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Arts feature

John Dee thought he could talk to angels using medieval computer technology

But as this new exhibition at the Royal College of Physicians shows, he was much more than just a loony witch

16 January 2016

9:00 AM

16 January 2016

9:00 AM

I remember the shock, like a jolt of static electricity. One day, between taking my degree and beginning my first job, while looking through a 16th-century book about numerology that had once belonged to John Dee in the British Library, I came upon an annotation in his own neat italic hand casting up the numerical values of the letters of his name.

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Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee is at the Royal College of Physicians until 29 July.

You might disagree with half of it, but you’ll enjoy reading all of it. Try your first month for free, then just $2 a week for the remainder of your first year.


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