M.J. Rose

Here’s the place to build brick by brick and book by book in your mind’s eye for those moments when you need to curl up in the most magical library on earth…Or you could hop on a plane!

6 Reasons to Add the Bodleian Library to Your Book Bucket List
Posted by Hayley Igarashi (Goodreads)

“If “books are a uniquely portable magic,” then libraries must be one of the most magical places on earth (and librarians must be magicians). Oxford University’s Bodleian Library certainly looks the part. This historical institution—and part-time Hogwarts stand-in—is a must-see for any traveling book worm. If it isn’t on your book bucket list already, we think we can change your mind.

Reason #1: It has over 11 million printed items.

Not to shame your local library, but we’re betting your usual book haunts can’t quite compare to Bodleian’s veritable army of tomes. Among the 11 million items to browse are a rare copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio, unbound and unrestored, along with the largest collection of pre-1500 printed books in any university library in the world….”

For the rest, click here.

Each one of them could be a character in their own tragic novel…

A mummified lover with her husband’s heart placed with her in the grave…This is the stuff of novels.

Mummified noblewoman kept her husband’s heart in a lead locket

(New Scientist)

“It’s rare to find a mummy wearing an outfit. But this exceptionally preserved body spent more than 350 years fully clothed in a lead coffin before being undressed during an autopsy (see video above).

The mummy was discovered a few years ago by the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research while investigating the burial grounds of a convent in Rennes, France.

They were able to identify her as noblewoman Louise de Quengo, thanks to the inscription on a lead heart, pictured below, found with her body, which contains the real heart of her husband, and historical records of her burial…”

For the rest, a video, and more photos, click here.