And now for something completely different...

I put this in the category of Art, but that is only partly accurate.

For almost a year, the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley has been showing off the cream of its collection at the Berkeley Art Museum (BAM. Really. They call it that. I know, it is disgraceful). Melanie went to see it at lunch yesterday and highly recommends it. I looked over the catalog, and have plans on seeing it tomorrow.

The reason I bring it up now is that it ends this Sunday. I only found out about it this week, or I would have gone, given a report, etc.

Some of the items:

Papyrus fragment of Sophocles' Inachus, one of two known fragments of this lost play.

Homer's Iliad, Book 2, on 2nd century AD papyrus.

Euclid's Elementa Geometriae in both an Italian manuscript from around 1460 as well as it's first print edition, from Venice in 1482.

Piranesi's Opere, including a complete set of I Carceri.

Letter from Junipero Serra.

The Marshall gold nugget.

Loads and loads of early Californiana, particularly anthropological items and natural history stuff. Not to mention great California paintings by Thomas Hill, William Keith, Bierstadt, et al.

Go see it if you are anywhere near the Bay Area. This show will never be repeated, due to the tremendous cost of insuring and securing it.

Posted by erik at November 30, 2006 10:05 AM