In getting my books, I have been always solicitous of an ample margin; this not so much through any love of the thing in itself, however agreeable, as for the facility it affords me of penciling suggested thoughts, agreements and differences of opinion, or brief critical comments in general. Where what I have to note is too much to be included within the narrow limits of a margin, I commit it to a slip of paper, and deposit it between the leaves; taking care to secure it by an imperceptible portion of gum tragacanth paste. — Edgar Allen Poe on marginalia

i g u r e ]Y ́his manuscript by obraham firtelius S]c‘e–gfTW author of many geographical atlasesand dictionariesW is not a draft of any of his published works but a collection of notes underalphabetized geographical headingsY fin the right side of each page notes are entered on slips ofpaper glued into the notebook in alphabetical orderW following a common early modern methodof alphabetizationi the left side of the page is left blank for additional notes to add to thealphabetical entriesY ́he notebook already resembles the kind of work for which it gathersmaterial—the encyclopedic dictionaryY ”eproduction of an opening of firteliusW “ ́hesaurusgeographicusW” fllantinXfforetus ffuseum SontwerpT ff` ‘fcW from uilbert ́ournoyW “obrahamfirtelius et la poe ́sie politique de xacques van paerleW” in ”obert ̧Y yarrow et alYW tbrahamOrtelius Tdhej–dhlkUX cartographe et humaniste S ́urnhoutW ]ggfTW ppY ]da–dbi reproduction byvarvard ˆniversity ffedia `ervicesY