elegance

I'm not really much of a history person: I haven't studied it since I was about 13, and for the most part it leaves me cold but for all that, there are certain aspects of turn of the century history (meaning 19th-20th of course, not 20th-21st) which I find oddly compelling, specifically those relating to a sense of the time which I think is best described as 'early industrial optimism'.

At work I'm recataloguing our history section amongst other things, and I've reached 941.08 (which covers British history from the turn of the century) where we have a few texts on the impact of industrialisation. As per usual I'm spending as much time leafing through the books as I am cataloguing (it's hard to be surrounded by this much information all day and not want to soak some of it up!) and so found myself skimming an old Open University textbook called Industrialisation & Culture 1830-1914. Believe it or not there are some fascinating insights in it but in my whistle-stop tour of the topic the thing which struck me most was an image of this fine vessel*.

Why is it that we don't build things with any majesty to them these days? sure, by every reasonable measure the 300ft paddle steamer Columba is hugely inferior to her modern day descendents, but.. well ... look at them: squat functional uninspiring lumps. I'd bet good money that there's not a thing afloat with a fraction of Columba's poise and grace, which seems a shame to me.

*incidentally I'm quite tickled by the fact that in a few short seconds I could find an exhaustive online gallery of paddle steamers (why? why not!) containing several images of this relatively obscure old ship. Modern times might fall short in terms of awe inspiring industrial design, but when it comes to information we've got it licked!