Major, major geekout

Earlier this week, I had two great conversations and had the most serious geekout near-plotz ever.  The first conversation was with a guy giving some lectures on German philosophy in 19th-century England, which is an important aspect of my research.  I asked a question after the previous lecture, and this time we followed lecture with lunch -- for an hour and a half.  It turns out he's not long out of his PhD, and we have some similar research interests.  He's now on my list of people who have volunteered to read my writing.

The next day, I met with a professor who is a one-man fan club and conservator of my buddy J.M. Kemble.  I had seen this prof. thanked in a footnote, and when I googled him, I discovered that he's at Trinity College, a five-minute walk up the road from Trinity Hall!

Before I proceed, a quick dramatis personae:

• Alfred Tennyson
• Most popular poet of his day (which was most of the 19th century)
• Attended but never got a degree from Trinity College, Cambridge
• Most famous poem: In Memoriam, about the tragic early death of...
• Arthur Henry Hallam
• Tennyson's best friend, also at Trinity
• Died suddenly at the age of 22
• John Mitchell Kemble
• A mutual friend of both the above at Trinity
• Pioneering, arrogant, and spirited Anglo-Saxon scholar

So on Tuesday, I rang the bell of Prof. Keynes's office (which, by the way, was in the building just behind Trinity's famous clock).  Upon entry, I followed him through a narrow bookcase-lined hallway to the main sitting room, which was in a proper state of academic dishevelment.  First, he "introduced me" to a marble bust of Kemble, which he had pulled out of a basement storeroom at Trinity in the '60s and claimed for his office.  Then, to amuse me while he made the tea, he gave me a binder with various original Kemble items in them -- holy cow, did the guy have tiny, precise writing!  When he came back, my host said, 'Here, I think you'll like this.'  He pulled out of its sleeve a copy of one of Kemble's pamphlets, On English Præterites, which I've read before.  'Look at the inscription.'  And here's what was inked on the cover:

Arthur H. Hallam

from his affectionate friend

JMKem

I could not believe my eyes.  This was Arthur Hallam's personal copy from Kemble.  I was completely gobsmacked.  What's even more nuts is that Simon (the professor) said that he'd gotten it from his old supervisor, and he's pretty sure she didn't know who Arthur Hallam was; she probably just picked this up somewhere.  WOW.  That's some incredible dumb luck.

After I was done having a fit, we talked for about an hour and a half about all the Kemble stuff that's out there (way more than I was aware of) and how he's really a project waiting to happen (PhD, book). I told him that it's my dream project post-PhD.  Who knows, maybe I can stick around Cambridge for a while working on that.  In any case, it was such a fun meeting.  This is the kind of thing you go to a place like Cambridge for.