
Making and Knowing: A minimal edition of BnF Ms Fr 640 in Translation (c. 1600) - benbreen
https://cu-mkp.github.io/GR8975-edition/
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benbreen
Just to give a little context for this submission, this a project that is
based out of Columbia University (where I used to be a postdoc - I wasn't
involved with it but knew some people who were). It can be thought of as a
type of experimental history, in the sense that it involves actually
reconstructing the techniques described in an early modern French "book of
secrets." Things like learning how to create early modern perfumes, medicinal
drugs, pigments, and alchemical preparations.

What I linked to is the English translation of the book itself. The main
project website has some more information about the alchemy lab aspect:
[http://www.makingandknowing.org](http://www.makingandknowing.org)

Edit: as a random aside, I love the entry for "Training a dog":

"You need to keep your dog attached; when it does what you command, to win its
love, give it a piece of cheese which was held under the armpit. This cheese
would be a bad drug if the master, or the apprentice, is red—haired."

[https://cu-mkp.github.io/GR8975-edition/texts/p131r_4/](https://cu-
mkp.github.io/GR8975-edition/texts/p131r_4/)

~~~
weinzierl
Why is it a _minimal_ edition"? What is minimal about it? Comparing it with
the scan of the original (you can click on the paragraph number to view it) it
doesn't look abridged.

~~~
benbreen
This page gets into it a little bit more:

[http://www.makingandknowing.org/?page_id=1653](http://www.makingandknowing.org/?page_id=1653)

Minimal in this context just means that it isn't as feature rich as the online
edition they're currently working on. "Using the English translation of Ms.
Fr. 640 as the basic data set, students collaboratively created a minimal
(i.e., limited, basic feature) digital edition by the end of the semester,
effectively prototyping a design for the Project’s final digital critical
edition."

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kazinator
> _But the following varnish does not remain damp like previous ones, which
> were made of linseed oil from Aux boiled with garlic to extinguish them and
> rid them of fat, and also with wheat._

Ah, so the onion in the varnish was actually supposed to be _garlic_ , and
that was disused! It all makes so much sense now.

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codezero
Too bad their Damascus steel entry didn’t go into more detail about the
material or technique, only the water composition it is tempered in. There are
interesting references to the origin of various qualities of steel and what
shape they are in.

