Memoria Technica, or a New Method of Artificial Memory: Applied to and Exemplified in Chronology, History, Geography, Astronomy, Also Jewish, Grecian ... Weights and Measures, &C
Excerpt from Memoria Technica, or a New Method of Artificial Applied to and Exemplified in Chronology, History, Geography, Astronomy, Also Jewish, Grecian and Roman Coins, Weights and Measures, &C
Hzc ars tota habet hanc vim non ut totum aliquid, cujus in ingeniis noilris pars nulla fit, pariat procreer.
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Richard Grey D.D. was an English churchman and author, archdeacon of Bedford from 1757. He is now best remembered for his Memoria Technica, a work on a memory system.
This was bound together with my copy of Dr. Harwood's View of the Various Editions of the Greek and Roman Classics. Grey's work is of his fascinating, and ridiculously complex, system for memorizing and recalling historical peoples, places, events and units of measure. It is insane but kind of neat and was very popular for more than a century.
Part of what is fascinating are the tables of everything. This is what people thought was important and who had done what from antiquity to when Grey's work was published in the 18th century. This is a wonderful snapshot of thinking about the past. One neat example is the list of Roman Emperors. They list who we now call Marcus Aurelius as Antoninus Philosophus (p. 40). His full Latin name was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, but he was also a philosopher of sorts (his Meditations), so the moniker in Grey's table is accurate. It's neat to see how we refer to people has changed (from antiquity through Grey to the present day).
The geographic tables are also awesome, showing what places were of importance. It is neat how the world is divided up too, into various states, sub-states, etc. The units of measure was also very useful, especially to translate from Roman and Greek currencies as well as Hebrew, Greek and Roman measures of length and weight.
A very cool and fun book to peruse and have as as reference on my shelf.