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James, the English antiquary and ghost-story writer, to whose work I am devoted.

The grand building, built by William Henry Playfair, has stood in the centre of Edinburgh for almost 200 years, housing many exhibitions over the years on subjects ranging from Scottish antiquaries to Andy Warhol.

Wilson structures “A Magical World” as essentially a series of lightly sketched biographies of the era’s most prominent theologians, philosophers, physicians, cosmographers and antiquaries.

Yet Irwin is hardly a dry-as-dust antiquary, and “Wonders Will Never Cease” frequently reveals the wide range of his reading: His description of the world’s end was obviously adapted from H.G.

“Surely my stars impelled me to be an antiquary,” he wrote.