September 3, 2009
<< Dual-Wielding in the Stacks | Colorful, But Not Cute >>
Californie
From Diderot’s Encyclopédie, 1752:
California, large peninsula in North America, north of the Southern Sea, inhabited by savages who worship the moon. Each family there lives as it pleases, without being subject to any form of government. The Spanish have built a fort there called Our Lady of Loreto.
Seems about right.
Michigan’s collaborative translation project around the Encyclopedia of Diderot and d’Alembert is, I have to warn you, pretty fun to click around.

Comments
Soon, hopefully.
Aiee, that is far too fun to click around. In a school Enlightenment Salon I played Diderot--no brainer of a pick, though I didn't know about Emilie du Chatelier then. This spring I visited the Huntington Library, and besides the thrill of seeing Halley's own copy of the Principia, there was touchable, turnable volume of the Encylopedie--the illustrations. So cool.