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Let me tell you this story of a #pizza. To start with, the term pizza was likely first be recorded in the 10th century, in a Latin manuscript, but when was pizza delivery invented? And what is the connection to #bookhistory, anyway?
Well, do you like #magic?
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Well, do you like #magic?
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If you follow my account ( @dbellingradt) you may have noticed that I co-wrote a small book in 2017 about a famous collection of 140 magical manuscripts: the Leipzig collection. By the way, this is the book: https://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9783319595245
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The #pizza story, I mentioned in this thread, is one of too many fantastic stories these 140 manuscripts offer. Conjuring spirits, traveling through time and space, marrying nymphs, you name it, it is all here. Fancy an open access look on all mss:
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm%3A978-3-319-59525-2%2F1.pdf
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https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm%3A978-3-319-59525-2%2F1.pdf
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In this magical manuscript from the Leipzig collection: "IL VELO d’ INVISIBILTA o SEGRETO MIRABILE Per andar in qualsivoglia luogo invisibile" (open access here: https://bit.ly/3fdr2P0 ) we are offered an invisibility coat. And therefore we need a #pizza.
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So the manuscript hosts a recipe for receiving an invisibility coat. One is to fabricate dough by chewing wheat flower and mixing it with well water in a ‘new earthenware vase’, go to a gallows, chop its wood, make a fire and bake the mixture.
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The magical recipe explains that once it is baked, one is to engrave a circular drawing onto a piece of wood, taken from the gallows, which includes the words ‘Pane—pizza’
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The recipe continues: If one inserts this piece of wood into the pizza and utters ‘Candur, Candur, Candur’, a ‘black man’ (‘huomo nero’) will appear and deliver the invisibility coat — but one is to make sure to give him the bread first.
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It seems obvious that the pizza is the magical medium that delivers the invisibility coat (Hello #foodhistory). In a way, early modern magicians seem to have known how to get a pizza delivery. So next time you order a pizza from a delivery service, let them know!
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