5 ms·

Making and Knowing: A minimal edition of BnF Ms Fr 640 in Translation (c. 1600)

30 points by benbreen 8y ago

benbreen 8y ago
Just to give a little context for this submission, this a project that is based out of Columbia University (where I used to be a postdoc - I wasn't involved with it but knew some people who were). It can be thought of as a type of experimental history, in the sense that it involves actually reconstructing the techniques described in an early modern French "book of secrets." Things like learning how to create early modern perfumes, medicinal drugs, pigments, and alchemical preparations. What I linked to is the English translation of the book itself. The main project website has some more information about the alchemy lab aspect: http://www.makingandknowing.org http://www.makingandknowing.org Edit: as a random aside, I love the entry for "Training a dog": "You need to keep your dog attached; when it does what you command, to win its love, give it a piece of cheese which was held under the armpit. This cheese would be a bad drug if the master, or the apprentice, is red—haired." https://cu-mkp.github.io/GR8975-edition/texts/p131r_4/ https://cu-mkp.github.io/GR8975-edition/texts/p131r_4/
- weinzierl 8y ago
  Why is it a minimal edition"? What is minimal about it? Comparing it with the scan of the original (you can click on the paragraph number to view it) it doesn't look abridged.
  - benbreen 8y ago
    This page gets into it a little bit more: http://www.makingandknowing.org/?page_id=1653 http://www.makingandknowing.org/?page_id=1653 Minimal in this context just means that it isn't as feature rich as the online edition they're currently working on. "Using the English translation of Ms. Fr. 640 as the basic data set, students collaboratively created a minimal (i.e., limited, basic feature) digital edition by the end of the semester, effectively prototyping a design for the Project’s final digital critical edition."
codezero 8y ago
Too bad their Damascus steel entry didn’t go into more detail about the material or technique, only the water composition it is tempered in. There are interesting references to the origin of various qualities of steel and what shape they are in.
kazinator 8y ago
> But the following varnish does not remain damp like previous ones, which were made of linseed oil from Aux boiled with garlic to extinguish them and rid them of fat, and also with wheat. Ah, so the onion in the varnish was actually supposed to be garlic, and that was disused! It all makes so much sense now.

30 points by benbreen 8y ago

Just to give a little context for this submission, this a project that is based out of Columbia University (where I used to be a postdoc - I wasn't involved with it but knew some people who were). It can be thought of as a type of experimental history, in the sense that it involves actually reconstructing the techniques described in an early modern French "book of secrets." Things like learning how to create early modern perfumes, medicinal drugs, pigments, and alchemical preparations. What I linked to is the English translation of the book itself. The main project website has some more information about the alchemy lab aspect: http://www.makingandknowing.org http://www.makingandknowing.org Edit: as a random aside, I love the entry for "Training a dog": "You need to keep your dog attached; when it does what you command, to win its love, give it a piece of cheese which was held under the armpit. This cheese would be a bad drug if the master, or the apprentice, is red—haired." https://cu-mkp.github.io/GR8975-edition/texts/p131r_4/ https://cu-mkp.github.io/GR8975-edition/texts/p131r_4/

weinzierl 8y ago
Why is it a minimal edition"? What is minimal about it? Comparing it with the scan of the original (you can click on the paragraph number to view it) it doesn't look abridged.
- benbreen 8y ago
  This page gets into it a little bit more: http://www.makingandknowing.org/?page_id=1653 http://www.makingandknowing.org/?page_id=1653 Minimal in this context just means that it isn't as feature rich as the online edition they're currently working on. "Using the English translation of Ms. Fr. 640 as the basic data set, students collaboratively created a minimal (i.e., limited, basic feature) digital edition by the end of the semester, effectively prototyping a design for the Project’s final digital critical edition."

codezero 8y ago

Too bad their Damascus steel entry didn’t go into more detail about the material or technique, only the water composition it is tempered in. There are interesting references to the origin of various qualities of steel and what shape they are in.

kazinator 8y ago

> But the following varnish does not remain damp like previous ones, which were made of linseed oil from Aux boiled with garlic to extinguish them and rid them of fat, and also with wheat. Ah, so the onion in the varnish was actually supposed to be garlic, and that was disused! It all makes so much sense now.