Oh FUCK ME this is amazing beyond amazing.

[Kai]

Kelly Houle, an artist with a background in calligraphy and bookmaking has started an illuminated manuscript version of the first edition of On the Origin of Species.



If you aren't familiar with illuminated manuscripts, they are books or parts of books which are scribed by hand and richly decorated with illustrations, especially those that incorporate gold leaf. The most famous illuminated book is the Book of Kells, a copy of the four Christian gospels from Ireland ca. 800 CE.

This is such a glorious project that I don't even know how to explain my feelings beyond that I start crying everytime I think about it. Right now she's working on the title page and the table of contents pages, and she's raising money through donations to fund it. This is the real deal, with nearly 2 by 2 1/2 foot pages, each one done by hand separately, fully illuminated. Nearly 300 in total when finished. This site has more information on her process. And what's more, when she's finished, it's going to be published in both a full size and trade size version.

And FURTHERMORE, she's not going to stop with OTOOS. She's going to make her life's work illuminating the great scientific texts.

Isn't this fucking amazing? If you can donate, please do. I'm going to donate 30 dollars because I want to see this happen.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

WOWWW

I really hope she completes this project. Beautiful.

[Elder Iptuous]

that is truly awesome!

[Luna]

Oh, that's stunning...

[Kai]

You know, I'm just stunned by this project, but I'm already thinking to when it's completed. What will she do next? How glorious would be an illuminated Principia Matematica, or Relativity, or The Double Helix? I would also love to see illuminated versions of On the Descent of Man and Journal of Researches (Voyage of the Beagle).

[Juana]

Dude. As soon as I have a bit to spare. Wow.

[Triple Zero]

You know, I'm just stunned by this project, but I'm already thinking to when it's completed. What will she do next? How glorious would be an illuminated Principia Matematica, or Relativity, or The Double Helix? I would also love to see illuminated versions of On the Descent of Man and Journal of Researches (Voyage of the Beagle).

I thought "hmm" at first but an illuminated Principia Mathematica ... NOW you're talking!

I wonder about illustrations but even beautifully calligraphed formulas and proof would be so sweet.

Wikipedia says "PM is widely considered by specialists in the subject to be one of the most important and seminal works in mathematical logic and philosophy since Aristotle's Organon. The Modern Library placed it 23rd in a list of the top 100 English-language nonfiction books of the twentieth century."

They tried to lay the foundations of set theory, cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers, and real numbers from the simplest axioms, without paradoxes. A very noble goal until in 1930 Goedel came up with his Incompleteness Theorem and smashed the very possibility of useful yet contradiction-less mathematics to bits. From that moment on, minds continue to be blown when they realize that even at the very core of abstract logic, Reality just refuses make sense. Of course, we know just who to blame for that, right?

Next time I'm in the second-hand bookshop, I'll have to see if I can find a (for now, non-illuminated) copy. You made me realize I want to have it on my shelves

[Cainad (dec.)]

Oh my god yes.

[Telarus]

DAMN.


Very impressive.

[Kai]

You know, I'm just stunned by this project, but I'm already thinking to when it's completed. What will she do next? How glorious would be an illuminated Principia Matematica, or Relativity, or The Double Helix? I would also love to see illuminated versions of On the Descent of Man and Journal of Researches (Voyage of the Beagle).

I thought "hmm" at first but an illuminated Principia Mathematica ... NOW you're talking!

I wonder about illustrations but even beautifully calligraphed formulas and proof would be so sweet.

Wikipedia says "PM is widely considered by specialists in the subject to be one of the most important and seminal works in mathematical logic and philosophy since Aristotle's Organon. The Modern Library placed it 23rd in a list of the top 100 English-language nonfiction books of the twentieth century."

They tried to lay the foundations of set theory, cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers, and real numbers from the simplest axioms, without paradoxes. A very noble goal until in 1930 Goedel came up with his Incompleteness Theorem and smashed the very possibility of useful yet contradiction-less mathematics to bits. From that moment on, minds continue to be blown when they realize that even at the very core of abstract logic, Reality just refuses make sense. Of course, we know just who to blame for that, right?

Next time I'm in the second-hand bookshop, I'll have to see if I can find a (for now, non-illuminated) copy. You made me realize I want to have it on my shelves

My bias is biology and naturalism, of course. Newton was one of the most brilliant people ever, and Principia Mathematica would make an excellent illuminated manuscript. What's more, ND Tyson would probably personally fund the project.

[Triple Zero]

Newton? No I was thinking about the one by Russel & Whitehead.

Ah I see it now, Newton's is called Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

[Kai]

Newton? No I was thinking about the one by Russel & Whitehead.

Ah I see it now, Newton's is called Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

Yeah. Why would you think I meant Russel & Whitehead?

[Triple Zero]

Newton? No I was thinking about the one by Russel & Whitehead.

Ah I see it now, Newton's is called Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

Yeah. Why would you think I meant Russel & Whitehead?

I dunno, I actually wasn't aware that Newton used the words Principia Mathematica in his book title. And the Russell & Whitehead book is actually about the foundations of Mathematics I guess Newton's book is also pretty groundbreaking and such, but Russel & Whitehead's Principia Mathematica would have more personal significance to myself.

Seems you didn't actually read much of my post, if you thought I was talking about Newton, though

Now I guess I'll have to check both. First I thought "why would I want a book with really old basic physics on my shelves, apart from name-dropping Newton?", but as I read on the other Wikipedia page, he also describes the methodology of how he used criteria to decide under observation what hypothetical laws were operating in which phenomena, and that is of course pretty fundamental science. I wonder how readable it is.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I assumed the Whitehead/Russel book as well. And then I was thinking "How would one go about illuminating that text, anyway?"

[Kai]

Newton? No I was thinking about the one by Russel & Whitehead.

Ah I see it now, Newton's is called Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

Yeah. Why would you think I meant Russel & Whitehead?

I dunno, I actually wasn't aware that Newton used the words Principia Mathematica in his book title. And the Russell & Whitehead book is actually about the foundations of Mathematics I guess Newton's book is also pretty groundbreaking and such, but Russel & Whitehead's Principia Mathematica would have more personal significance to myself.

Seems you didn't actually read much of my post, if you thought I was talking about Newton, though

Now I guess I'll have to check both. First I thought "why would I want a book with really old basic physics on my shelves, apart from name-dropping Newton?", but as I read on the other Wikipedia page, he also describes the methodology of how he used criteria to decide under observation what hypothetical laws were operating in which phenomena, and that is of course pretty fundamental science. I wonder how readable it is.

Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica is one of the most important science books of all time, wherein he described the laws of motion, the laws of gravitation, and the motion of the planets, and HOW he went about figuring it out. The original is in Latin, which is what I expect the illuminated book would be in, but there are plenty of translations in English. It's no less readable than say, Euclid or Archimedes.

By your above mentality, why would I care about On the Origin of Species? I mean, it's not like I can't get newer books on evolution that are more up to date on the biology. The reason to care about PNPM is the same as OTOOS: it's the seminal work of a world class mind, which both explains some fundamental aspect of reality and also how it was figured out, by the person who figured it out.