THE JOHN DEE LIBRARY
Welcome to the Librarian's Desk. Named after the Elizibethan magus and mathematician, Dr. John Dee, the Avalon Center Library is an ambitious plan to create a central repository of books, articles, and papers in all of the subject departments of the Center. We will be adding and improving the library over the next several years but wish to open our virtual doors to start offering articles in electronic format and links to other online research resources. Check back regularly for new additons to the collection.
Each section at left will be devloped to include links to articles on our web site, articles on other web sites, and links to recommended books or electronic texts. We list books that are in the Avalon Center Library for use by students and staff in the library. We also include links for books to various booksearch services where you may wish to purchase your own copy of the book in question. A general Reference Section is also included with links to encyclopedic resources online.
In the future we will make this collection available as a text-searchable database permitting students and scholars of Druidry and the esoteric sciences to conduct their research here just as they would in a physical library.
If you wish to donate a book to the library, please visit the Alibris Donate-A-Book program for a special offer on class discounts. You can visit our wish list and donate a book directly through Alibris:
John Dee Library Wish List at Alibris
Questions about Avalon's John Dee Library may be directed to the Librarian and Merlin of Avalon Center, Mr. Darren Meyer (Mangan Tairis) using our Contact form.
About Dr. Dee
Our library is named in honor of Dr. Dee because of his signal place in the history of magic, but also because he was himself a great collector of books. As Wikipedia notes:
Dee presented Queen Mary with a visionary plan for the preservation of old books, manuscripts and records and the founding of a national library, in 1556, but his proposal was not taken up. Instead, he expanded his personal library at his house in Mortlake, tirelessly acquiring books and manuscripts in England and on the European Continent. Dee's library, a center of learning outside the universities, became the greatest in England and attracted many scholars. (John Dee, Wikipedia)
For information about Dr. Dee's own collection of books, you may wish to consult the information here: Renaissance Man: The Reconstructed Libraries of European Scholars, 1450-1700 Series One: The Books and Manuscripts of John Dee, 1527-1608 is a series of microfilm reel collections published by Matthew Adams Publications. Page down in the above reference to find individual listings for the eight parts of Dee's library.
