Writing

The paper may have faded, but 500 years on — half a millennium! — and these woodcuts, are as charming, witty, and beautiful as ever.

John Boardley in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

October 8th, 2013, 5am

It was 24°C with scattered clouds. The wind was light.

Writing as archaeology: The most enjoyable and profound (and I never use that word lightly) part of writing a monograph on someone who died 500 years ago is the discovery of scattered bones and their careful reassembly. What emerges is not a skeleton, but a soul.