Primary Sources, Baby!

Do you ever get ads that you are excited about? Does Pinterest ever push a board suggestion on you that causes the fireworks to go off and a yelp of “this exists? I can have it?”

That’s what happened yesterday when Pinterest emailed a suggestion for a book. This was a children’s book about Medieval Pets. Naturally, I thought, “Oh, really? What’s this?”

So, I rewarded Pinterest’s email by following the link, which took me to a page of suggestions, some of which were books from Thriftbooks. Guess what was on the board? Guess what was a whopping $27.28 at Thriftbooks.com?

An English translation of “The Trotula.”

The collection of medical advice with a section on woman’s health, famously written by a Dame Trot. A doctor so famous that her colleagues borrowed her name to write companion pieces. (Copyright and IP weren’t really things until the 1800's.)

Hell, yeah, baby! Only $30 for a high-medieval medical text, the most famous out there. I’m on it.

And then I got three bucks off a collection of medieval recipes. Truly, the sun had opened up for me.

Now, if only Albertus Magnus’s work on rocks was somewhere for less $300.