The
Library
The Ducal Library is, of course, arranged
by topic.
Faeries
In this section, you can read about Faerie
Lore and Literature . The
Faerie Encyclopedia is sure to have answers to many of the reader's
questions. A wealth of information is also available in Myths
and Legends . The Tales
of Twilight contain material on the Daoine Sidhe, with fancy and truth
intertwined. Realms
of the Sidhe also concentrates on the extensive Irish lore about our
Faerie neighbours.
Sorcery
It is unfortunate that much of this section
is of unknown value, due to the inherently arcane nature of the topic.
We cannot vouch for the authenticity of many of these texts. One curious
item is a firsthand account from a gentleman by the name of Michel Ardan,
relating his visit at a little-known lodge, the Circle
of Menippus. This arcane lodge seems to specialise in all things
Faerie - or perhaps in all things hostile to Faerie. Another report
we have, from Sir Nicholas Fortune, concerns the Sacred
Order of the Valhalla Lodge , an Order that seems to have more female
practioners than males. Two more orders seem to be reserved to women:
the Host of the Amazon
Warrior's Shrine , warrior women devoted to Artemis, and the Theosophic
Daughters of Lemuria , who cultivate psychic powers and telepathy,
as well as investigate the mysteries of reincarnation.
An interesting volume critiques and
discusses the Muchenbled text on witches in the last two centuries: Une
étude sur le livre "La sorcière de Robert Muchembled"
. We also have an obscure (and controversial) Library
of the Magickal. One of our sources purports to be a direct heir
of The Golden Dawn Tradition
, but this is doubtful.
We also have a collection of texts
that appear to originate from obscure, probably extinct lodges: Achromancy,
the Builders of Adytum, Caduceus,
The Hermetic Quarterly , the Hermetic
Order Of The Morning Star (which claims parentage with the Illustrious
Order of the Golden Dawn), the Fraternity
of the Hidden Light , the COLLEGE
of THELEMA and TEMPLE of THELEMA , O.T.O.
- Amon-Ra Oasis , the Astarte
Lodge, Berlin , etc.
A curiousity: the Crowley
Oracle.
Sorcerous Engines
Perhaps one of the more interesting section
of the Library, it contains fragments of original manuscripts by the man
who first conceived Sorcerous Engines: Leonardo da Vinci. We have
a fragment of the Codex
Arundel, annotated by our librarian; a great treasure, the entire Codex
Madrid, on lone from the Royal Bayernese Archives, annotated in German;
and our prized replica of Leonardo's
Controversial Adding Machine . We also have sections of the Codex
Leicester and replicas
of some of the experiments it contains.
Thanks to our very own Babbage-Lovelace
Virtual Realism Engine, you can also visit IL
MUSEO LEONARDIANO DI VINCI in Italy, and see da Vinci's creations for
yourself.
Science and Technology
This
section contains a very complete set of original, illustrated texts on
the topic of Steam: the Steam
Engine Library . We also have a section on The
Steam Engine from a treatise on the History of Marine Engineering in
Canada. Several spectacular steam engines can be seen in our section
on the Kew
Bridge Steam Museum .
Of course, the reader interested in
Science will want to keep up to date with the XIX Century Edition of the
Scientific
American. Again, you can use our Virtual Realism Engine to visit
the Musée
des Arts & Métiers's section on scientific instruments .
The Babbage
Difference Engines and the Babbage
Analytical Engine are rapidly taking space in our library, as a wealth
of valuable material is being published daily on the topic. The
Babbage Pages from the University of Exeter are a must, and constitute
a library of their own. The Charles
Babbage Institute also offers some interesting material. Both
contain a quantity of information on the work done by Lady
Ada Byron Lovelace as well.
George
Boole's new "Boolean" algebra has been instrumental in raising the
Babbage Engines to their current pinnacle. Other mathematical geniuses
influent in the field include the promising Georg
Cantor, and the recently deceased Augustus
De Morgan.
Enthusiasts of Babbage Engines will
also wish to see our replica of Leonardo da Vinci's adding machine, in
the Sorcerous Engines section.
Military History
This section, while very incomplete,
contains a few items of general interest: Osprey
Military Books may have some material of use, for example, as well
as the British Naval &
Military Press . Specific texts describe: The
First Queensland (Moreton) Regiment in Australia; the Brockville
Infantry Company 1862 , Les
Voltigeurs de Québec 1862 , and the Midland
Historical Volunteers in Canada; and the 93rd
Sutherland Highland Regiment and the 92nd
Gordon Highlanders Commemorative Unit from Scotland (although both
texts are American). In addition, we have a slightly outdated but still
useful volume on European
Military Uniforms of the Early Nineteenth Century .
We also have some reference texts
on Orders
of Chivalry & Knighthood , and Heraldic
privileges pertaining to orders of knighthood. From our Antique
Orders Index covering the Known World, you might particularly want
to explore the chapters covering Austria,
Bavaria,
France,
Great Britain
, Italy,
and Prussia.
History
of Nobility
Only a few basic texts are available
in this section. They include one on Europes
Royal Families , one on The
European Nobility , and the Almanach
de la Cour .
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