I just learned about erasable writing tables: “such books would have been ideal for writing or sketching while walking, on horseback, or outdoors, as manipulating a quill, ink, and paper without a desk would have been almost impossible.”

If you liked this blog post, you’ll be interested in National Geographic’s map blog. “There is something magical about maps. They transport you to a place you’ve never seen, from the ocean depths to the surface of another planet. Or a world that exists only in the imagination of a novelist. Maps are time machines, too. They can take you into the past to see the world as people saw it centuries ago. Or they can show you a place you know intimately as it existed before you came along, or as it might look in the future. Always, they reveal something about the mind of the mapmaker. Every map has a story to tell.”