Heavier Reading (in at least one sense of the word)

Today I would like to provide a light review of a book that was literally very heavy, and content-wise somewhat heavy, but that I still recommend.

Back in February, I first heard about Christopher de Hamel via Boing Boing, which shared a video of him with the header: "This medieval manuscript archivist is working his dream job and it shows"; and it certainly does! I was interested enough to get the book out of the library, at a time when I was reading less and less as I prepared for the big move.

The book is a brick, heavy and chock-full of illustrations.

I looked through it and read just enough to see that I would be interested to read the whole thing, in that mythical future time when I had time, so I added it to my list and returned it to the library. Last month, I got it out of the library here, and although my interest in these manuscripts is miles below his, and I did skim a bit here and there, I read most of it, for his sense of humor and perspective as much as for the topic itself.

For instance, when he was planning a trip to Russia to see one manuscript, and he was applying for his travel visa, he considered, since the book in this case was a treatise on armaments and warfare, giving his purpose as "gaining access to government department to inspect manual on armaments and military strategy," but in the end, went with "tourism" instead.

I could also wince for his pain when he took home a pair of cotton gloves given to him at one of the libraries to wear during his examination, treasuring that they were covered in the actual dust and dirt from this actual ancient manuscript, only to have his wife come across them and throw them into the laundry.

Speaking as an editor, I was touched to see, in illustration of a manuscript that was corrected (not recently, but long ago), a note that the corrector had mistakenly not erased, which said, "corrected as far as this" in Latin. Brother! You did that then, too, eh? (I try very hard not to leave in comments I have made to myself on a document. The writer isn't going to understand why there is a comment that simply says, "to here.")

At all events, it isn't something that everyone wants to read, I totally understand that, but if you're at all interested, I encourage you to see if your library carries it.