Short Post and Break Announcement

 

Today, Monday, was filled with archival reading, first at the Royal College of Physicians and then at the British Library.  I have no words to describe the awesomeness of the precious treasures I was handling today.  However, I realized this morning that I've been spending so much time filling my entire days with activity and my entire nights with recording activities (2 blogs, facebook, and a written journal - in order to preserve every memory in every way possible) that I wasn't really prepared for the readings I was undertaking today.  I also ended up so tired in the British Library that I couldn't physically keep my eyes open to read, so I am going to have to take a break from posting for a few days.  Once I get to Winchester and Oxford (later this week) things will slow down a lot.  I don't have nearly as much planned there.  Speaking of Oxford, I haven't taken time to research and request the items I wish to consult at the Bodleian, and that's really what I'm here for is research, so I really need to get my head on straight and make time for that.  I was doing so well - blogging the "day of" and then one day late, and now it's May 9, but the events I last blogged about happened on May 6.  It's definitely time to get my time and activity level under control.  

I think I can't end without posting a few more pictures, but I also kind of want to hold off until I can discuss them fully - but because I can't hold back, here are a small handful:

Above is a book written by "my" mathematician Girolamo Cardano and owned and annotated by "my" mathematician John Dee.  My name is on the reader's card sticking out of the top.  You cannot imagine my joy connecting Dee and Cardano (who did meet in 1552) and also my own name by doing this reading.  (The book is Cardano's Libelli quinque and is in the collection of the Royal College of Physicians.)

Above is the title page of one of my favorite books of all time, the Mathemalogium of Andreas Alexander (1503).  This is also in the RCP collection.  I've written about it before in this blog (2 years ago) but found new things to write about, which will be coming up!

Today is the first time I consulted the book above, Girolamo Cardano's Three Books of Consolation.  Even though I was so tired I wanted to put my head down right there and take a nap, I read almost every word of this book.  It's AMAZING!  It is now tied for favorite with the book above.  More about it when I do a full post about today. (This is in the British Library, and the shelf-mark is 8405.a.9)