source-research

name	source-research
description	Search and cite primary sources from Source Library. Use when asked what historical authors wrote, to find quotes from old texts, investigate alchemical or philosophical works, or cite translated Latin/German sources.

Source Research

Search the Source Library collection of translated historical texts and retrieve quotes with citations.

Collection Overview

116 books with translations, including:

• Ficino's Letters (841pp) & Complete Works (701pp)
• Agrippa's Occult Philosophy (626pp)
• Khunrath's Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom (638pp)
• Reuchlin's Wonder-Working Word (527pp)
• Bruno's Latin Works (426pp)
• Drebbel's Two Treatises (69pp)
• Conring on Hermetic Medicine (433pp)

Many of these authors appear in the Ficino Network visualization.

When to Use

• "What did Ficino/Drebbel/Agrippa write about..."
• "Find quotes about quintessence/soul/alchemy"
• "What do historical sources say about..."
• "Cite primary sources for..."
• Questions about Renaissance philosophy, Hermeticism, occult philosophy

When NOT to Use

• General historical questions (use web search instead)
• Post-1700 texts (collection focuses on Renaissance/Early Modern)
• Authors not in the collection (check /api/books first)
• Modern scholarship or secondary sources

API Endpoints

List All Books

curl -s "https://sourcelibrary-v2.vercel.app/api/books"

Returns all books with metadata including pages_count (translation coverage).

Search

curl -s "https://sourcelibrary-v2.vercel.app/api/search?q=QUERY"

Options:

• q=QUERY — Search term (required)
• language=Latin — Filter by language
• limit=10 — Results per page (default 10)
• offset=0 — Pagination offset

Example:

curl -s "https://sourcelibrary-v2.vercel.app/api/search?q=quintessence&limit=5"

Get Quote with Citation

curl -s "https://sourcelibrary-v2.vercel.app/api/books/BOOK_ID/quote?page=N"

Returns:

• quote.translation — English translation
• quote.original — Original Latin/German text
• citation.inline — e.g., "(Drebbel 1628, p. 57)"
• citation.footnote — Full footnote citation
• citation.chicago — Chicago style
• citation.bibtex — BibTeX format
• citation.doi_url — DOI link if available

Get Book Metadata

curl -s "https://sourcelibrary-v2.vercel.app/api/books/BOOK_ID"

Workflow

1. Search for the topic to find relevant pages
2. Note book IDs and page numbers from search results
3. Get quotes from specific pages for full text + citation
4. Present findings with inline citations

Example Session

# 1. Search for quintessence
curl -s "https://sourcelibrary-v2.vercel.app/api/search?q=quintessence&limit=3"

# Response shows: book_id "6836f8ee811c8ab472a49e36", page 45

# 2. Get the full quote with citation
curl -s "https://sourcelibrary-v2.vercel.app/api/books/6836f8ee811c8ab472a49e36/quote?page=45"

Citing in Responses

Use the citation.inline format in text:

"The Quintessence is an eternal, immutable, incombustible thing, like the invincible heaven, perfect in all the elements." (Drebbel 1628, p. 45)

For academic use, provide the full footnote citation from citation.footnote.

Handling Missing Data

• If a page returns 404, the book may not be fully translated yet
• Check pages_count in book metadata to see translation coverage
• Some books are in "draft" status and may have incomplete translations
• If DOI is available (has_doi: true), the translation is published and citable

Key Authors in Collection

Author	Work	Pages
Marsilio Ficino	Letters & Complete Works	1542
Heinrich Khunrath	Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom	638
Cornelius Agrippa	Occult Philosophy	626
Johannes Reuchlin	Wonder-Working Word	527
Giordano Bruno	Latin Works	426
Hermann Conring	On Hermetic Medicine	433
Cornelius Drebbel	Two Treatises	69