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Thinking man's mystery: Stolen Descartes letter returned
YahooNews ^ | Jun 8, 2010 | M.J. Smith M.j. Smith

Posted on 06/09/2010 1:10:13 PM PDT by Daffynition

PARIS (AFP) – A stolen letter written by 17th-century thinker Descartes and found in the United States was returned to France on Tuesday, ending a detective tale featuring a Google search and a thieving Italian count.

"I am, of course, a bit amazed at what a simple search at home from your home computer late at night can bring about," Erik-Jan Bos, a Dutch Descartes scholar who found the letter through the web, said before a handover ceremony.

The letter written by French philosopher Rene Descartes in 1641 went missing more than 150 years ago, one of a vast collection of documents stolen by an Italian count, Guglielmo Libri.

Libri, a math professor in France in the 19th century who was also in charge of inspecting archived papers, is believed to have stolen thousands of letters and documents, selling them to collectors and booksellers.

Descartes' letter eventually wound up in a collection at Haverford College in the US state of Pennsylvania, and the school's administration was not aware of its theft generations earlier when Bos informed them of it.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Education; History; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs

1 posted on 06/09/2010 1:10:14 PM PDT by Daffynition
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A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed.
~Rene Descartes


2 posted on 06/09/2010 1:14:52 PM PDT by Daffynition ("Play it, Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'.")
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To: Daffynition

3 posted on 06/09/2010 1:34:26 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Daffynition

4 posted on 06/09/2010 1:37:20 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: martin_fierro
Bwhahaha!! You are THE BEST at finding separated at birth pictures. He looks JUST LIKE JIM! Thanks for the LOL!

"I thought I wrote some books..well, ah-uh,..maybe not..maybe I just read some books.."

5 posted on 06/09/2010 1:41:18 PM PDT by small voice in the wilderness
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To: Daffynition; SunkenCiv

The original version was: I ink, therefore, I am.


6 posted on 06/09/2010 2:41:00 PM PDT by wildbill (You're just jealous because the Voices talk only to me.)
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To: wildbill; Daffynition; nickcarraway

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Thanks wildbill.

The perp should go to the pen, and it should be a long sentence.

Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

·Dogpile · Archaeologica · LiveScience · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
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· The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


7 posted on 06/09/2010 2:52:19 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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To: martin_fierro
HAHAHA!


8 posted on 06/09/2010 2:52:48 PM PDT by Daffynition ("Play it, Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'.")
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To: JoeProBono

9 posted on 06/09/2010 2:54:29 PM PDT by Daffynition ("Play it, Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'.")
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To: wildbill

10 posted on 06/09/2010 3:29:06 PM PDT by Daffynition ("Play it, Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'.")
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