5 Feb 2007

Quiet, please!

Found, in the British Library:

MS Add. 70963 ff. 80-81
Lock of Hair of Miss Thistlethwayte, with note, dated 1775.



If you look on the British Library catalogue at http://www.bl.uk/ you will see Miss Thistlethwayte's hair listed among the manuscripts. It was found tucked in a pouch at the back of an 1816 diary.

Let no-one say that librarians aren't deeply romantic!

The question is: shall I request it and read her note, and see her hair? This is not the real lock above, but my recreation. My feeling is that, unopened - like the box containing Mr. Schrodinger's cat - it prompts mysteries and stories that would only disappear in the light of its reality.

No comments: