As mentioned two posts ago, as well as posting about mathematicians I do post about important libraries and museums. I had the amazing privilege today of reading in the Royal College of Physicians, London. I read books that had belonged to John Dee, that had been part of his incredibly famous library. I'll say a little bit here about Dee and his library, but I'm trying to hold back a bit, as I will be writing quite a lot about his life, his work, and his library over a large number of posts in the next couple of months.
The Royal College of Physicians came to be in possession of books from John Dee's library through a rather circuitous route. (As I'm writing at the moment I'm stating this from memory and will correct it later if there are errors.) Dee was a great lover of and collector of books. He even wrote to Queen Mary I of England, encouraging her to create a national library (at a time when so very many books were being lost . . . but more on this anon). She didn't take him up on his plea, and so he, personally, in his fervor for having and preserving knowledge, amassed the largest library in all of England. Sadly, while he was travelling on the continent between 1583 and 1588 with his scrier, Edward Kelley, his library was ransacked. Thankfully, he had taken 800 of his favorite books with him (I can relate to wanting my most precious books with me at all times - but by horse and cart across a continent?!?!). Of the 3000 books and manuscripts left behind, many were stolen. A great deal of those that were stolen somehow ended up in the library of Nicholas Saunders. You can see in the picture below a book belonging to John Dee but in which Nicholas Saunders had inscribed his own name and date over the name and date of John Dee. (Thank you to the Royal College of Physicians for allowing me to reproduce these images on my blog!)
After Saunders' death, his books passed directly (or through an unidentified person) to the Marquis of Dorchester, Henry Pierpoint, upon whose death his family gave them to the RCP, which is how the Royal College of Physicians has a collection of books initially belonging to a mathematician and magus.
Today as I read through books set aside for me based on our correspondence, I was privileged to have Rare Books and Special Collections Specialist Katie Birkwood sitting nearby ready to help me with any questions I had. She is so enthusiastic and so very knowledgeable about these books, about Dee, and about so much more! And she was so gracious as to have selected so many books for me that she felt I would find helpful. It was an amazing privilege to read at the RCP! Here is the part of the collection brought out for my consideration - of the 20 books here I only found time for 4 of them in the 5 hours that I was reading! Obviously there is much more to explore, and I am booked in again for Thursday.
Below I am including some images from my readings today. Again, I am holding back on content for now, but one thing to notice is Dee's "manicules," his doodles of hands with a finger pointing to an important point of text. Another thing that jumped out at me was how he indicated a few lines or a paragraph. See if you notice these things:
See the "manicule?"
Dee's Signature
Another Manicule (and who is Dee pointing out here?)
Two manicules on the same page
To mark off lines or paragraphs I use a straight, vertical line; Dee is a little fancier.
The triangle - or "delta" caught my eye - since Dee often used it as his name
I mentioned this mark to Katie, and she, ever so gently, pointed out the word "Delta" in the text.
Some of Dee's writing is very easy to read (above), and some of Dee's writing is very hard to read (below).
I found so much in my reading, but, again, I am holding back for now, so as to place items in context in the life and work of Dee as I move forward. Here is a five-minute video of an interview with Katie Birkwood about the John Dee exhibition that she curated four years ago, which, in part, sowed the seeds in me for this current sabbatical:
If interested, you can find more videos about Dee by Katie Birkwood by going to YouTube and doing a search using her name.
I've always wanted to visit the British Library and had never had a chance previously. This is my third visit to London, so I guess the third time really is the charm! Though I do post about important libraries and museums, most of my posts on this "mathsab" blog are about mathematicians and are for use as reference for my students. I was so excited to be at the British Museum and British Library, however, and was excited for so many reasons, that I've let this post become very personal. I think my liberal arts students will be OK with that - seeing a bit of music and literature and archaeology and geography - and also seeing that I too am interested in subjects beyond mathematics.
Precious books and permission to access them! Wahoo!
I love the inscription at the top of the card. I am here to do research, but I know I will find inspiration and enjoyment. In fact, that has already begun! The library itself is just jaw-droppingly beautiful, and, among other things, it has a very large exhibition room where anyone can wander in and see treasures from many fields: music, science, literature, geography, etc. I'll give a visual tour of the library and exhibitions first and then zoom in on what it was the drew me here very specifically.
The Terrace Restaurant
The following photographs are but the smallest sample of what is contained in the exhibition rooms.
God is Our Refuge (Mozart, age 9)
Earliest known printed world map to show America (an extension of Asia)
Jane Austen's writing desk with a letter to her brother Frank on top
Some of the Angria juvenilia by Charlotte Bronte
The Gondal Poems by Emily Bronte
Those of you who know me well are probably surprised I was capable of taking pictures of the above Bronte works rather than fainting dead away from excitement! Are you kidding me?! Emily Bronte's poetry in her own hand! (I can't help but think how upset Emily was when her sister Charlotte got into her things and discovered these poems. Emily was so private, yet here this is on display for all the world to see . . . of course they had ended up publishing after that episode, so . . .)
And above we have the philatelic collections, and below we have books, books, BOOKS!!!
OK, so certainly all of the above was way more than enough to draw me here! But I am actually traveling on sabbatical to study The Sorcerer Mathematicians of the Renaissance, and I was here for Dee, John Dee.
I wish I could show pictures here of this scroll unrolled. I may be able to in a later post; I just need to write the permissions department at the library and get an OK first. It contains the genealogies of John Dee and Queen Elizabeth I (hence their relationship to each other, which Dee was trying to promote as he sought position at court), and these lines of descent go all the way back to King Arthur and his father King Uther Pendragon! The scroll is filled with beautiful calligraphy, paintings of heraldic shields, and a self-portrait by Dee (thought to be the only extant contemporary likeness of him). I touched and handled this scroll, hand-drawn in the 16th century by John Dee. I know I'm repeating myself, but I can't stress strongly enough how surprised I was to be able to access this scroll. Dee has become a very popular cult/occult figure, and this scroll is well over 400 years old. It just goes to show you what kinds of doors can open to a math professor on sabbatical, and I am humbled and privileged in this!
*****
After that I almost can't write about anything else, but later that evening I also went to the British Museum. Here too the focus was Dee. I had already seen Dee's items on display at the Royal College of Physicians four years ago, but I wanted to see them in their usual home - different display, might hit me differently, who knows. I'm going to wait to share pictures of that display, but I will share other images of and from the British Museum.
King Nebuchadnezzar II's Babylon
Mummies
I don't usually spend too much time in the Egyptian section. It's amazing and everything, but the history goes back so many thousands of years that my brain can't process it, and I end up feeling like I've fallen into a black hole!
I do always gravitate to two items when I am at the British Museum: The Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. In the first picture below I'm actually wearing a shirt that I just bought that has the Rosetta Stone on it, but the lighting is such that you'll just have to take my word for it. (I don't normally buy souvenirs, but for this I made an exception! It'll be a good shirt to wear in my classroom when I'm teaching multiplication with Egyptian numerals!)
OK, I know some of you do read Greek. How ya doin' with the lower script in the image below?
Elgin Marbles:
Why did I not realize that the actual original of the Royal Game of Ur would be on display? This was another moment of nearly fainting.
The Babylonian tablet below contains directions for the game - the earliest known set of directions for a board game - and it was museum curator Dr. Irving Finkel who painstakingly translated the directions and therefore revived this once universal game!
In the following YouTube Dr. Finkel talks a little bit about this discovery and translation. He is a hero of mine, and I was keeping my eyes open hoping to see him at the British Museum! (But then I really would have fainted - though only after getting a selfie with him!)
And may I just say, DR. FINKEL, SIR, YOU ROCK!!!!
OK, I don't know where to go from there, so I'll stop. That was an awful lot of excitement in one day! I'm posting this on my fourth day, and I have no idea how I'm going to keep up with this! There is just too much awesome stuff!
