BL
Over the course of the past month, I've been in the British Library quite a bit. It really is a pretty cool place to do research, despite the somewhat inconvenient hours (and inconvenient for me essentially means that it isn't open 24/7). But it is pretty inspiring to walk by the Codex Sinaiticus (the oldest codex of the Bible, which some German guy stole from Greek monks 150 years ago), the Codex Alexandrinus (the 3rd oldest codex of the Bible which the Patriarch of Constantinople GAVE to the King of England :(...the Catholics have #2 in case you were wondering), and the 3rd oldest Koran in the world on my way to do a day's research.
The way the BL works is that you can enter the reading rooms (which you need to get a reader's card to enter) with your computer, and papers and pencils (only) in a clear plastic bag. Everything else (including your jacket) has to stay in a locker downstairs. Then you order whichever books you want on their card. Like the Library of Congress, they have nearly everything. Though their collection goes much deeper. This should give you some idea of just how far back their collection goes. (search for "de Administrando Imperio" and look at the oldest entries) And yes, I ordered one of those.
Pretty amazing to hold a book that old in your hands, and even more interesting how they've restored it. It's not only completely rebound, but each page is somehow chemically bonded to newer paper so it is still like a new book and not flimsy (think of the consistency of the pages in a 50 year old old King James Bible...that is what it would be like if they didn't do this).
I don't know what they would do if someone actually ordered up the Codex Sinaiticus... Probably direct you to the digital version that they have of it. But there are plenty of other manuscripts that they have (which I didn't order b/c I assumed it would be a hassle and they are tough to read).
Finally, and most importantly, there are many people there doing research, and I was getting depressed at the dwindling numbers of them as the summer progressed. Yeah I started a bit too late, I should have been there in June instead of the end of July... I was particularly bummed by the exodus of girls doing their work in there. One might think that there wouldn't be very cute girls doing research there, but one would be very wrong. Then there is the "BL multiplier effect."
A girl in the BL is already 2x as attractive as she would normally be. A girl in the rare books room (where I can be found) is 4x as attractive as she would normally be. A girl actually reading a rare book is yet 8x hotter. An East Asian girl reading 16th century treatise in Latin in the rare book room of the BL is, my apologies to Brazilian beaches and the French Riviera, off the charts...
The way the BL works is that you can enter the reading rooms (which you need to get a reader's card to enter) with your computer, and papers and pencils (only) in a clear plastic bag. Everything else (including your jacket) has to stay in a locker downstairs. Then you order whichever books you want on their card. Like the Library of Congress, they have nearly everything. Though their collection goes much deeper. This should give you some idea of just how far back their collection goes. (search for "de Administrando Imperio" and look at the oldest entries) And yes, I ordered one of those.
Pretty amazing to hold a book that old in your hands, and even more interesting how they've restored it. It's not only completely rebound, but each page is somehow chemically bonded to newer paper so it is still like a new book and not flimsy (think of the consistency of the pages in a 50 year old old King James Bible...that is what it would be like if they didn't do this).
I don't know what they would do if someone actually ordered up the Codex Sinaiticus... Probably direct you to the digital version that they have of it. But there are plenty of other manuscripts that they have (which I didn't order b/c I assumed it would be a hassle and they are tough to read).
Finally, and most importantly, there are many people there doing research, and I was getting depressed at the dwindling numbers of them as the summer progressed. Yeah I started a bit too late, I should have been there in June instead of the end of July... I was particularly bummed by the exodus of girls doing their work in there. One might think that there wouldn't be very cute girls doing research there, but one would be very wrong. Then there is the "BL multiplier effect."
A girl in the BL is already 2x as attractive as she would normally be. A girl in the rare books room (where I can be found) is 4x as attractive as she would normally be. A girl actually reading a rare book is yet 8x hotter. An East Asian girl reading 16th century treatise in Latin in the rare book room of the BL is, my apologies to Brazilian beaches and the French Riviera, off the charts...
posted by akrites @ 2:09 PM
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