I am aware that I tend to mention the same dictionaries over and over in these the posts that appears on this blog. To remedy that, I thought I'd take a moment to mention a few of the lesser-known, but still interesting dictionaries that comprise the BLRL's collection.
Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature, and Art
To say Oskar Seyffert’s Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature, and Art is an impressive work is like calling the Mona Lisa a pretty good painting. The scholarship that went into this thing is obvious and the illustrations and dare I say even the typeface are exquisite. In fact, I like this dictionary so much I have a hard time describing it without an avalanche of superlatives. Therefore, instead of having me blather on about how wonderful a book this is, I’ve decided to just reprint the about-the-book text that appears on the inside flaps of its dust jacket. Enjoy.
The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature, and Art is a comprehensive encyclopedia of the classical world. From the ancient gods and legendary heroes to the social institutions and customs upon which our own civilization is based, the world of the ancient Greeks and Romans comes to life in authoritative entries that range in length from a few lines to multiple pages. There are definitive biographies of important writers, philosophers, artists, and political leaders that include complete lists and detailed analyses of their known works. And, of course, there is information about all the classical gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines "genealogies," discussions of literary appearances, listings of geographic centers of veneration, as well as examinations of the god's or hero's varying characteristics over the centuries. In addition, there are entries for such great historians, philosophers, playwrights, poets, and artists as Apelles, Aristotle, Aristophanes, Aeschylus, Epicurus, Euripedes, Herodotus, Homer, Myron, Praxiteles, Seneca, Sophocles, Tacitus, and Thucydides. Treated with similar thoroughness are such everyday objects as flutes, glass, helmets, lamps, masks, mirrors, and shields. Perhaps most intriguing are the comprehensive general essays on classical society and culture. Under the headings Adoption, Agriculture, Architecture, Banks and Banking, Books and Book Trade, Clothing, Coinage, Comedy, Commerce, Drama, Dreams, Education, Games, Geography, Gymnastics, History, Judicial Procedure, Literature, Marriage, Painting, Meals, Music, Philosophy, Religion, Sacrifices, Slaves, and Taxes, the social and cultural attitudes of the Greeks and Romans of the classical world are revealed in fascinating detail. The text is complemented by more than 450 black and white illustrations, most of which are line drawings of ancient statues, vase paintings, residential murals, coins, buildings, relief friezes, and household artifacts. The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature, and Art is the ultimate reference book for everyone who is interested in the great civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome.
If that hasn’t spurred you to run out and grab yourself a copy of this book, I don’t know what will. On the plus side, I often encounter copies of this text on the shelves of used bookstores, so if you have a good one near you, keep your eyes peeled for this text.
A Blake Dictionary: The Ideas and Symbols of William Blake
In issue #3 of The Butter Lamb News, I wrote about the A Dictionary of Literary Symbols, which is a book that decodes the meanings of symbols used in biblical, classical, and canonical literature over from the past few centuries (e.g., think the meaning of ivy in Byron’s poetry). This Blake Dictionary does the same thing, it’s just limited to the work of writer, painter, and mystic William Blake. But hey, don’t take my word for it. Here’s an excerpt from the book’s introduction.
The purpose of this dictionary is to make things easier for his readers by gathering together the clues scattered through his writings. These gatherings most often … shed welcome light. At other times, when the meaning has not made itself clear, I have at least laid out the material for future scholars….
As Blake saw everything in human terms, practically anything might be a symbol; but it has not been feasible to write an article on every noun, especially as many of them have little or no symbolic significance. Blake, who was a painter and a poet as well as a mystic, often used objects solely for their poetic values. "Silver," for example, may be only a color (""wash the dusk with silver," PS, To the Evening Star,'" or a sound ("silver voices"), or money ("the gold & silver of the Merchant"). It may indicate temperament ("girls of mild silver or of furious gold"). But eventually and fundamentally, as the metal of Luvah, it signifies Love. It is also convenient to remember that "gold" signifies "intelligence." Winding up the golden ball means using one's head. It is generally safe also to assume that Water is Matter, as in Noah's Flood, but the fountains of the Holy Ghost and the rivers of Eden are not. One must obey common sense. Blake's symbols are not mechanical or inflexible.
Oddly, the one thing this book is missing is pictures, either in color or in grayscale, of Blake’s artwork. Bummer.
The Universal Encyclopedia of Mathematics
I hate math. I’m not good at it, it makes me feel stupid, and thus I’m intimidated by it. Even having this book in my collection makes me uncomfortable. Yet, this is the only mathematics reference I’ve come across in my (not so) far-flung travels, so when my eyes saw it on the shelves of my favorite used bookstore, I knew I had to become part of the BLRL’s collection. Those feelings only grew when O cracked the cover and read the Publisher’s Note on page 9.
WE believe this to be the first popular encyclopedia or reference book of mathematics of its kind, arranged in alphabetical order of subjects…. The ground covered is the mathematics from beginning High School, through College, but stopping short of a degree in mathematics. The book is therefore not addressed to the professional mathematician, but it will help the student to become one. It is intended for the Man in the Street, the harassed parent and the technical student; or for the scientist, engineer and accountant for whom mathematics has not lost its fascination.
The Man in the Street? I’m the man in the street! So, this reference was made with me in mind (I am also a harassed parent at times). Then again, it’s fair to say that whatever fascination I had with math left me long ago (assuming I ever had it in the first place). When I flip through the pages of this book, I am instantly transported back to the anxiety-ridden trigonometry class I took in high school and the nerve-wrecking pre-calculus class I took in college. Further, I can tell you with absolute certainty (i.e., 100 percent certainty) that I have never encountered anyone in the street, man or woman, speaking of things like “central symmetry in planes,” “Keplar’s star polyhedra,” or even “planimetry” (or plane geometry). Then again, I suppose the probability of encountering people who talk about such things is directly proportional to the streets on which one spends his or her time.
Then again, what I, a mathophobe, might have to say about this book amounts to zero. So, if you find yourself needing to define a mathematical term and the information you’re finding in other dictionaries just isn’t adding up, if you’re trying to remember a certain formula and your mind is nothing but an empty sphere, or if you need proof that a mathematical term means what you think it means because you want to be 100 percent correct, then you might want to subtract a copy of this book from your local library or used bookstore and add it to your collection at home.
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