Monday, June 27, 2005

Letter From Andrea

I recieved this missive from Sister Andrea only a few days ago, and I thought it might be of interest. I will soon be joining her in England, where she is studying ancient (and important) texts with the help of a lovely grant.

Who just got to spend a day transcribing a Latin song about a prior and an abbot getting completely drunk and puking all over the flowers? I did!

Man, I love my job.

Libraries like the one I visited today do give me a chance to practice some of my more unusual hobbies, like staring at other people's books. A woman behind me was looking at a lovely one with huge full-page full-color fifteenth-century heraldic signs. I didn't have a chance to gawk at that one very long, though, because then I noticed a man about my age who was looking back and forth between the manuscript on foam pads on his desk and two modern printed copies of The Book of Margery Kempe. (Margery Kempe is a famous fifteenth-century woman mystic, and there's only one copy of her manuscript in existence. I think I was three feet from it this afternoon.) Fortunately I managed to contain my enthusiasm. A scholarly reading room was just not the place for it.

London's lovely, even if much warmer than advertised. It's good to be back.

All's well,
Andrea

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