Art credits

Interior of a Library — Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902)

The Lightning (L'Éclair) — Alexandre Antigna (1817–1878)

A Scholar in his Study ("Faust") — Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669)

UBHD Cod. Sal. IX,58, fol. 106r (heraldic coat of arms) — Franz Rasso Gotthardt

A sea perch. Etching. — Wellcome Collection

Great Comet of 1577 — Georgium Jacobum von Datschitz

Das Auge des Gesetzes (Justitia) — Carl Spitzweg (1808–1885)

Nude Man Running (motion study) — Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904)

Pieter van der Aa - Java (1720) — Pieter van der Aa

'Distillatio', scene in an alchemist's laboratory — Philipp Galle (engraver), after Jan van der Straet

An advertisement for a maker of glass instruments: showing thermometers, hour-glasses, and barometers — Wellcome Collection

Tom Chist and the Treasure Box (figure 1) — Howard Pyle (1853–1911)

Knight at the Crossroads (Витязь на распутье) — Viktor Vasnetsov (1848–1926)

The Thinker (Le Penseur) — Auguste Rodin (1904 cast), The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Crystal Ball — John William Waterhouse (1849–1917)

Tail-piece of Lady and Pigeon Post, from Yarrell's History of British Birds (1843) — William Yarrell (author); illustrated by Alexander Fussell; engraved by John Thompson

The Dead-Letter Office at Washington — Theodore R. Davis (1840–1894), published in Harper's Weekly

A 19th Century Apothecary Jar for Rhubarb — Stephencdickson

The Conjurer, ca. 1502 — Follower of Hieronymus Bosch (Bosch, c. 1450–1516)

Sagitta (the Arrow constellation), from Uranometria — Johann Bayer (engraved by Alexander Mair), 1603

Rebecca at the Well (Eliezer and Rebecca) — Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665)

The Ghost of a Flea — William Blake (1757–1827)

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer) — Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840)