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There’s a fascimile edition of John Wilkin’s An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language available at Amazon.

Scans of the book’s content are available, as is a description at Wikipedia, but the best explanation of it is probably Borges’ The Analytical Language of John Wilkins. The most recent popularization of it was probably in Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle, where John Wilkins is a character.

The UW has a copy of the original in Special Collections, and an earlier fascimile edition from 1968. I’d recommend looking at the facsimile one if you have the time. I’m desirous of a fascimile copy of my own, because it’s fascinating and because I have this image of Wilkins as the ultimate erudite crank.

This document is from the Renascence Texts collection at UOregon. It’s useful for a project that I’m working on (and hope to have time to get back to at some point in the future.) OTOH, imagine trying to retrieve this document through an information retrieval system.

By the Queene.
A Proclamation agaynst the maintenaunce of Pirates.
THE Queenes Maiestie vnderstandeth, that although by her former commaundementes notified by proclamation to all her subiectes, and namely to her officers in her Portes, for the staying, ceassing, and suppressing of all occasions of piracies: yet some numbers of vessels armed with certayne disordered persons mixt of sundry nations, do still haunt the narowe seas, and resort secretly into small Creekes and obscure places of this Realme for reliefe of vitayles, and suche lyke: And for their better defence to escape apprehension, do colourably pretende that they be licenced to serue on the seas, and are not to be accompted culpable as pirates. Read the rest of this entry »