Of Research and Acquisitions
This trickster image reminds me of Bardán Fury–not because he’s an exact image, but because he has such sly elegance. Love him!
Copyright, RDarrow on zazzle. Available for purchase from artist here.
So. I found this wonderful image of a trickster who is the very essence of my Bardán Fury.
Should I buy some of these cards for giveaways?Bardán Fury (of The Fury Triad) was a valued member of Henry VIII’s court, along with those of his offspring, and had the foresight to understand the need for the Magi–the magical people–to withdraw from the Ordinary world and create their own places between the seams of reality as we know it. We will learn a lot more about Bardán in The Dead Shall Live.
He saw what happened when Christians went on religious wars against other Christians. He knew it was only a matter of time until they turned their full force of rage and prejudice against those who were different in other ways, namely the ‘witches.’
In researching these times I stumbled across a few references to a very old book that, oddly, I couldn’t find online anywhere. But I found that one of the niche publishers I’ve gone to in the past–Troy Books— was bringing out a reproduction of the original book, published in 1680, that is in the collection of the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall.
To my utter delight, it landed in my post office box yesterday and it is beautiful.
BEAUTIFUL.
A Discovery of the Impostures of Witchcraft and Astrologers
Written by John Brinley, published in 1680.
While the king at the time, Charles II, was a Stuart king, long after the Tudors and Bardán Fury’s time, the information is much the same as it would have been a few decades or a century earlier. To modern eyes it’s fascinating. To contemporary eyes, terrifying. Terrifying if you were fearing for your soul if a witch worked his or her magic on you. Terrifying if you were accused of being said witch–whether you were or weren’t.
As I’ve mentioned before, when it comes to most books, I prefer to buy ebooks. But when it comes to research, I need the book in my hand, ready for highlighting, post-it-ing, scribbling in the margins.
This lovely little hardcover book will not get highlighted or scribbled.
It might get a few post-its.
And it will definitely end up in my personal library of books I love, because it is beautiful, and even moreso, because it is a rare book that survived the ravages of time to come back again.
Three hundred years from now, how many ebooks will have survived?
Have you ever bought a book as an ebook and then bought it again because you want to have it on your shelf?
I do that a lot.
Because there are some books that I simply want to possess and caress.
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