Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey and Peter F. Neumeyer chronicles the rich, visually-laden and wildly creative correspondence between these two men. I was delighted when I saw that my friend Jason tweeted this post. There is a broad and eclectic spectrum of people who take great joy in the late Edward Gorey’s work. I feel as though we all have something substantive in common, and that if ever thrown together at a dinner party, we would have endless matters of deep importance to discuss. This book is on its way to me now, and I can barely wait. Via Steve Silberman via Maria Popova.

We are having some plumbing work done, and this little gem of a drawing was artfully generated by our plumber so that we could get a better understanding of how our water pressure system works between the well and the the two structures on the property. If you can’t understand it, I can’t help you. I now regret throwing away all of the many schematics I have either generated myself or those created by others.

I just wanted to show off what I thought was one of the best birthday presents ever! 2 dozen pencils — 12 Black Warriors (the name alone makes me feel invincible when I draw) and 12 newly reissued Blackwings. The jury is still out on the Blackwings, in part because I am continuing to process their decision to remove the tag line that used to be printed on the pencils themselves: Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed.

Back in the mid to late 19th century, French ex-pat astronomical artist, Etienne Leopold Trouvelot, created these pastel drawings from his observations of planets and galactic occurrences. Years ago there was a fantastic exhibition showcasing his work at the Science, Business and Industry branch of the NY Public Library. Sadly, Trouvelot is known less for his artistic abilities and more for his earlier endeavors in entomology…gone very very wrong. We actually have him to thank for the scourge of Gypsy Moths in this country.

As a rule, I don’t particularly like eating or drinking from a black plate or cup. It has something to do with wanting to let light into the composition. There are exceptions of course. But these scratched melamine plates made my case. The upside is that the patterns created by all of the knife marks looked like little drawings.