I’m not exaggerating when I say that hardly a week goes by that I don’t reference the Book of Miracles​​. If you don’t know it, it’s an illuminated manuscript from 1545 cataloging the unusual, the bizarre, and the amazing. Some of the illustrations show scenes from the Bible, some show spectacular contemporary events (comets, rainbows, plagues… you know, your garden variety portents) and some show what the artist think will happen eventually (Book of Revelations-type images). 

My idle thought is that we haven’t progressed very much. Isn’t TikTok a modern version of this? Every flood, eclipse, near miss, or strange phenomenon is cataloged to lull all of us in the hoi polloi into rapt amazement. 

There’s an excellent reproduction​ by Taschen available if you’re looking to splurge on yourself.  These images are spectacular. I reference them for everything.