“In the 15th and 16th centuries, books were a source of imagination and wonder just as much as objects. All forms of education were considered an extravagance, only within reach of the aristocracy, gentry, and professional classes. By the middle of the fifteenth century, a strict minority of the male population of Europe possessed some measure of reading literacy in their own or in classical languages, and even fewer could write with any degree of proficiency." —from Earle Havens, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Graduate Seminar, “Halls of Wonder: Art, Science, and Culture in the Age of the Marvelous, 1450-1750,” Summer, 2012