Proofreading: "Excuse the coffee, please!"

It IS Sunday, but considering that fact that I took almost all Wednesday off this week (All saints/holiday in Spain), and made time for a really long walk today, I actually don´t mind doing some work this afternoon. Some days ago I received the proof/comments from the editor of a text which will be included in an anthology produced/compiled by my department. It is called “Allvarligt talat”/”Seriously (speaking)”, and my contribution is focusing on Agda Montelius, who was married to the archaeologist Oscar Montelius, and her travels and work together with him during the 1870´s and 1880´s. To treat myself –even if I really enjoy today´s task- I decided to move my office to a proper environment, i.e. a bar/café from the late 19^th century… I mean, why not work in an (almost) authentic environment if one has the chance? I moved from one to another, since the first one got a bit too noisy after a while… It´s fantastic that there are still quite a few of these old and more or less authentic interiors left in Barcelona.

Bar Muy Buenas

Bar Casa Almirall

As some of you already know, I am writing my thesis about international archaeological networks etc in the late 19^th century, focusing on Oscar Montelius (and Agda), and the source material includes loads of documents from the Montelius´ archives. During my last visit to the archive (in Stockholm) I came across a document that was not of interest to my current study, but still caught my interest. It was a proof, commented by Oscar to be sent to the translator of one of his publications. There are certain moments when you feel extra close to your study object, and this was one of these times. Just like I am this afternoon, Oscar was proofreading and all of a sudden he spilt his coffee on the script. No computers, no printers, so he had to keep the script as it was… Coffee stains and all...

"EXCUSE THE COFFEE PLEASE!"
Ref: Oscar Montelius arkiv, Antikvarisk-topografiska arkivet, Sthlm