000 Bluejackets forming a living emblem of the American union". It is worth noting that the flag only has 48 stars as Hawaii and Alaska were not yet represented as states. It was 1959 before Alaska and 1960 before Hawaii were represented on the flag.

Bureau of Navigation, Naval Training Station, human flag 1916-17, by the National Photo Company.

The Y.M.C.A. emblem formed by officers, men, and camp activity workers at Camp Wheeler, Ga. 1917-18.

The Machine Gun Insignia; Machine Gun Training Center; 22 500 officers and men, 600 machine guns, taken at Camp Hancock, Augusta, Ga. 1918.

The Human U.S. Shield; 30,000 officers and men, Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Mich; 1918.

The Human Liberty Bell; 25000 officers and men at Camp Dix, New Jersey; 1918.

u.s.n rifle range camp Logan ill.

Human Statue of Liberty; 18,000 officers and men at Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Ia. 1917-18.


More Information.

Snopes.com

The Camp Dodge Story.

Nineteenth Century Lithographs Of Egypt By David Roberts.

Below is a small selection of nineteenth century lithographs of Egypt By David Roberts R.A. They were produced for an illustrated book called "Egypt & Nubia " with drawings made on the spot by David Roberts; The lithographes were produced by Louis Haghe, and published between 1846-1849.

Many of the watercolour sketches seen here were eventually compiled into oil on canvas works by David Roberts who emerged as a leading orientalist painter in the nineteenth century.

Interior of the Temple of Aboo-Simbel November 9th 1838, by David Roberts, R.A.

The Great Temple of Aboo-Simble, by David Roberts, R.A.

Baalbec May 7th 1839, by David Roberts, R.A.

Approach of the simoom-desert of Gizeh by David Roberts, R.A. Published between 1846 and 1849.

Front elevation of the Great Temple of Aboosimble.

Luxor December 1st 1838.

Temple at Karnac.

Portico of the temple of Kalabshe by David Roberts, R.A.

The Great Sphinx and pyramids of Girzeh July 17th 1839.

Thebes December 4th 1838 by David Roberts, R.A.

Grand entrance to the Temple of Luxor.

Portico of the Temple of Edfou, Egypt November 23rd 1838.

Pyramids of Geezeh by David Roberts, R.A.

Dendera 1838 by David Roberts, R.A.

Excavated Temple of Gyrshe.

More Information.

David Roberts.

Baalbec produced in oil on canvas.

Louis Bleriot's Plane Over Dover 1909.

In 1909 Bleriot completed the first flight across a large body of water in a powered heavier than air craft.
Blériot flew in the Bleriot IX, a simple monoplane powered by a 3 cylinder, 25 horsepower, radial engine. Setting out at 4.30 am on July 25 1909, he began his historic flight. He climbed to 250 feet and settled into a cruising speed of 40 miles an hour. Accompanying him for part of the way was a French destroyer that was tasked to escort him, bad weather and strong winds meant he soon outpaced, and lost site of his escort. Landing in Dover 37 minutes later, Bleriot had flown 22 miles from Barraques to Dover.

Image Credit: The Bain News Service Collection at the Library Of Congress at Washington D.C.

More Information.

Louis Blériot

A Tour Of Italy 1900.

During the late 1890's the Detroit Publishing Company created a series prints depicting photographic tours of various countries and tourist areas. These were then reproduced as coloured lithographic prints.
The photographic highlights below are taken from the architectural tour of Italy collection and show the highlights that you might expect to see on a tour of Italy at the turn of the 19th century.

The Fountain of Trevi, Rome.

Exterior of the Coliseum or Flavian Amphitheatre, Rome, Italy.

The Leaning Tower, Pisa, Italy.

View of the Forum, Rome, Italy.

General view over Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in background, Italy.

A view over the the Sarca valley, showing the river Sarca, Garda, Italy.

Isola Pescatori , Lake Maggiore, Italy.

General view over Menaggio, Lake Como, Italy.

The 13th century Sermione Castle (Scaliger Castle) , Lake Garda, Italy.

The Grand Canal with the Rialto Bridge, Venice, Italy.

The Piazzetta, Venice, Italy.

The Arena, Verona, Italy.

The Castle and mediaeval market town, Turin, Italy.

The tower, Nervi, Genoa, Italy.

General view over Torbolo, Lake Garda, Italy.

All photographic prints in this posting are courtesy of The Library Of Congress At Washington D.C.

Japanese Lithographs Of The Siberian Intervention.

The Siberian Intervention, (1918–1922) was a military intervention by the then allied powers of Japan, Britain, France, America and Canada, in the Russian civil war on the side of the white Russian forces, in the latter stages of the first world war.
The primary reason was the signing of a peace treaty by the new Bolshevik regime with the German government, which would lead to the collapse of the Russian front, and the isolation of the 50 000 allied troops stationed there. This would also allow the German army to move its divisions stationed on the eastern front to the western front, possibly re-enforcing its front lines before American troops arrived.
To celebrate the intervention the Tokyo based shobido and company produced a series of patriotic lithographic prints depicting various scenes from the campaign entitled The Illustration of the Siberian War 1919.

1) The landing of the Japanese army--Welcomed by every nation at Vladivostok 1919.

2) The march of the Japanese army at Vladivostok city 1919.

3) The battle of Ussuri, Siberia. were Captain Konomi died in battle.

4) The Japanese army defeating the German-Austrian Army near Ussuri, Siberia.

5) The first battle near Manchuria. The Japanese soldiers defeated the enemy's cavalry 1919.

6) The brilliant exploit of the Noshido Infantry Company, destroying a rail road, going around the back of the enemy 1919.

7) The Japanese cavalry having taken possession of Khobarovsk, pursuing and attacking the enemy 1919

8) The Japanese cavalry advanced furiously in a storm 1919.

9) The Japanese army occupied Khabarovsk, and the Amur Fleet surrendered 1919.

10) Furious fighting at Amur 1919.

11) Starting out from the head-quarters of the combined army in Siberia 1919.

12) Camping of the expeditionary army in Siberia 1919.

13) The battle of Ussuri, Siberia. Captain Konomi died in the battle 1919.

14) Our cavalry occupied Khabarovsk, and march past took place in front of the enemy's gun-boats 1919.

15) Fighting between the cavalry and war ships 1919.

16) The Japanese Army occuping Vragaeschensk 1919.

17) Our army attacks from sky, water and shore, and repulsed the enemy of Siberia 1919.

More Information.

The Siberian Intervention.

The White movement.

All The prints depicted here are courtesy of The Library of Congress Washington D.C.