I’m tracking the different English editions of Algarotti’s Newtonianismo per le Dame for my SHARP presentation in Oxford this June, and I’m feeling ambivalent about both rare books and online sources.
ECCO is so daft to work with sometimes, but at least I could scribble on printed pages that way. At the huntington, on the other hand, I could have three or four editions just sitting in front of me, and I could turn each page to see what is new. And no waste of trees. However, there would be fossil fuel waste from driving down. And the not inconsiderable inconvenience, however beautiful it is.
What would Newton do? Make the Huntington send him the copies? Don’t think I could pull that off.
