Summer 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Moon landings. Earth’s only satellite has been humankind’s constant companion, and its regular phases of waxing and waning inspired some of the earliest ways of measuring time and setting calendars. Its gravitational forces combine with those of the Sun and with the rotation of the earth to create the tides, setting the biological rhythms of sea creatures and the conditions of human navigation.
Depictions of the Moon go back thousands of years and it has played a part in many cultures’ mythologies and religious beliefs and practices; the Moon has also inspired artists and poets from Shakespeare to Shelley. To celebrate one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind, we present a selection of images drawn from College Library and the College Collections.
Phases of the moon from Galileo Galilei, Opere, Bologna, 1656. ECL Gb.4.09-10Evie Hone, detail of stained glass in College Chapel, East Window, 1954. FDA-A.398:1/A1-2017Woodcut by Inger Lawrence from The seafarer, Old Stile Press, 1988. ECL Ie.9.04Watercolour by Arthur C. James, Midsummer night practice for Jubilee parade, 1877. FDA-D.1460-2016A lunar eclipse in Konrad Lykosthenes, Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon, Basel, 1557. ECL Gc.3.20Wood-engraving by John Petts from Dylan Thomas, The Laugharne poems, Old Stile Press, 2003. ECL Lt.4.16The goddess Luna as a Roman herm head: drawing in the Topham collection, ca. 1710—1730. ECL-Bm.5_1-2012Engraving by William Blake from Robert Blair, The grave: a poem. London, 1808. ECL Lm.3.03Phases of the moon from Galileo Galilei, Opere, Bologna, 1656. ECL Gb.4.09-10Barry Mason, Half Moon. Watersculpture in Portland stone and stainless steel, 1999. FDA-Sc.89-2018Woodcut by James Guthrie in the summer number of The elf: a sequence for the seasons, Old Bourne Press, 1902-1904. ECL Lo.2.54 – Lo.2.57Kneeler in College Chapel, Memorial Chapel: Solomon’s Temple flanked by Sun and Moon, c.1959 – 1964. FDA-A.510:1/2-2017Back cushion for stone seat in College Chapel, Memorial Chapel, with emblems: well with moon and trees. FDA-A.510:2/2-2017Phases of the moon from Galileo Galilei, Opere, Bologna, 1656. ECL Gb.4.09-10Phases of the moon from Galileo Galilei, Opere, Bologna, 1656. ECL Gb.4.09-10
