Good morning.
Saturday, the last day of summer, will be mostly sunny with a high of sixty-two.
On this day in 1942, the B-29 bomber makes its maiden flight:
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States toward the end of World War II and during the Korean War. It was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II and a very advanced bomber for its time, with features such as a pressurized cabin, an electronic fire-control system, and remote-controlled machine-gun turrets. The name “Superfortress” was derived from that of its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress. Although designed as a high-altitude strategic bomber, and initially used in this role against the Empire of Japan, these attacks proved to be disappointing; as a result the B-29 became the primary aircraft used in the American firebombing campaign, and was used extensively in low-altitude night-time incendiary bombing missions. One of the B-29’s final roles during World War II was carrying out the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We’re rightly told not to judges books by their covers, but rather their contents. Still, what about a book’s edges, especially when they display fine and lovely art? Over at i09, Vince Miklós writes about Fore-Edge Paintings: The Secret Works of Art Hidden Inside Book Pages:
Sometimes the greatest artworks are hidden in plain sight. Case in point: the University of Iowa recently discovered a four-volume set of scientific books from 1837 contains hidden paintings on the edges of the pages, which only show up when you fan them part-way open. These “Fore-Edge Paintings” are everywhere, and they’re beautiful.
As Flavorwire explains, Fore-Edge Paintings go back to the 16th century, “when Italian artist Cesare Vecellio (cousin of Renaissance painter Titian) started using his books as a canvas in order to beautify them.” A bunch of them were posted by the University of Iowa and the Boston Public Library….
Small, detailed, and remarkably lovely.