Today I was booked in to read from the Dee library at the Royal College of Physicians. I did have opportunity to do this once before; I got one day in back in 2020 before all the libraries closed due to COVID and I had to head home far too early. It was so good to be back and to be working with Katie again, who is the special collections librarian. She not only helped me by "fetching" the books I needed but also with her huge amount of knowledge in this area - and even with interacting with me about the writing I want to do. I accessed again some of the books I had accessed before (the Alexander, the Cardano, and the Archimedes) but also others that my studies of Dee have led me to in the meantime (Copernicus/Rheticus, Frisius, Llull, Plotinus/Ficino, and Postel). I'll post just a couple of imagines from my RCP reading to give an idea.
The above is from the
Mathemalogium of Andreas Alexander (1503). Dee was reading this when he was imprisoned by Queen Mary I ("Bloody" Mary). The writing he did in the margins of this book is very neat, and I always imagine that is because he had time on his hands! On this page he makes a correction to the printed text. Here is a square with sides of length 4 (given in Roman Numerals as iiij) and a diagonal given as having length 32 (written xxxij), but rather than 32, it should be the square root of 32. The symbol in front of xxxij is handwritten by Dee, an old form of the square root symbol.
The book above connects two of "my" mathematicians. It was written by Cardano but owned by Dee, and used by Dee as a textbook of astrology (which was an expected area of learning for a scholar at that time - at least one working with math and astronomy - and often for physicians as well, since astrology tied into diagnoses). Cardano and Dee eventually met (1552), but Dee most likely had this book prior to that and was using it to learn from during his time in the Low Countries. You can see Dee's writing on the left-hand page (neater on some days than others). I included this picture because it involves both Dee and Cardano, but my name is here too -- on the slip of paper sticking out of the top of the book. Am I ever in august company!!
I walked from the RCP to the British Library - about a 20-minute walk. Along the way I found this business area with some little restaurants, and I definitely needed a lunch break! Tucked way in the back corner was a little Italian Café and also some rather fun seating. I think this is "Regent's Place."
As I resumed my journey to the British Library, I saw what is in the following two pictures. Can you tell what they are before scrolling further?
A quick peek, and then onward to the British Library. I had spent more time at the RCP than planned because I found out the British Library was open until 8pm. Yea!
Pencils only in the reading room. Everything else goes in the locker. (Cameras are OK for many items.) I took a picture to make sure I'd remember which locker my stuff was in!
I'd been particularly excited to access the Jacopo Silvestri book from Dee's library. It is the second book on cryptography ever printed (1526) and was bought in Venice by Dee in 1563. The shelf mark is 556.b.20. When I first opened the book I thought they'd given me the wrong thing. It turns out there are two books bound together - despite having nothing to do with each other - the book I wanted was at the back. The book at the front was a 1620 book on sign language, which was interesting too!
I also consulted a Cardano book here at the British Library - one that I had requested in 2020 and was booked in to see, but the library closed due to COVID before I got a chance to do so.
I love this book! I ended up reading almost the entire thing. I'm interested in it, of course, because it is written by Cardano, but it also has pretty "famous" connections. It seems that Shakespeare must have been very familiar with it, as much of his "To Be Or Not To Be" soliloquy are almost word-for-word from this book. I took so many pictures of it that I'm having a hard time finding exactly the ones I want to illustrate this, but notice the end of the second page here: "Seeing then men die with such ease, what can Death be better compared to than a Dream." And in Hamlet's soliloquy we have, " 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; to sleep, perchance to dream - " I realize this is a pretty common sentiment, but there are many more connections here, closer connections. Also, it is thought that just before that scene, when Polonius comes upon Hamlet in the library and asks Hamlet what he is reading, and Hamlet says, "Words, words, words" that the book Hamlet is holding in his hand is this book of Cardano. Personally, I found the book quite compelling and helpful, as it says on the title page, "Of great use in these times," well, in great use in this time too, I think.
Precious treasures:
Fun fact - there's actually a little mystery here. The date (bottom of spine) on the Silvestri book is 1616, but I know it to have been published in 1526. Additionally, the inscription on the inside that is written in John Dee's hand indicates that he purchased it in 1563 in Venice. Well, that is impossible if it was published in 1616 (which is 7 years after his death!). When I was back at the RCP the next day, I mentioned it to Katie, and she thought about the dates and realized almost immediately that in Roman numerals there is only one symbol difference between 1526 and 1616, so an easier mistake in that system than in ours, using MDCXVI instead of the correct MDXXVI. The only difference is an X vs. a C.
