Conservatorium Mirabile
miris·bar
— quod miramur, in vitro custodimus —
A private conservatory of half‑mythic specimens, propagated sub oculis of the visitor and dispersed at the closing of the page. Established in the year of our reckoning MMXXVI.
The conservatory admits the unhurried visitor by appointment of the eye alone. Each plate within these folios is drawn afresh under your gaze, its hairlines composed in the engraver’s register and dispersed when the page is closed.
We propagate seven folios in measured succession: a frontispiece, an index of plates, the specimens themselves, the methodus of distillation, a hortus of curated experiences, the words of the keepers, and a closing seal in burnished gold.
Nothing is shouted. Nothing is sold. The visitor is admitted, attended, and escorted to the door with the residue of having been somewhere slow, expensive, and entirely particular to the hour of arrival.
Sequitur Index Florum
↓
Folium Secundum
Index Florum
Seven nested miniatures, framed within the baroque pouches of Aristolochia gigantea. A printer’s manicule (☞) marks the entry to each.
- ☞ I Frontispiece Fol. I
- ☞ II Index Florum Fol. II
- ☞ III De Materia Fol. III
- ☞ IV Methodus Fol. IV
- ☞ V Hortus Conclusus Fol. V
- ☞ VI Verba Custodum Fol. VI
- ☞ VII Colophon Fol. VII
Sequitur De Materia
↓
Folium Tertium
De Materia
The specimens themselves. Vitis vinifera climbs the left margin as the eye descends, and the four substances proper to the distiller’s art are laid in a quiet vertical inventory.
- I Aqua Vitae
- Cereali fermentato. Drawn from a single barley harvest, twice distilled in an alembic of beaten copper.
- II Spiritus Floris
- Ex floribus rarissimis. A maceration of jasmine, neroli, and a single petal of Papaver somniferum.
- III Resina Aromatica
- Olibanum et myrrha. Frankincense and myrrh, dissolved in the spirit through eleven careful days.
- IV Mel Conservatorium
- Apis mellifera. The honey of a single hive in the conservatory garden, given without measure or hurry.
Sequitur Methodus
↓
Folium Quartum
Methodus
The chambered alembic, drawn in the engraver’s idiom, attended by Mimosa pudica, the sensitive plant, whose leaflets fold pairwise from the tip when approached and reopen in their own slow time.
Approach the leaflets with the cursor; they will close. Withdraw, and they will, in time, recover.
The Alembic, in Three Movements
- I. Calefactio. The base spirit is brought to gentle heat in the lower chamber of the alembic. The vapour rises, leaving the heavier constituents of the wash behind in the still.
- II. Condensatio. The vapour passes through the condenser-coil, cooled by the slow circulation of conservatory water. It descends, drop by drop, into the receiving flask.
- III. Maturatio. The distillate rests, in glass, for a measured term, while the volatile notes settle and the substance gathers its final character.
Sequitur Hortus Conclusus
↓
Folium Quintum
Hortus Conclusus
The enclosed garden. Seven curated experiences, each given its own engraving. A single illuminated petal of Papaver somniferum, in Garnet Reserve, marks the rationed delight of each.
- I Aurora Spiritus An aperitif at the threshold of the long evening.
- II Vesperal A measured pour at the third hour of the conservatory.
- III Hortus Reservatus A reserve drawn from the private specimen-cabinet.
- IV Petalum Illuminatum A single illuminated petal, served at the conservator’s discretion.
- V Conversatio A small attended audience, by invitation, for fellow connoisseurs.
- VI Lectio Florum A reading of the conservatory folios, beneath the tall window.
- VII Sigillum The closing seal, pressed onto a folded note for the visitor.
Sequitur Verba Custodum
↓
Folium Sextum
Verba Custodum
Words of the keepers. Three short attributions, set in marginalia beside a single illustration of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, the warmth-flower of the conservatory.
-
“One sits, and the engraving begins. By the third folio one has forgotten that the page is a page at all.”
— A. de V., Conservatore
-
“The conservatory is to the contemporary web what the folio is to the pamphlet: a slower vessel, but a more lasting one.”
— M. Hortulanus, Custos Florum
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“I came for the spirits and stayed for the silence between the leaves. There is nothing else like it on the small-screen.”
— J. de la Pierre, Visitor, Annus MMXXVI
Sequitur Colophon
↓
Folium Septimum & Ultimum
Colophon
The closing seal. Lunaria annua, with translucent seed-pods drawn as concentric ellipses, attends the closing of the book.
Ex Conservatorio Mirabili · MMXXVI · Conditus
— finis —