Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Artes Magicis by Sir Isaac Newton
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| Tower Bridge and the River Thames: thanks to Park Grand London Lancaster Gate |
Author: Sir Isaac Newton
Publisher: Not known
Source book: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London #1)
Metropolitan Police Probationary Constable Peter Grant suddenly finds himself seconded to a mysterious department that deals with magical and supernatural crimes. The department is run by Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale who might be older than he looks.
Peter is assigned a room in The Folly, a grand house in Russell Square, the official home of English magic since 1755, where he comes across a leather bound book in a glass case. It’s a copy of Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Artes Magicis by Sir Isaac Newton. Not content with kicking off the scientific revolution (as Peter puts it), Newton codified the basic principles of magic. And for an encore, he reformed the Royal Mint and saved the country from bankruptcy (adds Nightingale).
This is Newton’s second Principia: the first is of course devoted to mathematics.
Also mentioned are Horace Pitman’s Legends of the Thames Valley (published 1897). The follypedia.fandom page doesn’t list this book, but try as I might, I can’t find any books by Pitman other than his Greek Conjunctions and the Tacitus. Peter Brock, writing in the 1930s, speculated that vestigia were laid down in layers over the years, and different spirits inhabit different layers. Unfortunately we are not given the title of his book. And just to be confusing there’s a quick mention of another unnamed book about vestigia by a Lucius Brock, also in the 1930s. I may have got these two Brocks muddled up, but it is confusing.
Then there’s Dr John Polidori’s Meditations on the Matter of Life and Death (published 1896). Dr Polidari was personal physician to Lord Byron and apparently wrote the first vampire story published in English. Unfortunately he died (IRL) in 1821, some time before this book was published. It includes information about revenants: unquiet spirits who return from the dead to wreak havoc on the living. Perhaps Dr Polidori wrote The Meditations after he died?
And The Persistence of Phantasmagoria in Yorkshire by Richard Spruce (published 1860). Spruce certainly wrote about Yorkshire, but he was known as a botanist and wrote about mosses. From 1849 - 1864, Spruce was travelling in South America, and was probably trekking up the far reaches of the Amazon in 1860. However, apparently he found the time to agree with Dr Polidori that ghosts might draw on the magic in their environment in a similar manner to a moss leaching sustenance from its rocky home.
And finally, a farce called Down with Knickers! playing at the Noel Coward Theatre.
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| The River Thames between Oxford and Pangbourne: thanks to Macs Adventure |
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