Transformation of knowledge

"Manuscripts, properly speaking, are not rare; they are unique. Each one provides a snapshot of one or more individuals - some celebrated, others unknown or anonymous - grappling with the intellectual problems of their time. Lawrence J. Schoenberg's unparallelled collection of manuscripts is a direct and evocative testament to the range of human knowledge - mathematical, medical, astronomical, technological - as it evolved in the medieval and early modern era."--BOOK JACKET.