I've decided to list them chronologically, [not by size or language or (God forgive me, Importance) or Price, or where they are on my shelf....while slightly arbitrary, it has some sense to it, I hope.] Please enjoy. Happy Holidays and... Continue Reading →
§§ “Happy is he who has discovered the causes of things and has cast beneath his feet all fears, unavoidable fate, and the din of the devouring Underworld.” VIRGIL 5). 393J Lucretius THE LAST BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALDUS . Venice:... Continue Reading →
It is always good to think about the presocratics Anaximander and Thales …..”Philosophical man is a “new cultural configuration” based in stepping back from “pregiven tradition” and taking up a rational “inquiry into what is true in itself;” that is, an ideal of truth. It begins with isolated individuals such as Thales, but they are supported and cooperated with as time goes on. Finally the ideal transforms the norms of society, leaping across national borders.
Hey, Alexa, what’s the origin of scientific thinking?
In the 6th century BC, Miletus may have been a small Greek city on the Ionian coast, but some people there were thinking big ideas. Thales has widely been regarded as the father of philosophy, even though most of us today remember him for his theorem. More important than his personal contribution to thinking and the history of philosophy, however, was the establishment of a school of thought indebted to him: the Milesian school, home to the first Presocratic thinkers. The philosopher Anaximander, also from Miletus, was one of Thales’ closest disciples – and a name Alexa should be well-acquainted with.
The history of science in the West starts with the Milesian school and with Anaximander. The latter is said to have produced the first map of the known world, the archetype of all subsequent mappaemundi, Europe at the top, Asia…
View original post 167 more words
In a contemporary binding Signed by the binder. Nicolaus Seman of Erfurt 437J Augustine, Aurelius. (Comm: Thomas Waleys or Valois and Nicolaus Trivet ) Basel: Michael Wenssler [and Bernhard Richel] March 25, 1479. $26,000 Royal Folio: 46.2 x 33 cm. [A very large... Continue Reading →
Charles Cotton 1630-1687 William Davenant, 1606-1668 Sir John Davies 1569-1626 John Donne. 1571/2-1631 Michael Drayton 1563-1631 Lord Brooke Fluke Greville 1554-1628 George Herbert (1593-1633) George Herbert (1593-1633) Benjamin Jonson ca. 1572-1637 Nicholas Ling, ed fl. ca. 1599 Nicholas Ling, ed fl. ca. 1599 Sir John Suckling 1609-1642 Robert Wild 1609-1679 118F Charles Cotton […]
367J Petrus de Rosenheim. (1380-1432). Nom probable : Petrus Wiechs [incipt Roseum memoriale divinorum eloquiorum] / [Köln] : [Southern Germany : n.pr., about 1480-90?] or [Cologne? : n.pr., about 1483] or [Ludwig von Renchen?], 1483 Deutschland (Oberrhein?). $13,000 Quarto (190... Continue Reading →
A very nice consideration of the early book!

There were only a few commodities more expensive to buy than a book in the medieval period. You could buy a horse or a mail coat for more than what you’d spend on an average bound book, but not much else. Buying an education was even more costly. In the 14th century, a year spent in a monastery school in England cost as much as buying a cottage. A degree at Oxford was one of the most costly things you could buy in late-medieval England outside real estate, political or ecclesiastical offices or military services.
Medieval books were wildly expensive to make, required time and were extremely valuable. Making a book was closer to the work of a jeweller than to that of an intellectual.
Medieval books were made from scratch. Ink was made from scratch. Parchment was made from scratch. Pens were made from scratch. Bindings were made from…
View original post 157 more words
"Day" doesn't seem to be an appropriate measure for time since March 8th 2020. But despite how things appear in my purview, there is an inescapable shared consensus of the passage of aurora and kalendar, creating an ever/never ending alterity... Continue Reading →
Tomas Vincent.(1634-1678.) GODS TERRIBLE VOICE IN THE CITY: wherein you have I. The sound of the voice, in the narration of the two late dreadful judgments of plague and fire, inflicted by the Lord upon the City of London, the... Continue Reading →
Recent Comments