Transformation of Knowledge

The most remarkable records of human endeavour sit side by side in the Schoenberg Collection. The purpose behind this catalogue is not only to give their particulars but also to sketch their role in the history of ideas. The reflection of this history in the material gathered here spans over four thousand years, from the practice of arithmetic in Babylon in the third millennium BC to a report on submarine detection experiments in 1919. Manuscripts, properly speaking, are not rare; they are unique. Each one provides a snapshot of one or more individuals grappling with the intellectual problems of their time