Scholar Spotlight: Renee Raphael

Renaissance Society of America Fellow

Renee Raphael

My research at the Bodleian focused on printed books held in the Savilian Library, a collection of works on mathematics, astronomy, geometry and applied sciences collected by the early Savilian Professors, including Henry Savile, Christopher Wren and John Wallis. I was especially interested in annotations inscribed in the collection’s books for information they provide into the scholarly practices of early modern mathematical reading. Some features of this reading observed in the Savilian books include summarizing an author’s argument, correcting errors, following along with mathematical proofs, and redrawing and/ or modifying diagrams while reading. Because the Savilian collection contains the printed books shared by a community of early modern mathematicians, the annotations in the books provide information as to how a scholarly community shared practices amongst its members and how these practices changed over time.

For more on Renee’s research and time at the Bodleian Libraries, watch this video.

For news on Visiting Scholars at the Bodleian, click here.

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