Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder
Lawrence Wescheler
Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder is a strange little book on a real-life “museum” – the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Stuffed with wonders such as the Sonnabend Model of Obliscence, laying out reality in a cone format, information on various and sundry strange animals, a scale creation of The Ark, and a recreation of the Platonic conception of memory, symbolized as a set of hands holding a bird. Clear as mud, right? Visitors to the museum will be greeted by colorful dioramas, pamphlets and other literature and even narrated displays. What many will not catch is that most of the museum is pure confabulation. Displays are made...
Cabinet of Curiosities
Patrick Mauries
After reading Preston and Child’s Cabinet of Curiosities, I couldn’t resist finding out more about cabinets of curiosities (the precursor to the modern museum). This gorgeous, weird book is a history of the cabinets and their weird contents – everything from sculpture, to shells and minerals, fake dragons and preserved baby heads.