Manuscripts of Copernicus (2009)

The background of the inside cover is covered with a crimson floral-patterned fabric. On top of this cloth is a reproduction of the painting “Monna Pomona” by Rossetti. Below this is a color photo from a factory at night and a list of words and phrases describing parts of a city. On the right and left side of the Rossetti painting are illustrations from Greek mythology. On the left is Theseus and the Minotaur and on the right is Pandora. Below these illustrations are images of musical instruments and sheet music. The frame is covered with text from pages from the encyclopedia set from which this book originally came. In the top half of the frame, the background is a cityscape of an American city. Centered and at the top is a square of red felt with a plastic eyeball pasted atop. To the left of the eyeball is a narrow, vertical piece of colored glass with a narrow photograph of a man digging with a pickax. At the base of this piece of glass is the raggedy head of a stuffed bird. On the right of this top section is a sprig of plastic flowers coming out of a green, hexagonal cylinder. And lying at the bottom of the section is a torn piece of leather from a book cover which says “History of the…” The right and left side panels of this section show men wearing shirts and ties and holding some sort of manufactured object. In the top panel is an etching illustration demonstrating the medical incisions of a forearm, exposing the arteries and veins. The bottom section is covered with a colored postcard of a landscaped Florida park with an inch-square window cut in the middle, revealing part of an etching illustration. This postcard is a flap that opens downward revealing the interior of this bottom section. In the center is the full illustration of what was partially revealed through the small square window. It is an illustration of two 18th-century men sitting at a table drinking. This illustration is on a tile which itself can be removed, revealing another interior. This interior box contains a set of collaged cards wrapped with a toy $500 bill. In the background of this central box is a black-and-white photo of a small theatre as seen from the back of the stage. To the left and right of this box are two small vials. Inside the bottom third of each vial are color illustrations of bees and their comb. Atop these illustrations and inside the vials, pinned to a bed of cotton, are disembodied toy plastic heads. In the background of the compartment where the vials are placed, are dictionary clippings from the R section. Mirrors are on either side of this lower compartment.