Eclectic Research

 I've said it before, and will no doubt say it again - writers have a lot in common with magpies. Snappers up of unconsidered trifles. (Shakespeare - The Winter's Tale) At the moment I am collecting a lot of random and not so random bits and bobs that is WIM not WIP (work in mind rather than work in progress. But thinking and collecting time is part of the process. )

As the current work is going to lean heavily into Dark Academia - a least. I hope it will - it's a new area for me, so it is going to be an adventure. Can I do it? I can but try. Anyway, an essential ingredient of DA is a library - and I am certainly going to have one of those. So now I am collecting bookish things. Ideas of the people who will study there, and the topics they might study are gently piling up, but what about the books themselves? I'm already wondering if I can find a place for a book with arsenic in the cover. I found out about those courtesy of a reel, I think it was a reel, I'm not well up on those things, from the Wellcome Trust library. That one is in the magpie bank. One thing I am planning to included is a chained library - or at least a chained book case, where the books are fastened in place so that they can be studied but cannot be removed. 

In the interests of research last week I visited the chained library that is attached to Hereford Cathedral. It's the oldest intact one in the world, still with original chains, rods and locks, established in 1611, but with books and manuscripts that are much older, the earliest dating from 780. The cathedral also houses a copy of the Mappa Mundi and the whole site is well worth a visit. The cathedral building is lovely, there is a popular cafe and a garden. I was intent on the books - most particularly the chain system itself which required special chains to be made by a blacksmith. I had the chance to have a good look, and talk to the guides about how the whole arrangement worked. My brain is now working happily. The system, as with all archives, was for the preservation and protection of the books. But writers all have questions. Mine is - Are the chains to protect the books from us, or us from the books? Think about that one. 

You can read more about the library and the map HERE. Admittance to the cathedral is free, but there is a charge for visiting the library and the map.