Humans have long known that a special relationship exists between the diameter and circumference of a circle. As early as 2000 BCE, some had even found numbers to represent this relationship. By this date, the Babylonians knew that the circumference of a circle was always approximately 3 1/8 times larger than its diameter, while the […]
Author: tmette
πr², but Books are Rectangular
March 14, 2015
Three Euphonic Emmas
March 13, 2015
The Rare Book and Manuscript Library has finished processing an archival collection of French opera autographs donated by Illinois alumnus and operatic sound recording producer Robert Zarbock (’52). The Robert Zarbock collection of opera autographs [Post-1650 MS 0657] is largely composed of letters written by opera singers famous on the Parisian stage in the late-19th […]
Crypto-Judaism and the Festival of Esther.
March 12, 2015
Last week on our tumblr, we featured our copy of the Book of Esther to mark the beginning of Purim. When the Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478, many Jews outwardly converted to Catholicism but continued practicing Judaism in secret. Known as anusim, or crypto-Jews, they inserted certain Jewish traditions into Catholic practices. One such […]
Benson Lossing: artist, historian, author
February 20, 2015
In nineteenth century America, the study and scholarship of history was often seen as an avocation; a subject reserved for the wealthy or members of the political and cultural elite. The United States was a young and growing nation, with not much history of its own. The great historians of the age studied the Greeks, […]
Of Lice and Men: A Special “Robbie Burns’ Day” Post
January 25, 2015
Happy Robert Burns’ Day! In the spirit of good fun on this day that celebrates the great Scottish poet, we remind you of Burns’ poem “To a Louse” (1787). The brief poem addresses a louse, crawling upon a fine lady’s bonnet (“Ha! whaur ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie?”) and reminds us of our own little […]
Cataloging Cavagna! The man behind the collection
January 22, 2015
To celebrate the recent grant awarded to the Rare Book & Manuscript Library by the Council on Library and Information Resources, we are offering a little background on the man behind the collection, Count Antonio Sangiuliani di Cavagna. In the weeks to come, the Cavagna catalogers will be showcasing a “Cavagna of the Week” every […]
Happy Winnie the Pooh Day
January 18, 2015
Today, January 18th, marks the 133rd anniversary of the birth of Alan Alexander Milne. Fans around the world celebrate it as “Winnie-the-Pooh” Day, in honor of Milne’s most famous creation. Although most readers know Milne through his works for children, he also wrote a number of novels and highly successful plays. In fact, he began […]
Lessons from Lessing’s Nathan der Weise
January 16, 2015
We’re celebrating religious toleration day in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library with the first edition of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Nathan der Weise (1779)! This classic German play—written by a giant of German literature who was also, we are proud to say, a librarian—epitomizes the ideal of religious toleration through the dramatization of the Ring […]
Merry, Sparkly, and Bright!
December 18, 2014
It’s that time of year when houses and trees glow with holiday lights and, here in the Midwest at least, cars and windows boast thin layers of glimmering frost each morning. A few of the books in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library are getting a sparkly coating as well, thanks to a phenomenon known […]
Revolutionary Revolutions
November 24, 2014
When I was in elementary school, I had a small “Wheel of Presidents”—a device consisting of two cardstock circles affixed to each other in the center, one smaller, with a wedge-shaped cutout, and one larger, with miniature portraits of the U.S. presidents dotting its circumference. I don’t remember how I acquired it, but I do […]