The Robert Hooke folio. Photograph: Bonhams / PA
As the streaming sun sparkled off Rolexes and pocket watches, the auctioneer strode on to the lectern like a public school headmaster about to take assembly, writes science correspondent James Randerson. "Settle down now, boys. First, congratulations to Bradbys for their victory in the inter-house rugby tournament ... "
Even with 189 lots to go before the big draw, the tension in the auction room is almost unbearable. "This thing is of huge historical significance - of national significance," I overhear a man behind me whisper.
The sale everyone is waiting for is described by Bonhams auctioneers, in Mayfair, as a manuscript "that marks the beginning of the modern world". And it has a price tag to match - £1m to £1.5m.
"Few memorials of the scientific revolution can have greater resonance. The Hooke folio - lost for some 300 years - is a remarkable survival from the heroic age of science," says the sale catalogue. The documents are notes taken by the brilliant scientist Robert Hooke in the early days of the Royal Society, the UK's premier scientific academy.
No comments:
Post a Comment