Throughout the year long friendship with Orbis Miraculum, I have experienced different things.
I had the opportunity to have contact with an old book and I never thought that I could know quite a lot about a book without reading it. I know a lot about the formality and how the book is built but not what is inside of it. It’s like I know a person from seeing them but I don’t know what they’re like.
The experience in Einsiedeln was very special. It was an exciting moment to finally “meet“ this book. The atmosphere was very unique and I could learn more about the book. The physical aspect was a once in a lifetime experience, because the book is very rare and old.
Something that bothers me is that I don’t really know what the book has to tell us and what the character of the book is. I think that this is so because we din’t read the books, maybe some of us did read them but some other students have assigned books in foreign languages and that was a difficulty. Maybe it would be better for our friendship if I had read at least 500 words. But I know a lot about how the book is structured.
Another problem was, that the book wasn’t available online and I only had access to the book thanks to Gregorio Astengo, who sent me a pdf of the book. Only because he is registered to an online website of a university.
I’m a big fan of illustrations and impressions on the first sight. When I saw this book and later I had a digital version of it, it really felt like an old friend. But more like a friend that you see from passing by and whom you don’t really talk to. The aspect of knowing the book was the physical experience and the images of it. I’m a visual learner and to this day I know how the illustrations look like. For me they talk way more than the book.
About the tasks:
The first task was very exciting because I had to find out some basic informations about this book. I knew that this first step was probably the most important one because the friendship lasted about one year.
The contact part was the best one, because as I already said, the physical aspect is very important to me. It was like going on a first date and finding out more informations about my friend.
Task three was pretty unnecessary because my book has barely five editions. I also don’t know what to do with this information.
The text of task four was probably the most useful one, because we had to write about how the book is structured and we had another opportunity to have contact with the book, even in a digital way. It was like coming back to the friend, especially after the winter break.
And now task 5. I must say that is a very nice task because we have to reflect about everything we learned and experienced. I’m quite melancholic while I’m writing this text.
In conclusion I am very thankful for this opportunity because I never imagined to experience a book in this way and I will never forget my dear old friend.