A while back, I wrote about Paul Collins’ excellent book, Banvard’s Folly, which was a collection of “Tales of Renowned Obscurity, Famous Anonymity, and Rotten Luck.” Now, Paul’s fascinating blog has pointed me to a potential motherlode of similar stuff.
The Athanasius Kircher Society, based in Brooklyn, New York, is dedicated to the same sort of esoterica and historical curiosities. In fact, they will be hosting their inaugural meeting on January 17 in NYC. Alas, tickets are now sold out.
If anyone finding their way here was lucky enough to be in attendance, I’d appreciate a report.
Historical Note: The society is named for Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680), a Jesuit priest who, in addition to being a professor of mathematics, could speak dozens of languages and wrote about astronomy, chemistry, mineralogy and many other subjects. He was also an early scholar of Egyptology.