Glad you enjoyed your brief visit, Noah. I'm sure that
if you wrote to the British Museum itself they would
be able to tell you at any rate some facts about the
black obsidian mirror -- where and when it was found,
who donated it to them, what grounds there are for
thinking it belonged to Dee, etc. They could probably
refer you to articles in art/archaeology journals
giving further discussion.
Jacqueline
--- Noah Gardiner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I've just returned to a snowy and very cold
> Providence after my
> too-brief visit to London and wanted to thank
> everyone again for their
> recommendations. I was unfortunately unable to visit
> Treadwell's as my
> flight from Copenhagen (the first stop on my trip)
> got snowed-in and I
> was only in town on the exact days the shop was
> closed. I did however
> get to visit Watkin's and also the Atlantis
> Bookshop, where I had a very
> nice chat with Geraldine Beskin. Other than that I
> made the required
> pilgrimages to the Sigil Dei Aemeth at the British
> Museum and the Blake
> room at the Tate. I'm very curious about the
> provenance of the black
> mirror in the Dee exhibit and was wondering if
> anyone knew any details
> re its alleged Aztec origins.
>
> Ms. Beskin was of the firm opinion that the UK was
> the logical place to
> pursue academic studies in the history of magic. She
> mentioned the new
> program at Exeter of course but she also said some
> people at the
> University of London, including a Peter Forshaw
> (sp?), were doing work
> in the field. If anyone knows more about programs in
> the UK or has any
> feedback re the Exeter program I'd be very
> interested to hear it. I'm
> always curious as to the curriculum vitae of people
> who have pursued
> academic work in the fields of WES, ASM, etc. As I
> mentioned previously
> I'm plotting (and conjuring) to spend a year in
> Cairo doing intensive
> work on Arabic and research into Arab magic once I
> finish here at Brown
> next year, but after that my plans are very
> open-ended.
>
> I also wanted to mention that the John Hay Library
> here at Brown has not
> one but two major collections of texts and
> paraphenalia re magic which
> are impressive and under-publicized. The Damon
> collection includes a
> 1659 copy of Causabon's _A True and Faithful
> Relation..._ and a first
> printing of Spare's _Book of Pleasure_, among
> hundreds of other rare
> manuscripts. The library is worth a visit if you're
> in the area and the
> directory can be searched at
> http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/
> .
>
> Yours,
> Noah Gardiner
>
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