December 6, 2021, Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Featured1A Rare Gift: First-edition Principia highlights extraordinary collection The Ransom Center recently received a generous donation from the James M. Vaughn, Jr., Vaughn Foundation Fund of important books in the history of mathematics. The earliest volumes supplement the Center’s existing strength in early materials on the history of science and mathematics, and others productively expand the range of… read more
October 14, 2020, Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Featured1, Research + TeachingLearning how to read again This essay is part of a slow research series, What is Research? Part of what is so compelling about doing research with old books is that the learning curve never ends—there’s always some new challenge, another thing to explain, something else to get to the bottom of. Reading old books… read more
April 28, 2020, Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Featured1Gutenberg’s Blanks Even with a print run of fewer than 200 copies, the Gutenberg Bible was a major undertaking. A complete copy, like the Ransom Center’s, includes 1,277 large pages that have text printed on them. Each full page required that approximately 2,500 individual pieces of metal type be set by hand,… read more
