Humanists knew that they were imitating the ancients when they sat and talked in libraries. But they knew little about what these lost collections looked like or included. After all, as Andrew Hui points out, even library terminology was slippery. Bibliotheca could refer to anything from a single compendious book, such as the Scriptures, to a single cabinet or a whole collection. Monasteries had large, sunny scriptoria (‘writing rooms’) where the monks created splendid codices. But the books themselves were generally stored rather than displayed. Monks borrowed them for use in their cells.
Over the years, I have seldom felt inclined to fuss much about food or fashion. There are too many people starving to worry about the freshness of truffles. But what Besha Rodell is talking about is not fussiness but quality: she and her husband could have had an easier life by settling for the same old. There are plenty of expensive restaurants that don’t do anything special.
Rodell has spent decades trying to find the others and, in so doing, has stood up against the homogenisation and commodification of our basic appetites. She knows the difference between image and substance.
We have all read — or at least heard of — epistolary novels. “The Wonder and Happiness of Being Old” is the first epistolary memoir I have come across. Memoir might be the wrong word. Sophy Burnham’s new book is an expression of her personal philosophy as well as a description of parts of her life.
“The Roma: A Travelling History” is a fascinating look at a marginalized and misunderstood group of people who have encountered hostility for centuries.
Written by Madeline Potter, a scholar of 19th century Gothic literature, the new book recounts how members of the group long have been maligned, enslaved, deported and murdered.