Walk through any antique market today and you will almost certainly pick up something that puzzles you completely. It has a handle, or a blade, or a clever hinge, and yet no one around you can explain ...

Thomas Crane, Interior of card, Marcus Ward (1880) (all cards from the collection of Peter Wadham, courtesy Patricia Zakreski) 1880 card by Helen Cordelia Angell, probably published by Marcus Ward ...

Object lessons : Introduction to the vignettes / Wayne Modest and Tim Barringer -- The Cruickshank lock, circa1838 / Wayne Modest -- Ralph Turnbull, table, circa1830-40 / John Cross -- A tread-mill ...