Book collecting is an absolute joy. It is a reasonable way to store value (prices probably won’t go down, might go up). And there are so many mysteries: Palimp

Book collecting is an absolute joy. It is a reasonable way to store value (prices probably won’t go down, might go up). And there are so many mysteries: Palimpsests, marginalia, and simply unwritten history. For instance, I’ve got a copy of “Natural Magick” mentioned — which is this fascinating connection between science and magic. Or, my favorite book, De Mysteriis by Marsilio Ficino (1497). Like much work in Neo-Latin, the book has never been translated to English—-despite being written by the guy who is famous for translating Plato (and many other classics) for the Medicis, and helping to spark the intellectual renaissance. Turns out that between Google Lens and GPT4, all the books in my collection can now be translated!!