An attempt to fully explain the physical world in the mid-1600s. Curious where he chooses to start. And where he goes next. This language is so distant that it has become whimsical. Such chapter headings as: Of swimming: that some men swimme naturally, that men drowned do float the ninth day when their gall breaketh, women prone and men supine or upon their backs. And further: Religio Medici, for instance, among his writings.

I come from ‘Mormon’ culture—I was raised on its tales and legends, I love it (the angel Moroni, The Three Nephites, brass and golden plates, peep stones, pioneer hair art, etc.) and this collection of documents is a favorite window into the mysterious emergence of The Book of Mormon. To me, this is emblematic of the Internet: a church having to come to terms with its origins publicly. (From this part of me stems a fascination with Homeric writings, scripture of any kind, The Mabinogion, the National Treasure scene where Diane Kruger and Nicholas Cage exhale romantically inches above a deglassed Declaration of Independence—and how the Internet might spread, enhance or warp them all.)

Henry Cornelius Agrippa’s vast catalog of Renaissance-era mysticism. Magic mirrors, alchemical symbols, the meaning of planets. I normally don’t link to the scans, but the typography and illustrations here draw one in. Study this at Hogwarts. More at Esoteric Archives.