The Unblinking
As you know, we collect any number of biographies here at the Library. We employ all the usual finding aids, like Library of Congress subject headings, lexile numbers, L-space position tracking, and we try to keep up with FUBAR FRBR algorithmic searchability (extrapolating keywords from someone's search for "a book that was like you know blue and about a dog").
All the same, I think we see the most circulation and get the most positive feedback about our in-house curated displays and librarian-generated subject tags.
One of our librarians (commonly referred to as the Patrons' Saint) has a devoted following for her Wall of Death. That's where she puts works by, featuring, or about notable people who have recently died. That's in Adult Services, of course. The Juvenile counterpart, the Wall of Birth -- showcasing works by, featuring, or about notable people who were recently born -- is less popular.
My personal fascination and specialty is for grouping biographies by appellations.
Did you know that there are 416 Edward the Firsts? And 83 Soon the Lasts -- three of these following one after the other? There are only 12 various individuals with the appellate the Penultimate. Only one of these -- Hagmore the Penultimate -- has proven to be accurately named. (So far.)
Numbers are fun, of course, but I prefer the more descriptive appellations available. Not your average Justs, Bolds, Thriftys, or even the Wickeds, Mercilesses, and Double-Jointeds, who at least make for livelier reads. No, I like the nicknames that don't mean what you'd think. Or vary in their meaning from the individual to individual.
Take the Unblinking.
Admira the Unblinking was mocked with the moniker due to her overwhelming vanity. Apparently she could've given Narcissus a run for his obols in the gazing-into-one's-own-reflection arena.
Iaegerheim the Unblinking, on the other hand, was dubbed so more as a warning or explanation. A monastic scholar, he unnerved his own brethren with his intense ability to focus. Possibly autistic.
Sapnathha the Unblinking is a sadder case, having been tortured in the Habjiri Uprising. His eyelids were literally cut off and he went blind by the time he was 50. The nickname stuck, though.
Flueriatte the Unblinking was just a cool customer, but she legendarily stared down, among others, an inventor, a king, two Popes, and, alas, fatally, an inquisitor who didn't care to be stared out of countenance.
It's hard to be sure why Zes the Unblinking was called that, or even be 100% sure he wasn't just one of Don Quixote's more impenetrable (but persistent) hallucinations. I'm sure the allusions to his having extra eyes was allegorical, or at least hyperbole.
