Earliest Collection

Zazel / Human Cannonball
Zazel at the Royal Aquarium, London. " A beautiful Lady shot from a monstrous cannon." This is thought to be the earliest photograph of a human cannonball act

Archaeopteryx lithographica [London specimen]
Main slab of rare fossil dinobird and earliest bird found in the Upper Jurassic of Solenhofen in Germany, now on display at The Natural History Museum, London. Known also as the London Archaeopteryx

Map / Europe / France / Paris
Map showing the growth of Paris from its earliest origins to the latest projects under Napoleon III

First Authenticated Christmas Tree - Strasbourg
Christmas Tree in History and Legend: The Earliest Authenticated Christmas Tree in Strasbourg (at this time in Germany). A merchant of Strasburg (a Mr Forbes)

Archaeopteryx had the same number and arrangement of primary and secondary flight feathers as modern birds. Watercolour on paper by John Doncaster

James Figg, Boxer
Generally regarded as the earliest of Prize Ring champions, Figg was also a expert in the use of swords, cudgels and quarterstaffs

Ancient Olympics
In the earliest times, a simple foot-race was the only event in the Ancient Olympics

Gotha Bomber
The German Gotha bomber : there were several variants of this plane, but this is probably the earliest, the G1. Later models carried out air raids on England

Spitfire at Start War
The Spitfire as it appears at the outbreak of World War Two, a magnificent machine which immediately proves its superiority in the earliest weeks of fighting

Kadesh Treaty, 1269 BC. Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty. Terra
Kadesh Treaty, 1269 BC. Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty between Ramesses II and Hattusilis III. Terracotta. Hittite version. From Hattusas (Bogazkoy). Archaeological Museum. Istanbul. Turkey

Earliest man tracked by tooth, discovery in Pliocene strata
The earliest man tracked by a tooth: an astounding discovery of human remains in Pliocene strata. An artists vision of Hesperopithecus (the ape-man of the western world) and contemporary animals

Crowded Shipping
The Royal Hospital from the river - though its hardly to be seen, the Thames is so congested with ships and boats, including one of the earliest steamboats

A map of the Colne Valley Cloth District
Pictorial map of the Colne Valley Cloth District in Yorkshire, drawn by the poster artist and designer Leslie MacDonald Gill the year before his death, in 1946

Advert for Columbia Grafonola
Advert for The Columbia Graphophone Company Limited (Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd.). It was one of the earliestA gramophoneA companies in theA United Kingdom

Henry III granting licence to dig coal in 1234. Different historical moments when coal was first noted to be used. The King is seen here giving permission to men in Newcastle to dig coal

Earliest practical reaper harvester invented by Rev Patrick Bell Date: 1828

Ypres Battlefield Markers and signs
Over the 40 years that we have been writing about these battlefields, there has been many attempts to signpost the places of interest

Old Newington Church
Sir William Patten, Lord of the Manor, built the present Old Church, bordering Clissold Park on the north side of Church Street, in 1563

Ypres Ramparts CWGC Cemetery seen across the moat
The earliest settlement in this area is thought to have been near Langemarck in about AD960 and gradually a cluster of villages grew up around the Yperlee

Terrific Apparition - Londons First Traffic Light 1869
Terrific Apparition - Seen during the recent fog at Westminster. A satire on Londons First Traffic Light. Invented by J P Knight, a railway signalling engineer

Joseph Chamberlain, as a Birmingham City councillor
Joseph Chamberlain, early portrait as a Birmingham City councillor. 19th century

MUSSOLINI / ROME SPEECH / 22
BENITO MUSSOLINI Italian dictator giving one of his earliest speeches on the entry of the Blackshirts into Rome Date: autumn 1922

EARLY MUSSOLINI SPEECH
Mussolini gives one of his earliest speeches after the entry of the Blackshirts into Rome Date: Oct / Nov 1922

TRADES UNION INITIATION
Initiation into a TRADE UNION - due to official hostility (unionists were perceived as revolutionaries) the earliest unions conducted themselves like secret societies Date: circa 1835

The Fortune Theatre
The Fortune, opened around 1600 by Philip Henslowe and Edward Alleyn was one of the celebrated and earliest Elizabethan theatres and stood between Whitecross Street and Golding Lane

Nonsuch House was a four-storey house on London Bridge, completed in 1579. It is the earliest documented prefabricated building

St Pauls chapter house
The chapter house of 1332 is believed by some to be the earliest use of Perpendicular Gothic in England, from a view by Hollar. Date: 19th century

Earliest known carved heads in Syria, at Tell Brak
The earliest known carved heads in Syria, found at Tell Brak. This page from the Illustrated London News in May 1939, reporting on excavations at Brak

Worlds oldest surviving photograph - Niepce
" Image of Chateau by Nicephore Niepce. He developed heliography, a technique used to produce this image, the worlds oldest surviving photograph in 1825 Date: 1825

Latvia - Liepaja - The Nicolai Gymnasium
Liepaja (Libau) - a city in western Latvia on the Baltic sea and the administrative center of Liepaja district. The largest city in the Kurzeme (Courland)

Felix Potin Shop
S Mikels branch of FELIX POTIN at Saint-Ambroix, Gard (France). The famous Potin shops were some of the earliest chain stores for groceries and general produce

Letter of patronage for Fogdo Abbey, july 1252, where
Letter of patronage for Fogdo Abbey, july 1252. Document where appears the earliest evidence of the name Stockholm. Medieval Museum. Stockholm. Sweden

Juan de la Cosa (1460-1509). Spanish navigator and cartographer. Portrait

Chart by Juan de la Cosa (1450-1510). Spain. Madrid. Mavy Museum

Early Christian art. Marble tombstone. Spain
Early Christian art. Marble tombstone. Relief fragment with flowers and vases. From Domus Ecclesiae or Merida basilica. Badajoz. Spain. Episcopal Museum. Vic. Catalonia

Syria. Ebla. Ruins of Ebla. Early Bronze Age 3rd millennium
Syria. Ebla. Ruins of Ebla. Eblan civilization, Early Bronze Age, 3rd millennium BC. Lower town. Ruins

Italy. Rome. Appian Way. 312 BC. Initiated by the censor Appius Claudius and completed by Augustus. Connected Rome with Brindisi

Ernst Moritz Arndt 2
ERNST MORITZ ARNDT Swedish-born German writer. This is the earliest known portrait. Date: 1769 - 1860

Sand Martin (Morris)
SAND MARTIN (Cotile riparia) One of the earliest migrants to arrive in Britain, usually by the third week of March. Date: 1851

Scouts / Early Camp 1908
Scouts at one of the earliest camps: some in uniform, some not Date: 1908-10

Scouts / Outside Tent 1908
A scout stands outside his tent at one of the earliest camps Date: 1908-10

Mary Baker Eddy / Earliest
MARY BAKER EDDY Founder of Christian Science: the earliest known picture of her, as a young woman Date: 1821 - 1910

Wurzburg Missal, 1470 - 2
Part of a page from the Wurzburg Missal, 1470, one of the earliest printed books Date: 1470

Wurzburg Missal, 1470 - 1
Part of a page from the Wurzburg Missal, 1470, one of the earliest printed books Date: 1470

Earliest Man
- Mama, is that papa ? Date: circa 30, 000 BC

North American P-51A Mustang-this earliest version, with its Allison engine, is seen in service with US forces operating out of Burma in 1942

Two Archeopteryx foraging on the shore.. Colour printed illustration by Heinrich Harder from Tiere der Urwelt Animals of the Prehistoric World, 1916, Hamburg

Portrait of Fulton. Engraving
FULTON, Robert (1765-1815). North-American nautical engineer. Inventor who developed the first commercially successful steamboat

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