The first book I read on my week-long cycling trip, finishing it on a gloriously sunny day in the beautiful garden of The Swan Hotel in Hay-on-Wye, which I intend to return to at any available opportunity. The book explains how the study of history was transformed post-enlightenment by Antiquaries, broadly, enthusiastic independent collectors who wanted to understand history in the round through artifacts and evidence rather than only using documentation, and attempted to use some form of method or categorisation that distinguished them from mere collectors. They are often linked to the Romantic Movement, and it's worth noting that often their enthusiasm (Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill, the invention of tartan, the novels of Walter Scott) meant that historical accuracy took second place to what they wanted to believe happened. It also contained one of the best chapter endings I've come across; 'While at Calais Lord Aberdeen, later President of the Society of Antiquaries, had his trousers confiscated, for reasons that will become apparent.' I need to write up the story of my cycling trip, but I have a backlog of books to do first - three to go now.
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