A 19th-Century Vision of the Jahr 2000 

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A series of futuristic pictures by Jean-Marc Côté and other artists issued in France in 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1910. Originally in the form of paper cards enclosed in cigarette/cigar boxes and, later, as postcards, the images depicted the world as it was imagined to be like in the then distant year of 2000. As is so

often the case their predictions fell some way off the mark, failing to go far enough in thinking outside the confines of their current technological milieu (hence the ubiquity of propellors, not to mention the distinctly 19th-century dress).

There are at least 87 cards known that were authored by various French artists, the first series being produced for the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. Due to financial difficulties the cards by Jean-Marc Côté were never actually distributed and only came to light many years later after the science-fiction author Isaac Asimov chanced upon a set and published them in 1986, with accompanying commentary, in the book

Futuredays: A Nineteenth Century Vision of the Year 2000

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Tags: future history, postcards, france, Isaac Asimov

In this section of the site we bring you curated collections of images, books, audio and film, shining a light on curiosities and wonders from a wide range of online archives. With a leaning toward the surprising, the strange, and the beautiful, we hope to provide an ever-growing cabinet of curiosities for the digital age, a kind of hyperlinked

– an archive of materials which truly celebrates the breadth and variety of our shared cultural commons and the minds that have made it. Some of our most popular posts include visions of the future from late 19th century France, a dictionary of Victorian slang and a film showing the very talented “hand-farting” farmer of Michigan. With each post including links back to the original source we encourage you to explore these wonderful online sources for yourself. Check out our Sources page to see where we find the content.

Wonderful series of miniatures from a late 12th-century herbal with delightfully abstract depictions of plants including Cannabis), and a variety of medieval medical procedures, such as cauterization and the removal of haemorrhoids. …Continued

The Trouvelot Astronomical Drawings published in 1882, a collection of 15 exquisite pastel works created by the French artist, astronomer and amateur entomologist Étienne Léopold …Continued

Coming in at almost 400 pages, a wonderfully detailed account of a balloon trip over Chester in 1785, including the first ever real overhead aerial …Continued

Depictions spanning more than 800 years – in chronological order – of that most enigmatic of weather phenomena, the rainbow. …Continued

A delightfully focused study on the physics and aesthetics of a splashing drop, wit some wonderful diagrams. …Continued

Illustrations of cacti featured in a 19th-century work by French botanist Charles Lemaire. …Continued

True to the ideas held within — that blue light is bearer of unique and special properties — this book is entirely printed with blue …Continued

A device which promises to secure the zest which accompanies the pleasant pastime of buffeting surf. …Continued

A popular Victorian parlour toy, generally marketed for children, which is widely considered to be among the earliest forms of animation and the precursor to …Continued

A mother brings her baby to Professor Bakem\'s newly invented baby incubator, which claims to give one year\'s of growth in just one hour, but …Continued

The varied tradition of alchemy has given birth to a whole host of strange and wondrous imagery over the centuries. Here we pick out some favourites. …Continued

Punch magazine\'s vision of the smartphone zombie from 1906. …Continued

I really like the ambitious thinking and innocence of the artist… specially, alot of things being done underwater or in the air… looking at the real estate prices, space crunch and global traffic situation… it’s so very apt!

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Great post! is really impressive view this pictures :O

It’s easy to laugh. And just as easy to marvel: mechanized warfare, campers, the Roomba, aerial warfare, scuba, the synthesizer, it’s all there. Just….with real physics. And I’m afraid war didn’t turn out to be so…jolly.

I think some of them actually exists 🙂

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He imagined 2000 would look like a steampunk-esque world which is cool.

Thank you for putting this together. A modern, wildest of futuristic views is disclosed by Jacques Cousteau, in his book The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus: http://llavealhighway.com/book-review-the-human-the-orchid-and-the-octopus-by-jacques-cousteau/

The artist just improved stuff they already had, and did the artist also think we would keep wearing the same clothing styles for 100 years, lmao!

And most of this stuff was invented 50 years ago, lol

Some of them are, at least from the concept, not that wrong. Look at the eagle-robbers. Just a little imagination and you see the wingsuits from basejumpers. Also the ability of a single man to farm complete fields are, even when not in the form seen here, possible today. The fighting cars and plans are, just a little bit more aerodanemic and safer, in use, the same as luxus campers.

We should put more nature inspiration in to newest technologies;)

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I want to know the update of some Best lgg5 cases..

does anyone know what size these were?

Cigarette cards are roughly 2 by 3 inches. Postcards from that era were 5 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches.

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