Blog

“First you dream, then you lace up your boots.”

Sounds like good advice, don’t you think?

For the past year, our 1570 first English translation of Euclid’s Elements of Geometry (call number D0127) has been getting some much-needed TLC from Jennifer Robertson at Book and Paper Conservation Services.  One of the highlights of our collection, this edition is an important work in both the transmission of Euclidean geometry and the history of print.

I have been on a kick lately de-framing and cataloguing materials that were donated to us in non-archival friendly frames. One of the recent items I have had the pleasure of describing is this incredible panoramic photograph of the Western Ontario Regiment training at Carling Heights in London, Ontario on August 1, 1918. The photograph is 143 cm (4 feet 8 inches long) and shows members of the regiment engaging in various callisthenic looking training exercises.

The Case of Valentine Shortis

Back in November, I began reading The Complete Tales of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, and although I’m not the biggest fan, it came in handy with this. No, it didn’t inspire me to write about everyone’s favourite cocaine addict, but it did remind me that when it comes to murder stories, I much prefer nonfiction to fiction, which prompted me to look for other murder-related books in our catalogue. This led me to a book called The Case of Valentine Shortis: A True Story of Crime and Politics in Canada by Martin Friedland (call number: G9256).