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Giles Reading at the Window in his Office at the IAS. Spring 2014. Photography Mildred Budny.
Giles Constable: Colleague, Mentor, and Friend
Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Dutch Book of Hours made for a female patron in the mid 15th century. Opening page of the Hours of the Virgin: "Here du salste opdoen mine lippen". Image via Creative Commons. At the bottom of the bordered page, an elegantly dressed woman sits before a shiny bowl- or mirror-like object, in order, perhaps, to perform skrying or to lure a unicorn.
2021 Congress Program Announced
J. S. Wagner Collection, Early-Printed Missal Leaf, Verso. Rubric and Music for Holy Saturday. Reproduced by Permission.
Carmelite Missal Leaf of 1509
Set 1 of Otto Ege's FOL Portfolio, Leaf 19 recto: Deuteronomy title and initial.
Updates for ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 19’
Private Collection, Castle Cartulary Fragment, Inserted Folded Sheet, Opened: Top Righ
Fragments of a Castle ‘Capbreu’ from Catalonia
Grapes Watermark in a Selbold Cartulary Fragment.
Selbold Cartulary Fragments
Smeltzer Collection, Subermeyer (1598), Vellum Supports Strip 2 Signature Surname.
Vellum Binding Fragments in a Parisian Printed Book of 1598
Set 1 of Ege's FOL Portfolio, Leaf 14 recto: Lamentations Initial.
Some Leaves in Set 1 of Ege’s FOL Portfolio
Church of Saint Mary, High Ongar, Essex, with 12th-Century Nave. Photograph by John Salmon (8 May 2004), Image via Wikipedia.
A Charter of 1399 from High Ongar in Essex
View to the Dorm at the End of the Congress.
2019 Congress Behind the Scenes Report
Opening of the Book of Maccabees in Otto Ege MS 19. Private Collection.
A Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 19’ and Ege’s Workshop Practices
Private Collection, "Margaritas" fragment back side, lines 2-5.
The Pearly Gateway: A Scrap from a Latin Missal or Breviary
Preston Charter 7 Seal Face with the name Gilbertus.
Preston Take 2
The Outward-Facing Cat and a Hand of Cards. Detail from Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Keeping Up: Updates for Spring 2020
New York, Grolier Club, \*434.14\Aug\1470\Folio. Flavius Josephus, De antiquitate Judiaca and De bello Judaico, translated by Rufinus Aquileinensis, printed in Augsburg on paper by Johannn Schüsseler in 2 Parts, dated respectively 28 June 1470 and 23 August 1470, and bound together with a manuscript copy dated 1462 of Eusebius Caesariensis, Historia ecclesiastica.
2020 Spring Symposium Cancelled or Postponed
2020 Spring Symposium: Save the Date
At the Exhibition of "Gutenberg and After" at Princeton University in 2019, the Co-Curator Eric White stands before the Scheide Gutenberg Bible displayed at the opening of the Book of I Kings.
“Gutenberg and After” at Princeton University Library
Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Dutch Book of Hours made for a female patron in the mid 15th century. Opening page of the Hours of the Virgin: "Here du salste opdoen mine lippen". Image via Creative Commons. At the bottom of the bordered page, an elegantly dressed woman sits before a shiny bowl- or mirror-like object, in order, perhaps, to perform skrying or to lure a unicorn.
2020 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program Announced
J. S. Wagner Collection. Leaf from from Prime in a Latin manuscript Breviary. Folio 4 Recto, Initial C for "Confitimini" of Psalm 117 (118), with scrolling foliate decoration.
A Leaf from Prime in a Large-Format Latin Breviary
J. S. Wagner Collection. Detached Manuscript Leaf with the Opening in Latin of the Penitent Psalm 4 or Psalm 37 (38) and its Illustration of King David.
The Penitent King David from a Book of Hours
Bust of the God Janus. Vatican City, Vatican Museums. Photo by Fubar Obfusco via Wikimedia Commons.
2019 M-MLA Panel Program
Coffee Break at our 2002 British Museum Colloquium. Our Director, Dáibhí Ó Cróinin, and Giles Constable. Photograph by our Associate, Geoffrey R. Russom.
Revisiting Anglo-Saxon Symposia 2002/2018
The red wax seal seen upright, with the male human head facing left. Document on paper issued at Grenoble and dated 13 February 1345 (Old Style). Image reproduced by permission
2020 ICMS Call for Papers: Seal the Real
Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, MS 1183. Photograph courtesy Kristen Herdman.
2019 Anniversary Symposium Report: The Roads Taken
Heidere Diploma 2 in the Unofficial Version, with puns aplenty. The Diploma has an elaborate interlace border around the proclamation.
Heidere Diplomas & Investiture
2019 Anniversary Symposium: The Roads Taken
Detail of illustration.
Sanskrit and Prakrit Manuscripts
Poster announcing the Call for Papers for the Permanent Panels sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, to be held at the 2019 MMLA Convention in Chicago in November. Poster set in RGME Bembino and designed by Justin Hastings.
2019 M-MLA Call for Papers
Detail of recto of leaf from an Italian Giant Bible. Photography by Mildred Budny
2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program Details
Thomas E. Hill stands at the entrance to the Vassar College Library. Photography by Mildred Budny
Another Visit to The Library Cafe
Leaf 41, Recto, Top Right, in the Family Album (Set Number 3) of Otto Ege's Portfolio of 'Fifty Original Leaves' (FOL). Otto Ege Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Photograph by Mildred Budny.
More Discoveries for ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 41’
Augustine Homilies Bifolium Folio IIr detail with title and initial for Sermon XCVI. Private Collection, reproduced by permission. Photograph by Mildred Budny.
Vellum Bifolium from Augustine’s “Homilies on John”
Gold stamp on blue cloth of the logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence. Detail from the front cover of Volume II of 'The Illustrated Catalogue'
Design & Layout of “The Illustrated Catalogue”
Rosette Watermark, Private Collection. Reproduced by Permission
2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program
Libro de los juegos. Madrid, El Escorial, MS T.1.6, folio 17 verso, detail.
2018 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program
Poster Announcing Bembino Version 1.5 (April 2018) with border for Web display
Bembino Version 1.5 (2018)
Lower Half of the Original Verso of a Single Leaf detached from a prayerbook in Dutch made circa 1530, owned and dismembered by Otto F. Ege, with the seller's description in pencil in the lower margin. Image reproduced by permission.
A New Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 214’?
© The British Library Board. Harley MS 628, folio 160 verso. the initial 'd' for 'Domini'.
2018 M-MLA Call for Papers
Fountain of Books outside the Main Library of the Cincinnati Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
2017 M-MLA Panel Report
Leaf 41, Recto, Top Right, in the Family Album (Set Number 3) of Otto Ege's Portfolio of 'Fifty Original Leaves' (FOL). Otto Ege Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Photograph by Mildred Budny.
2017 M-MLA Panel
Poster for 'In a Knotshell' (November 2012)with border
Designing Academic Posters
Opening Lines of the Book of Zachariah. Courtesy of Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA. Reproduced by permission.
More Discoveries for “Otto Ege Manuscript 61”
Slice of Brie. Photograph by Coyau via Wikipedia Commons.
Say Cheese
Alcove Beside Entrance to Garneau at AZO 2017. Photography © Mildred Budny.
2017 Congress Report
Duck Family at the 2007 Congress. Photography © Mildred Budny.
2017 Congress Program
Verso of the Leaf and Interior of the Binding, Detail: Lower Right-Hand Corner, with the Mitered Flap Unfolde
A 12th-Century Fragment of Anselm’s ‘Cur Deus Homo’
Reused Leaf from Gregory's Dialogues Book III viewed from verso (outside of reused book cover) Detail of Spine of Cover with Volume Labels. Photograph © Mildred Budny.
A Leaf from Gregory’s Dialogues Reused for Euthymius
Detail of the top of the verso of the fragmentary leaf from a 13th-century copy of Statutes for the Cistercian Order. Reproduced by permission.
Another Witness to the Cistercian Statutes of 1257
Initial d in woodcut with winged hybrid creature as an inhabitant. Photography © Mildred Budny
The ‘Foundling Hospital’ for Manuscript Fragments
A Reused Part-Leaf from Bede’s Homilies on the Gospels
Detail of middle right of Verso of detached leaf from the Nichomachean Ethics in Latin translation, from a manuscript dispersed by Otto Ege and now in a private collection. Reproduced by permission.
More Leaves from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 51’
Running title for EZE on the verso of the Ezekiel leaf from 'Ege Manuscript 61'. Photography by Mildred Budny
A New Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 61’
Decorated opening word 'Nuper' of the Dialogues, Book III, Chapter 13, reproduced by permission
A New Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 41’
Private Collection, Leaf from Ege MS 14, with part of the A-Group of the 'Interpretation of Hebrew Names'. Photograph by Mildred Budny.
A New Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
A Reused Part-Leaf from Bede’s Homilies on the Gospels
Photography by David Immerman.
Radio Star
Close-Up of The Host of 'The Library Cafe' in the Radio Studio. Photography © Mildred Budny
A Visit to The Library Café
Booklet Page 1 of the 'Interview with our Font & Layout Designer' (2015-16)
Interview with our Font & Layout Designer
Initial I of Idem for Justinian's Novel Number 134, with bearded human facing left at the top of the stem of the letter. Photography © Mildred Budny
It’s A Wrap
The Brandon Plaque. Gold and niello. The British Museum, via Creative Commons.
Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (January 1992)
© The British Library Board. Cotton MS Tiberius A III, folio 117v, top right. Reproduced by permission.
Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (August 1993)
Invitation to 'Canterbury Manuscripts' Seminar on 19 September 1994
Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (September 1994)
Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence in Monochrome Version
Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (May 1989)
Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (colour version)
2016 Report for CARA
Heading of Blanked out Birth certificate after adoption completed.
Lillian Vail Dymond
Initial C of 'Concede'. Detail from a leaf from 'Otto Ege Manuscript 15', the 'Beauvais Missal'. Otto Ege Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Photograph by Lisa Fagin Davis. Reproduced by Permission
2016 Symposium on ‘Words & Deeds’
Detail with Initial G of Folio Ivb of Bifolium from a Latin Medicinal Treatise reused formerly as the cover of a binding for some other text, unknown. Reproduced by permission
Spoonful of Sugar
Detail of Leaf I, recto, column b, lines 7-12, with a view of the opening of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 23, verse 3, with an enlarged opening initial in metallic red pigment
New Testament Leaves in Old Armenian
Decoated initial E for 'En' on the verso of the Processional Leaf from ' Ege Manuscript 8'. Photography by Mildred Budny
A New Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 8’
Cloth bag, now empty, for the original seal to authenticate the document, which remains intact, for a transaction of about the mid 13th-century at Preston, near Ipswich, Suffolk, UK. Photograph reproduced by permission.
Full Court Preston
The Date 1538 on the Scrap, enhanced with photographic lighting. Photography © Mildred Budny
Scrap of Information
Lower half of Recto of Leaf from the Office of the Dead in a Small-Format Book of Hours. Photography © Mildred Budny
Manuscript Groupies
Detail of cross-shaft, rays of light, and blue sky or background in the illustration of the Mass of Saint Gregory. Photography © Mildred Budny
The Mass of Saint Gregory, Illustrated
Penwork extending from a decorated initial extends below the final line of text and ends in a horned animal head which looks into its direction. Photography © Mildred Budny
Lost & Foundlings

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Giles Constable: Colleague, Mentor, and Friend

January 21, 2021 in Announcements, Manuscript Studies

Giles Constable
(1 June 1929) — 17 January 2021)

With great sorrow, I report the death, at the age of 91, of Giles Constable, our Honorary Trustee, Associate, colleague, mentor, and friend. He will be greatly missed.

Our condolences are heartfelt for his family, his colleagues, his students, and his friends. Some of his former students are Research Group Trustees and Associates, and their descriptions of him over the years have been moving and inspiring.
Giles Reading at the Window in his Office at the IAS. Spring 2014. Photography Mildred Budny.

Giles Reading at the Window in his Office at the IAS. Spring 2014. Photography Mildred Budny.

Achievements

His achievements are many. Institutions to which he belonged, and to which he contributed, record the structure and components of his scholarly and administrative activities. For example, in these accounts:

  • Brief CV and Bibliography
  • Complete List of Publications and
  • Past Professor.

With the A. B. (1950) and Ph. D. (1957) from Harvard University, Giles taught at the University of Iowa (1955 to 1958) and at Harvard (1958 to 1984), for which he served as Director of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library in Washington, D. C.  At the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, he was Medieval History Professor in the School of Historical Studies (1985 to 2003) and then Professor Emeritus.

His participation in the life of his family, as brother, husband, in-law, father, and grandfather belongs among his merits.  He enriched the lives of many colleagues, students, and friends by words, advice, encouragement, and example.

Some of his former students are Research Group Trustees and Associates, and their descriptions of him over the years have been moving and inspiring.

Here we begin to gather some of these recollections.  The gathering began with our report of Giles’s passing on the day itself, in a posting on our Research Group Facebook Page.

*****

Colleague, Mentor, and Friend

We gather some photographs from our archives, in remembrance.  Above, we see Giles still at work, reading, in his post-retirement office at the Institute for Advanced Study.  The photograph made its debut in public on our Facebook Page, on 17 January 2021.

About that photograph, our Associate, Karl Morrison, observed as I worked to prepare this notice:

Thank you very much for capturing this image of Giles, no doubt in the act of reading something for somebody else.  [True.]  It reminded me that, for Giles, the center always held, and his gifts of mind and heart for encouraging companions on the way were the same as the definition of infinity:  the center was everywhere and the borders nowhere.

We offer some other images, from other occasions, starting with some which have already appeared on our website.

As Honorary Trustee of the Research Group

Giles Constable and James Marrow at the Meeting of the Honorary Trustees of the Research Group on 13 December 2013. Photography Mildred Budny.

Giles Constable and James Marrow at the Meeting of the Honorary Trustees of the Research Group on 13 December 2013. Photography Mildred Budny.

As Contributor to our Symposia, Colloquia, Seminars, and Workshops

At the 2002 British Museum Colloquium

Coffee Break at our 2002 British Museum Colloquium. Our Director, Dáibhí Ó Cróinin, and Giles Constable. Photograph by our Associate, Geoffrey R. Russom.

Coffee Break at our 2002 British Museum Colloquium. Our Director, Dáibhí Ó Cróinin, and Giles Constable. Photograph by our Associate, Geoffrey R. Russom.

At the 2002 ‘Investiture’ of our Associate, James P. Heidere

The 'Investiture' of our Research Group Associate, James P. Heidere, by Roger Reynolds and Giles Constable.

The ‘Investiture’ of our Research Group Associate, James P. Heidere, by Roger Reynolds and Giles Constable.

See also, among others, the 2014 Seminar on Manuscripts and Photography.

And now we offer some newly revealed photographs.

In his IAS office, with Alison Beach (2014)

Giles Constable with Alison Beach at his office in Spring 2014. Photography Mildred Budny.

Giles Constable with Alison Beach at his office in Spring 2014. Photography Mildred Budny.

About this photograph, Alison — who had been Postdoctoral Research Assistant to Professor Giles Constable1 (1998—2000) — commented:

With Giles at the Institute for Advanced Study consulting about the translation of the Chronicle of Petershausen in 2014. Giles encouraged Sam [Sutherland], Shannon [Li], and me to push on with and publish the translation.  What a privilege it was. . . . he seemed immortal to me.

*****

We gather recollections of Giles for this page and elsewhere.  We thank him for his generosity, kindness, advice, support, and friendship.

Our condolences are heartfelt for his family, his colleagues, his students, and his friends.

*****

Remembering Giles Constable

One of our Associates suggested that there might be established a fund for the Research Group in his memory and in support of activities and research which he encouraged?  Perhaps as part of Contributions and Donations, in funds and in kind?

Do you have recollections and souvenirs of Giles Constable that you would like to share?  Please add your Comments here, send us a message (Contact Us), or visit our Facebook Page.

*****

Tags: Giles Constable
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2021 Congress Program Announced

December 16, 2020 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Announcements, Conference, Conference Announcement, Events, Index of Medieval Art, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Societas Magica

Activities of the
Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
At the
56th International Congress on Medieval Studies
(10–15 May 2021)

Following the Call for Papers
(due by 15 September 2020)
and the Selection of Papers (due by 1 October 2020)
We announce the Program for our Sessions

#kzoo2021 / #kazoo2021

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Dutch Book of Hours made for a female patron in the mid 15th century. Opening page of the Hours of the Virgin: "Here du salste opdoen mine lippen". Image via Creative Commons. At the bottom of the bordered page, an elegantly dressed woman sits before a shiny bowl- or mirror-like object, in order, perhaps, to perform skrying or to lure a unicorn.

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Dutch Book of Hours. Image via Creative Commons.

Following the 2021 Congress Call for Papers, the Selection of proposed Papers, and the submission of the Programs for our Sessions to the Congress Committee (see our 2021 Congress Planning), we announce the Program for our Sessions and our other Activities for the 2021 ICMS Congress.

All activities at the Congress are scheduled to take place only “virtually”.  For such virtual plans, see the Congress page of the Medieval Institute. 

Watch this space. We await instructions from the Congress Committee regarding the revised approach to Sessions.

Note that, once the Committee announced that the Congress would have to go ‘virtual’, all 3 co-sponsors for our planned Reception agreed that it would make sense to wait for such an event until some suitable occasion in person.  However, we continue to plan for all 5 Sessions and our Open Business Meeting.

*****

After the cancellation of the 2020 Congress (see our 2020 Congress Program Announced), any preparations for the 2021 Congress permitted re-submitting the sessions which had been designed to take place in May 2020. By popular request, we performed that re-submission for all 5 Sessions. With approval by the Congress Committee, these Sessions joined the listings of all sessions on call on the Congress website — with additional details on our website, in our own 2021 Congress Call for Papers.

New for the 2021 Congress, all proposals (or re-proposals from 2020) had to be made through a Confex system, as directed on the Congress website. The new system imposed teething problems for prospective participants, Session Organizers, and Sponsors. The challenges emerged in several forms at various stages, including close to the several deadlines for submission of proposals for Sessions (1 June), receipt of proposals for their Papers (15 September), and submission of our choices for their Programs (1 October), along with the bookings for our Business Meeting and Reception.

Then could appear our announcement about our 2021 Congress Planning in Progress, while waiting to hear from the Congress Committee about approval for our proposed Programs and the scheduling of the Sessions.

Now, we announce the Programs of our Sessions and publish the Abstracts of their Papers.  (With updates as appropriate for the Abstracts which had been prepared for the 2020 Congress.)  The Abstracts are accessible both through this Announcement (You are Here) and through the Indexes of published Abstracts by Year and by Author.

We thank our Participants and Organizers for their contributions.  We look forward to the Sessions, and offer the Abstracts of Papers as a foretaste of the menu of discussion.

Read the rest of this entry →

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2021 Congress Program in Progress

October 14, 2020 in Announcements, Business Meeting, Conference, Conference Announcement, Index of Medieval Art, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Societas Magica, Uncategorized

Activities of the
Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
Planned for the
56th International Congress on Medieval Studies
(13–16 > 10–15 May 2021)

Preparations

Following the Call for Papers due by 15 September 2020
and now the Announcement by the Medieval Institute on 16 October 2020

[Posted on 15 October 2020, with updates]

Update on 16 October 2020:

Today the Medieval Institute announced on its Congress page these changes for the 2021 Congress, which affect both the date-span and the activities, to occur only “virtually”:

Due to the ongoing health crisis, the 2021 International Congress on Medieval Studies hosted by Western Michigan University’s Medieval Institute will be held virtually, Monday to Saturday, May 10 to 15, 2021. More details will be released as they become available.

We will miss the camaraderie of the in-person experience. We look forward to hosting a vibrant and intellectually engaging virtual conference that offers plenty of opportunity for stimulating interaction at a distance. Please mark your calendar for these revised dates.

Watch this space.  We await instructions from the Congress Committee regarding the revised approach to Sessions.

Update on 5 November 2020:

As the plans advance for the now-virtual Congress, we announce that we continue to plan for the Sessions and the Open Business Meeting, but not for a Reception.  We co-sponsors for the Reception agree that it would make sense to wait for such an event under conditions in person.  We look forward to the new stages in preparing for a fully online presentation of the 2021 Congress.

*****

After the cancellation of the 2020 Congress (see our 2020 Congress Program Announced), preparations for the 2021 Congress permitted re-submitting the sessions which had been designed to take place in May 2020.  By popular request, we performed that re-submission for all 5 Sessions.  With approval by the Congress Committee, these Sessions joined the listings of all sessions on call on the Congress website — with additional details on our website, in our own 2021 Congress Call for Papers.  #kzoo2021.

New for this year, all proposals (or re-proposals from 2020) had to be made through a Confex system, as directed on the Congress website.  The new system imposed some teething problems for prospective participants, Session Organizers, and Sponsors.  These challenges emerged in several forms at various stages, including close to the several deadlines for submission of proposals for papers and of the proposed programs of the Sessions.

Especially under such conditions, it was helpful to have the benefit of collaborative consultations, among all our Organizers, and with our Sessions Co-Sponsor.  We thank Dr. Elizabeth Teviotdale of the Medieval Institute especially for her swift responses directly along the way, when our Director had to turn to her repeatedly for help, information, and advice.

In time, we will announce the Programs which we have chosen for the Sessions, now that the Call for Papers has completed on 15 September 2020, and following our choices for those Programs by 1 October 2020.  Before announcing our plans in detail, we await their Confirmation or adaptation by the Congress Committee.  We thank our Participants and Organizers for their contributions.

Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons. A young lady, brightly lit and beautifully dressed, looks outward as an older woman, beneath a dark hood, holds a set of cards and stares at them with intent.

Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

The Plan We Had for the 2020 Congress

The Announcement for our Sessions and other Activities at the 2020 Congress describes what we planned.  As customary, we published the Abstracts of Papers, so as to record the intentions of speakers for their presentations. The Abstracts are accessible both through that Announcement and through the Indexes of published Abstracts by Year and by Author.

The Sessions included 3 Sessions sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence and 2 Sessions co-sponsored with the Societas Magica, in the 16th year of this co-sponsorship at the International Congress on Medieval Studies.

Like the 2015–2019 Congresses, we also planned for

  • an Open Business Meeting and
  • a co-sponsored Reception.

Even so, the Agenda for the postponed 2020 Business Meeting is available.  It takes into account the changes for Spring 2020:

  • 2020 Agenda.

The Plan We Have for 2021

We contemplate a similar approach to the 2021 Congress, conditions permitting.  [See Update above.]

For the 2021 Congress, we present the same Sessions, with a few changes.  Our pair of Sponsored Sessions dedicated to “Seal the Real I–II” remain as before.  The pair of co-sponsored Sessions dedicated to “Revealing the Unknown I–II” have some changes in the line-up.  One Session has a revised title (“Medieval Magic in Theory:  Prologues in Medieval Texts of Magic, Astrology, and Prophecy”).  For 2021, the Societas Magica has agreed also to co-sponsor this Session, so that the alignment of sponsorship has adapted to changing opportunities.

The 2021 Congress will be the 17th year of our co-sponsorship with the Societas Magica, in a constantly constructive partnership of friends, students, and colleagues.

As before, we have planned for an Open Business Meeting and a Co-Sponsored Reception.

For 2021, the co-sponsorship for a Reception joins the Research Group with the Societas Magica and The Index of Medieval Art, combining all 3 Sponsors in recent years.

[The virtual presentation of the Congress may allow for some form of Business Meeting and Reception.  Watch this Space.]

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Divination, History of Documents, History of Magic, Index of Medieval Art, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Manuscript studies, Medieval Seals, Skrying, Societas Magica
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Keeping Up: Updates for Spring 2020

April 4, 2020 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Announcements, Bembino, Business Meeting, Conference, Conference Announcement, ICMS, Index of Medieval Art, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Manuscript Studies, Princeton University, Societas Magica

Keeping Up:

Updates for Spring 2020

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Dutch Book of Hours made for a female patron in the mid 15th century. Opening page of the Hours of the Virgin: "Here du salste opdoen mine lippen". Image via Creative Commons. At the bottom of the bordered page, an elegantly dressed woman sits before a shiny bowl- or mirror-like object, in order, perhaps, to perform skrying or to lure a unicorn.

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Scrying, Perchance? Image via Creative Commons.

This Spring, the cancellation of 2 of our major events planned for this year, and intended to take place in mid-March and mid-May, produces perforce a redirection of energies and activities.  Call it “Regrouping”.

We report updates.

1.  Our 2020 Spring Symposium:  “From Cover to Cover”

Planned for 13–14 March at Princeton University
But Cancelled or Postponed

As preparations were proceeding apace, the event was cancelled by Princeton University — along with other events — on 9 March, in response to growing concerns for the spread of COVID-19 on a global scale.  Although at short notice, it was possible swiftly to cancel reservations for the venue, catering, and other services before participants had begun their journeys.

What We Planned

  • 2020 Spring Symposium: Save the Date
2020 Symposium "From Cover to Cover" Poster 2

2020 Symposium Poster 2

We aimed to consider, “From Cover to Cover”, activities dedicated to manuscripts, early printed materials, and beyond, from collecting and cataloguing to deciphering and beholding.  We prepared to gather specialists, teachers, students, and others engaged or interested in activities such as “Collecting, Curating, Conserving, Cataloguing, Deciphering, Reading, Reconsidering, Editing, Teaching, Displaying, Accessing, Beholding, and More”.

The focus was designed to center primarily upon medieval and early modern materials, both Western and non-Western.  The presentations would include reports of discoveries, work-in-progress, cumulative research, and collaborative projects by specialists from multiple centers, including independent scholars and younger scholars.

Included were workshops over original materials in manuscript and early print, a demonstration of materials and processes for medieval scripts, discussions about databases devoted to manuscripts and rare books, and sessions addressing multiple activities approaching medieval, early modern, and other textual resources.  Subjects would span a wide range geographically and chronologically, and take care to attend to the material and bibiographical evidence.

What We Can Do

There are requests for rescheduling the Symposium, or parts thereof, when conditions might permit.

Meanwhile, we can publish the Symposium Booklet.  At the time of cancellation, it had come close to completion for printing and distributing at the event and then afterward, as is our custom.  For example:

  • 2019 Anniversary Symposium on “The Roads Taken”
  • 2016 Symposium on ‘Words & Deeds”
  • 2014 Symposium on “Recollections of the Past”
  • 2013 Symposium on “Identity & Authenticity”

For all these and our other Booklets (see our Publications), the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence is the nonprofit publisher and distributor.  The design and layout conform with our Style Manifesto and employ our own digital font Bembino .

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Anonymous, Still Life of an Illuminated Book, German School, 15th century. Oil on Wood. Opened book with fanned pages. Image via Wikimedia, Public Domain.

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Anonymous, Still Life of an Illuminated Book, German School, 15th century. Image via Wikimedia, Public Domain.

The new 44-page Symposium Booklet contains the 2020 Symposium Program, Abstracts of the Papers and Masterclasses, and a set of accompanying Illustrations (some published for the first time).  The Booklet includes corrections and revisions offered by several of the authors as we completed the layout and editing, after the cancellation of the event.

It is the longest so far of all our Symposium Booklets. The 2019 Booklet for “The Roads Taken” has 28 pages, and the 2016 Booklet for “Words & Deeds” has 24 pages.  Only the Booklet for our multi-lingual digital font Bembino is longer, at 56 pages, including all the font tables for the different styles and languages. That Booklet and the font itself (now in Version 1.6) are freely available for download and use (commercial use included).  Here:  Bembino .

Our illustrated 2020 Spring Symposium Booklet is likewise freely available for download. As with other cases, for your convenience, we make it available in 2 versions, which may suit different printing arrangements, as wished.  The versions are:

  • printable in consecutive quarto-sized pages (8 1/2″ × 11″)
    2020 Spring Symposium Booklet as Consecutive Pages
  • printable as double sheets (11″ × 17″) which can be folded into the booklet, nesting the bifolia within each other
    — a design which does not require staples for closure and perusal
    2020 Spring Symposium as a Foldable Booklet

We thank our hosts, sponsors, contributors, owners and donors of images, editor, copy-editor, and layout designer. The publication is our gift to all who aimed to participate in the event and to follow its ‘ripples’ after the accomplishment of the Symposium. We offer it as a ‘souvenir’ of what our contributors, and the spirit of generous participation, intended for the event.

While we may explore plans to reschedule the event, or its parts, in some way or ways, the Booklet stands as a place-holder, and as a vivid glimpse of what could be and, indeed, can be. The gathering energy and enthusiasm for the event, as the weeks and days advanced toward it, remain a testimony to the constructive collective spirit which inspired it.

2020 Symposium "From Cover to Cover" Poster 1

2020 Symposium Poster 1

_____

With these observations, I am reminded of the Motto which I chose, years ago, for the 2-volume Illustrated Catalogue, co-published by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence.

For Books are not absolutely dead things,
but doe contain a potencie of life in them
to be active as that soule was whose progeny they are;
nay, they do preserve as in a violl the purest efficacie and extraction
of the living intellect that bred them.

John Milton, Aeropagitica (1644)

Perhaps same as it ever was.

_____

Cover Page for Sorenson (2020 Spring Symposium Paper as Draft for Comment), with an array of illustrations and the title "Introduction to Indian Manuscripts"

Cover Page for Sorenson (2020 Spring Symposium Paper as Draft for Comment)

P. S.  Already one of our speakers, David W. Sorenson, has provided a draft version of his intended Symposium Paper for feedback. It expands the Abstract which appears in the 2020 Spring Symposium Booklet.

The paper provides “A Quick Introduction to Indian Manuscripts for the Non-Specialist”, with examples and illustrations.

With permission, we offer here his pdf.

Please contact us with your questions or suggestions.  (Contact details below.)

*****

2.  Our Activities at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies

Planned for 7–10 May at Kalamazoo
But Cancelled or Postponed

On 17 March, this year’s International Congress on Medieval Studies in May was cancelled, and with it all the activities which we were to sponsor and co-sponsor there, including Sessions and other meetings.  The Congress organizers declared that “We invite the organizers of sponsored . . . sessions approved for the 2020 Congress to re-propose them for the 2021 congress.  If proposed, they will be approved automatically”.

Unlike some organizations, who have declared this intention to re-present for the 2121 Congress, we do not know automatically if such a course would be appropriate for us, or for each and every one of our sessions.  Time will tell.

2019 Anniversary Reception Invitation. set in RGME digital font Bembino.

2019 Anniversary Reception Invitation.

Poster for our Session co-sponsored with the Societas Magica on "Celtic Magic Texts", organized by Phillip A. Bernhardt-House and sponsored by both the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence amd the Societas Magica at the 2018 International Congress on Medieval Studies. Poster set in RGME Bembino.

2018 Poster

The cancellation came in time before all reservations for the journey had been set into place.  Because our customary year-long preparations for the Congress had not reached the last weeks of its approach, we had not yet prepared the customary Posters for our Sessions or the Invitations to the Reception and Business Meeting, nor had the Agenda for that Meeting yet been drawn up.  Posters for previous Congresses show the standards.

However, we did in place have a series of posts on our website (You Are Here) announcing the plans for our 2020 Congress Activities, in stages with updates:

  • the Call for Papers for our approved Sessions, with descriptions of their aims and with selected Images (poster-worthy when the time would come) to exemplify their subjects and scope
  • the 2020 Congress Program, with the authors and titles of the selected Papers for each Session — including a permitted extra Session, given the strength of the responses to the Call, for our proposed Session “Seal the Real”
  • the 2020 Congress Program Announced, with the times and rooms assigned by the Congress Committee for our Program Activities, and with some of the Abstracts for the Papers.

In keeping with custom, we had begun, one by one (starting with the New Year), to post the Abstracts, as a foretaste for the presentations and discussions to come.

The cancellation of the Congress brought these stages to a halt, for a while, during which time we turned to other tasks — including the on-going follow-up from the cancellation or postponement of our Spring Symposium, and the completion of its Booklet.

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Dutch Book of Hours made for a female patron in the mid 15th century. Opening page of the Hours of the Virgin: "Here du salste opdoen mine lippen". Image via Creative Commons. At the bottom of the bordered page, an elegantly dressed woman sits before a shiny bowl- or mirror-like object, in order, perhaps, to perform skrying or to lure a unicorn.

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. mage via Creative Commons.

What We Planned

  • 2020 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program Announced

We prepared for 5 Sessions with Papers, an Open Business Meeting, and a Reception.

These resemble the numbers and sorts of our activities in recent years at the Annual Congress.  For example:

  • 2019 Congress
  • 2018 Congress
  • 2017 Congress
  • 2016 Congress
  • 2015 Congress

This year’s plans also involved our 2 co-sponsors in recent years for Sessions and/or Receptions.

A.  Sessions

We prepared for 5 Sessions this year.

3 Sessions Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

1–2. Seal the Real: Documentary Records, Seals & Authentications

organized by Mildred Budny

Part I.  Signed & Sealed
Part II.  × Marks the Spot

3. Prologues in Medieval Texts of Magic, Astrology, and Prophecy

organized by Vajra Regan

Logo of the Societas Magica, reproduced by permission

Logo of the Societas Magica

2 Sessions Co-Sponsored with the Societas Magica
in the 16th year of this collaboration

4–5. Revealing the Unknown

organized by Sanne de Laat and László Sándor Chardonnens

Part I.  Scryers and Scrying in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period
Part II.   Sortilège, Bibliomancy, and Divination

B.  2020 Open Business Meeting of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

1-Page Agendas customarily provided at the time.  This year we send it out already.  (See below.)

C.  Reception co-sponsored with the Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University
in the 3rd year of this collaboration

_____

P. S.  Part of Mildred Budny’s on-going research on the subject of seals and signatures, which would have figured in her Response to Session II of our “Seals” Sessions, now appears on our blog, Manuscript Studies, presenting Preston Take 2.  (See the Contents List for the blog, as more discoveries await publication.)

_____

P. P. S.  It is not lost on us that some of our planned Sessions for 2020 were to consider aspects of the history of divinatory skills across time and place.  But when we collectively chose these, as well as other subjects, last year for our sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions this year, it was not easy to guess then that this year’s Sessions would not take place, after all, at their appointed time and place.

Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons. A young lady, brightly lit and beautifully dressed, looks outward as an older woman, beneath a dark hood, holds a set of cards and stares at them with intent.

Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

What We Can Do

A.  Abstracts for the 2020 Congress Papers

Detail of opened book with schematic text. Photography © Mildred BudnyOur custom is to post on our website the Abstracts for the Papers of our Sessions at the Congress.  (See our Abstracts for Congress Papers.)  This year is no different.

In the winter of 2019–2020, we had begun to post the 2020 Abstracts, one by one, as is our custom.  They are linked to our announced Program: 2020 Congress Program Announced. The Abstracts function as a foretaste of the ‘Menu’ of the Sessions, and can provide a record of their subjects, aims, and scope of the presentations.

Already in earlier years (as with the 2016 Congress and the 2014 Congress), as a sign of appreciation, we chose to adopt the tradition of posting Abstracts even when a contributor was unable to travel to the Congress and to present the paper in person.  The publication of such Abstracts states that, although proposed, accepted, and scheduled within the Session and Congress Program, the paper was not, in the event, presented.

Before March 2020, only once before, in more than 30 years of activities in many centers in the United States and elsewhere (see our Events and Congress Activities), has the Research Group had to cancel an event itself.  That case was only 1 Session among 7 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies in May 2013.

This year, after the cancellation of both our 2020 Spring Symposium (see above) and the 2020 Congress, we first turned to completing the Symposium Booklet, and then to completing the posting of the 2020 Abstracts.

Those tasks are now accomplished.  For these Congress Abstracts, see

  • 2020 Congress Program Announced and Abstracts of Congress Papers Listed by Year.

For the Symposium Booklet, see

  • 2020 Spring Symposium: Save the Date

Thus we honor the intentions of our participants and their readiness to contribute to our events.

Next, we might turn to contemplating further activities, and perhaps rescheduling some of these ones.

[Update:  In the summer and autumn of 2020, we advance with planning to hold the same Sessions, albeit with a few changes, at the 2021 Congress.  See the 2021 Congress Program in Progress.]

B.  Agenda for the 2020 Business Meeting

Meeting to be rescheduled:  Time and Place to be Determined

The Annual Agendas for our Open Business Meetings, customarily held at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, remain available for consultation.

  • 2019 Agenda
  • 2018 Agenda
  • 2017 Agenda
  • 2016 Agenda
  • 2015 Agenda

These 1-page statements serve as concise Reports for our Activities, Plans, and Desiderata.  After the Meetings, the Abstracts are available for download on our website.  Some of them remain among the most popular downloads here.

Normally, the Agenda is presented at the Meeting.  This year, we send it out ahead of time.  It incorporates the updates of Spring 2020 and their constructive measures.

  • 2020 Agenda

It is not yet clear when this year’s Meeting, which had to be postponed, will take place.  Under present circumstances, we may contemplate a virtual meeting, say via online conferencing in some form.

Please let us know if you wish to participate in the Meeting.  We invite your comments, questions, and suggestions.  (See below.)

C. More

We thank all our contributors to the 2020 events.  The continuing momentum for such activities is a tribute to you all.

Please Contact Us with your questions and suggestions, for example to items on our  2020 Agenda.

For updates, please visit this site, our News & Views, and our Facebook Page .

For our nonprofit educational mission, with tax-exempt status, your donations in funds and/or in kind (expertise, materials, time) are welcome. Join us!

Tags: 'Manuscript Studies' Blog, 2020 Congress, 2020 Symposium, Bembino, Bembino Digital Font, Business Meeting, Early Printing, History of Documents, Manuscript studies, Medieval Studies, Seals and Signatures, Style Manifesto
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2020 Spring Symposium Cancelled or Postponed

March 10, 2020 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Announcements, Conference, Conference Announcement, Index of Medieval Art, Princeton University, Uncategorized

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Anonymous, Still Life of Illuminated Book (circa 1510). Image via Wikimedia Commons..

“From Cover to Cover”

Activities Devoted to Manuscripts, Early Printed Books & Beyond
From Collecting & Cataloguing to Deciphering & Beholding

2020  Spring Symposium
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University
* Friday & Saturday 13–14 March 2020

Update 5 April 2020

The Symposium Booklet is now published and available for download. See Keeping Up: Updates for Spring 2020.

* Update 9 March 2020 

This event is now cancelled, as Princeton University and other institutions respond to current health concerns, and take precautions regarding travel and meetings of various kinds in person.  The Symposium might be rescheduled, conditions permitting.  

Its plan is described in the announcement to Save the Date for our 2020 Spring Symposium .

Meanwhile, the Research Group aims to complete the Symposium Booklet and distribute it to contributors, registrants, and others, as a souvenir of our speakers’ good intentions.  Already, as a sign of appreciation, the Research Group has adopted the custom of posting on our website the abstracts of contributors who become unable to attend to present in person (as with the 2018 Congress, among others).

This time, under wider — even global — circumstances affecting the ensemble as a whole, we wish to show appreciation for the remarkable enthusiasm and dedication for the collaborative event demonstrated by our hosts, sponsors, speakers, moderators, and others.  This knowledge is something to remember with satisfaction, gratitude, and praise.

The publication could, perhaps, give a token to show for our shared efforts, and to demonstrate something of the spirit of dedication and focus which prepared to assemble for the event itself.

This aim might help to ease some of the disappointment over cancellation, while the cancellation itself might ease some uncertainties about travel at present.

*****

P. S.  Only once before, in more than 30 years of activities in many centers in the United States and elsewhere (see our Events and Congress Activities}, has the Research Group had to cancel an event.  It, however, was only 1 Session among 7 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies in May 2013, when the Session organizer and 2 presenters were unable to travel to the Congress.  We honored their intentions to contribute by continuing to record their abstracts and the statement of purpose of the Session on this  website.

Similar solidarity pertains to our record of this intended 2020 Spring Symposium.  This post (You are Here) reports the Cancellation or Postponement.

In the post announcing the Symposium, describing its scope, and providing its Program, not only do we now report the Cancellation or Postponement (as here), but also we preserve the description of the event in the updated version just before the decision to cancel this Symposium, among many gatherings at Princeton University and elsewhere at the beginning of the week in which the Symposium was planned to take place. See Save the Date.

2020 Symposium "From Cover to Cover" Poster 2

2020 Symposium Poster 2

New York, Grolier Club, \*434.14\Aug\1470\Folio. Flavius Josephus, De antiquitate Judiaca and De bello Judaico, translated by Rufinus Aquileinensis, printed in Augsburg on paper by Johannn Schüsseler in 2 Parts, dated respectively 28 June 1470 and 23 August 1470, and bound together with a manuscript copy dated 1462 of Eusebius Caesariensis, Historia ecclesiastica.

New York, Grolier Club, *434.14Aug1470Folio. 15th-century German binding for historical texts in print (Augsburg, 1470) and manuscript (1462). Image courtesy Meghan Constantinou.

*****

Watch this space and visit our FaceBook Page for updates.  For questions and suggesions,  please contact director@manuscriptevidence.org.

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2020 Spring Symposium: Save the Date

February 15, 2020 in Announcements, Conference, Conference Announcement, Events, Index of Medieval Art, Princeton University, Reception, Uncategorized

New York, Grolier Club, \*434.14\Aug\1470\Folio. Flavius Josephus, De antiquitate Judiaca and De bello Judaico, translated by Rufinus Aquileinensis, printed in Augsburg on paper by Johannn Schüsseler in 2 Parts, dated respectively 28 June 1470 and 23 August 1470, and bound together with a manuscript copy dated 1462 of Eusebius Caesariensis, Historia ecclesiastica.

New York, Grolier Club, *434.14Aug1470Folio.

“From Cover to Cover”

Activities Devoted to Manuscripts, Early Printed Books & Beyond
From Collecting & Cataloguing to Deciphering & Beholding

2020  Spring Symposium
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University
Friday & Saturday 13–14 March 2020

 

Update 5 April 2020

The Symposium Booklet, with illustrations and Abstracts of Papers, is now published and available for download.
See Keeping Up: Updates for Spring 2020.

The Abstract of one paper in the 2020 Symposium Booklet has been expanded to a Draft Paper, available for Feedback:

  • “A Quick Introduction to Indian Manuscripts for the Non-Specialist”, with examples and illustrations,
    downloadable here.

Update 9 March 2020

This event is now cancelled, as Princeton University and other institutions respond to current health concerns, and take precautions regarding travel and meetings of various kinds in person.
The Symposium might be rescheduled, conditions permitting.  

Meanwhile, the Research Group aims to complete the Symposium Booklet and distribute it to contributors, registrants, and others, as a souvenir of our speakers’ good intentions.  Already, as a sign of appreciation, we have adopted the custom of posting on our website the abstracts of contributors who become unable to attend to present in person (as with the 2018 Congress, among others).

This time, under wider — even global — circumstances affecting the ensemble as a whole, we wish to show appreciation for the remarkable enthusiasm and dedication for the collaborative event demonstrated by our hosts, sponsors, speakers, moderators, and others.  This knowledge is something to remember with satisfaction, gratitude, and praise.

The publication could, perhaps, give a token to show for our shared efforts, and to demonstrate something of the spirit of dedication and focus which prepared to assemble for the event itself.

This aim might help to ease some of the disappointment over cancellation, while the cancellation itself might ease some uncertainties about travel at present.

P. S.  Only once before, in more than 30 years of activities in many centers in the United States and elsewhere (see our Events and Congress Activities}, has the Research Group had to cancel an event.  It, however, was only 1 Session among 7 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies in May 2013, when the Session organizer and 2 presenters were unable to travel to the Congress.  We honored their intentions to contribute by continuing to record their abstracts and the statement of purpose of the Session on this  website.

Similar solidarity pertains to our record of this intended 2020 Spring Symposium.  A summary of this Update appears in its own post.

Here we preserve the description of the event in the updated version just before the decision to cancel this Symposium, among many gatherings at Princeton University and elsewhere at the beginning of the week in which the Symposium was planned to take place.

*****

What We Planned

Saint Andrew. Oil on Canvas. Artus Wollfort (1581–1641). Private Collection, Public Domain. Via Wikipedia Commons.

Saint Andrew. Oil on Canvas. Artus Wollfort (1581–1641). Private Collection, Public Domain. Via Wikipedia Commons.

We announce the next Symposium of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, to be held at Princeton University on Friday afternoon and Saturday, 13–14 March 2020. This event follows from, and builds upon, our earlier events, including our 2019 Anniversary Symposium, also held at Princeton University.

Our subject this time: “From Cover to Cover”.   Some say, “That Covers It”.  (We might well agree.)

Such activities include Collecting, Curating, Conserving, Cataloguing, Deciphering, Editing, Reading, Teaching, Translating, Displaying, Accessing, Beholding, Reconsidering, and More.  Cover to Cover.

Naturally, these activities need not necessarily occur in that order, and often they appear in combination.

In addition we consider activities dedicated to manuscripts, early printed books, and beyond, in terms (as is our custom) of both media and chronology.  As often, we consider medieval manuscripts and early printed books from Western Europe, but also— as usual — we examine materials from other cultures, languages, and time-frames.

This recognition of the processes (necessarily integrated) infuses the collection of presentations and conversations which our Symposium aims to gather.  In a nutshell:  Food for Thought, Refreshments included.

For which ability, we have Sponsors, Hosts, Trustees, Associates, Contributors, and Volunteers heartily to thank.

Sponsors

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Department of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University

The Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University

Program in Medieval Studies, Princeton University

James Marrow and Emily Rose

Barbara A. Shailor

Celia Chazelle

The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies

The Bibliographical Society of America

Vassar College

On the Road

Poster 1 for 2019 Anniversary Symposium, with symposium information with images of manuscript and early printed pages..

Poster 1 for 2019 Symposium

Poster 2 for 219 Anniversary Symposium, with symposium information and 2 images of cropped initials, from 12th-century Latin manuscripts, from the Princeton University Art Museum.

Poster 2 for 2019 Symposium

Following upon, and building upon, the success of our Anniversary Symposium last year, we prepare the 2020 Spring Symposium.  Its date is now set, as is the Schedule.  (See below.)

For our 2019 Anniversary Symposium, see its Report and its freely downloadable 2019 Anniversary Symposium Booklet.  Like the Booklet, the 2 Posters (seen here) illustrate examples of manuscripts (Western and non-Western) showcased in the Symposium, its papers, and its workshops.

All these publications, as customary, are set in our very own copyright multilingual font Bembino , and designed and laid out according with our Style Manifesto.  This font is freely available through our website, for your use – whether individual, nonprofit, or commercial.

Both the font, and its descriptive Booklet, are downloadable here .  We have also prepared a booklet showing its abilities in setting multiple languages, both Western and non-Western.  See Multi-Lingual Bembino . Plus our Style Manifesto .

Cover Story

Now we turn to our 2020 Spring Symposium.  Please register (details below).

Gladly we list the Sponsors, Speakers, and Moderators.

Speakers and Moderators (in alphabetical order)

Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection, MS LJS 101, folio 1v. Opening of Boethius's translation of Aristotle's "Peri erimenias" within a collection of secular and classical texts, France, possibly at the Abbey of Fleury (Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire), 9th–11th centuries. Photograph courtesy OPenn.

Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection, MS LJS 101, folio 1v. Photograph courtesy OPenn.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS latin 190, folio 1r. Opening page of the Commentarii notarum tironiarum, with an enlarged initial decorated with interlace and foliate ornament. Image via gallica.bnf.fr.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS latin 190, folio 1r. Photograph via gallica.bnf.fr.

Christine E. Bachmann (Art History Department, University of Delaware and Graduate Student Fellow 2019–2020, Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, University of Pennsylvania)

Mildred Budny (Director, Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, Princeton)

Raymond Clemens (Curator, Early Books and Manuscripts, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven)

Meghan Constantinou (Librarian, The Grolier Club, New York, New York)

Barbara Williams Ellertson (Books as Symbols in Renaissance Art and Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)

Lynley Anne Herbert (Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland)

Carson Koepke (Program in Medieval Studies, Yale University)

Laura Light (Director and Senior Specialist, Text Manuscripts, Les Enluminures)

John T. McQuillen (Associate Curator, Printed Books & Bindings, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, New York)

Bernard Maisner (Bernard Maisner and Bernard Maisner, Master Calligrapher)

New York, Morgan Library & Museum, PML 7, folio P2r. Blockbook of Apocalypsis Sancti Johannis, printed in Germany circa 1468. Revelation 15:1, with hand-colored illustration.

New York, Morgan Library & Museum, PML 7, folio P2r. Blockbook of Apocalypsis Sancti Johannis, printed in Germany circa 1468. Revelation 15:1, with hand-colored illustration.

Sabrina Minuzzi (Researcher in Early Modern History, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

Ronald D. Patkus (Associate Director of the Libraries for Special Collections and Vassar Head of Special Collections, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York)

Pamela Patton (Director, Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University)

Lynn Ransom (Curator of Programs, The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, University of Pennsylvania Libraries)

Helmut Reimitz (Professor of History and Director, Program in Medieval Studies, Princeton University)

Jessica L. Savage (Art History Specialist, Index of Medieval Art)

Barbara A. Shailor (Department of Classics, Yale University, and President, Bibliographical Society of America)

       David W. Sorenson (Independent, Quincy, Massachusetts)

Kelly Tuttle (Project Cataloger, Manuscripts of the Muslim World, University of Pennsylvania Libraries)

Eric White (Curator of Rare Books and Acting Curator of Manuscripts, Special Collections, Firestone Library, Princeton University)

Princeton University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections, William H. Scheide Library, 53.8. Latin Bible in double columns of 49 lines, printed in Strasbourg by Johann Mentelin, not after 1460 CE.

Princeton University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections, William H. Scheide Library, 53.8. Latin Bible (printed in Strasbourg by Johann Mentelin, not after 1460 CE.) Photograph courtesy Princeton University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections.

The Aim

In a nutshell.

2020 Spring Symposium Announcement, describing the scope of the event, listing the Sponsors, and citing the link to the registration form.

The Plan

Day 1

Friday 13 March: Classes, Workshops, Discussion, and a Reception

1) 12:00–1:00, 12:00–1:30, or 12:00–2:00pm (By Invitation)
Seminar Room of the Index of Medieval Art

“Comparing Notes about Databases:  Past, Present & Futures”
An Informal Discussion

2–3) 1:00–2:45 pm or 3:00–4:45 pm
Classes on Site at Firestone Library (Registration Required and Space Limited)

For registration for these classes and the symposium, see below.

“Material Evidence: A Workshop with 15th-Century Manuscripts and Incunabules”

Classes given (twice) by Eric White, Curator of Rare Books, Princeton University Library, in the Large Classroom of Floor C (Rare Books and Special Collections) at Firestone Library

Please gather in the Lobby at the entrance to Firestone Library, for special escorted access to Floor C, where there are lockable lockers (free) for your coats and cases, before entry to Special Collections.

2) Class 1:  Meet at 1:00 for 1:15–2:45 pm

3) Class 2 (repeated):  Meet at 3:00 for 3:15–4:45 pm

or

4) Session 3:00–5:00 pm
106 McCormick Hall

“Materials, Processes & Products:  A Workshop”

This workshop offers presentations by Bernard Maisner on “The Materials and Methods of Medieval & Renaissance Manuscript Gold-Illumination Techniques” and by David W. Sorenson on “An Introduction to Indian Manuscripts for the Non-Specialist”, along with curated displays of original materials in private collections and demonstrations of results from their close study.

5) Reception

5:00–7:00 pm
Lobby outside 106 McCormick Hall

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Anonymous, Still Life, German school of the XVI century, circa 1510, oil on wood, 70.2 × 65 cm. Opened book with fanned leaves showing pages of text and music set out in double columns and adorned with decorated initials and illustrations. Image via Wikimedia, public domain.

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Anonymous, Still Life of an Illuminated Book, German school of the XVI century, circa 1510. Opened book with fanned leaves. Image via Wikimedia, public domain.

Day 2

Saturday 14 March:  Sessions, Refreshments, and Reception

106 McCormick Hall and its Lobby

6) 10:00 am – 5:30 pm

Sessions, Coffee Breaks, Lunch, and Discussion

7) Reception (5:30–7:00 pm)

2020 Symposium "From Cover to Cover" Poster 2

2020 Symposium Poster 2

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The Schedule

The Schedule is available here.

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Registration

Please register for the Symposium.  We offer the Registration form as a downloadable pdf .

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Maps and Directions

Here.

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Please Contact us with questions and suggestions.

Watch this space and visit our FaceBook Page for updates.

We invite you to donate to our nonprofit educational mission. Donations may be tax-deductible. We welcome donations in funds and in kind: Contributions and Donations .

Please join us at the symposium, open to all.  You can register here .

*****

Tags: Early Printing, manuscript fragments, Manuscript Illumination, Manuscript studies, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Medieval Studies, Medieval Writing Materials, Spring Symposium
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2020 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program Announced

January 18, 2020 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Announcements, Bembino, Conference, Conference Announcement, Index of Christian Art, Index of Medieval Art, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Societas Magica

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies
7–10 May 2020

Program Announced
[NOW CANCELLED OR POSTPONED]

[Update on 12 July 2020:  Now see 2021 International Congress on Medieval Studies Call for Papers]

[Published on 18 January 2020, with updates.

Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons. A young lady, brightly lit and beautifully dressed, looks outward as an older woman, beneath a dark hood, holds a set of cards and stares at them with intent.

Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Update on 17 March.  The 55th Congress has been Cancelled. 

According to the website for the International Congress on Medieval Studies:

The health and safety of our attendees and our community are our first priority. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the most recent recommendations of the CDC and the WHO regarding social distancing and public gatherings, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 7-10, 2020).

As for the future, according to the Congress organizers:

We invite the organizers of sponsored and special sessions approved for the 2020 Congress to re-propose them for the 2021 congress. If proposed, they will be approved automatically.

Meanwhile, with the preparations for the Congress set aside, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence continues to advance with posting the Abstracts of the intended Papers for our 2020 ICMS Sessions, to stand alongside their Statements of Purpose as designed for the Call for Papers and announced in this post.

Our tradition regularly has been to post on our website the Abstracts before our Sessions in a given Congress, as a foretaste of the Menu.  Years ago, as a sign of appreciation, we adopted the custom of posting the Abstract of one or other contributor who became unable to attend to present in person (as with the 2016 Congress and the 2014 Congress).  Thus we honor the intentions of our participants to present the results (or interim results) of their research and reflections, even when they could not do so at the event.

Before March 2020, only once before, in more than 30 years of activities in many centers in the United States and elsewhere (see our Events and Congress Activities), has the Research Group had to cancel an event itself.  That case was only 1 Session among 7 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies in May 2013.

This March, in stark contrast, 2 of our major events for 2020 have had to be cancelled as a whole.  This change pertains both at the Congress and elsewhere.  First, our 2020 Spring Symposium, From Cover to Cover, intended for 13–14 March at Princeton University, has been Cancelled or Postponed.  Now, the 55th ICMS intended for May at Kalamazoo. 

For the former, we aim to complete the Symposium Booklet, with the Program, Abstracts, and Illustrations, as planned,and distribute it to contributors, registrants, and others, as a souvenir of the collective aims for the gathering.   Here we similarly honor our participants’ intentions by recording their Abstracts.]

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What We Planned

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Dutch Book of Hours made for a female patron in the mid 15th century. Opening page of the Hours of the Virgin: "Here du salste opdoen mine lippen". Image via Creative Commons. At the bottom of the bordered page, an elegantly dressed woman sits before a shiny bowl- or mirror-like object, in order, perhaps, to perform skrying or to lure a unicorn.

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Image via Creative Commons.

With the achievement of our Activities at the 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), described in our 2019 Congress Report, we prepare for the 2020 Congress. With the conclusion of the Call for Papers on 15 September 2019 for our sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions, we have assigned their Programs and reported them to the Congress Committee.

Now, as the new year begins, we announce the programs as well as our other activities at the 2020 Congress.  As the Congress announces its Sneak Preview of the 2020 Congress Program, we report the times and room assignments. Soon, as is our custom, we will publish the Abstracts for their Papers and Responses.

*****

Our events at the Congress, as always, are designed to represent, to explore, to promote, to celebrate, and to advance aspects of our shared range of interests, fields of study, subject matter, and collaboration between younger and established scholars, teachers, and others, in multiple centers.

This year, the response to the Call for Papers for our Session on Seals received so strong a response that we have been granted 2 sessions in the place of the one as accepted. Again this year we co-sponsor Sessions with the Societas Magica (2 Sessions this year). It will be the 16th year of this co-sponsorship.

Also, like the 2015–2019 Congresses, we plan for

  • an Open Business Meeting and
  • a co-sponsored Reception.

Again, like the 2016–2018 Congresses, we co-sponsor a Reception with the Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University (formerly the Index of Christian Art).

Abstracts for previous Congresses appear in our Congress Abstracts, Indexed both by Year and by Author.  The Abstracts for this year’s Congress will join their company.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Toulouse deformity', Bibliomancy, Divination, History of Documents, History of Magic, Manuscript studies, Medieval Seals, Scrying, Seals and Signatures, Sortilège
No Comments »

2020 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program

September 18, 2019 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Announcements, Business Meeting, Conference, Conference Announcement, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Manuscript Studies, Reception, Societas Magica

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies
7–10 May 2020

[Published on 18 September 2019, with updates.]

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Dutch Book of Hours made for a female patron in the mid 15th century. Opening page of the Hours of the Virgin: "Here du salste opdoen mine lippen". Image via Creative Commons. At the bottom of the bordered page, an elegantly dressed woman sits before a shiny bowl- or mirror-like object, in order, perhaps, to perform skrying or to lure a unicorn.

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Image via Creative Commons.

With the achievement of our Activities at the 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), described in our 2019 Congress Report, we prepare for the 2020 Congress.  With the conclusion of the Call for Papers on 15 September 2019 for our sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions, we assign the Programs for our 5 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions. Meanwhile, we describe their aims.

Soon, when appropriate, we will announce the Programs for the Sessions and publish the Abstracts for their Papers and Responses.

*****

Our events at the Congress, as always, are designed to represent, to explore, to promote, to celebrate, and to advance aspects of our shared range of interests, fields of study, subject matter, and collaboration between younger and established scholars, teachers, and others, in multiple centers.

This year, the response to the Call for Papers for our Session on Seals received so strong a response that we have been granted 2 sessions in the place of the one as accepted.  Again this year we co-sponsor Sessions with the Societas Magica (2 Sessions this year). It will be the 16th year of this co-sponsorship.

Also, like the 2015–2019 Congresses, we plan for

  • an Open Business Meeting and
  • a  co-sponsored Reception.

Again, like the 2016–2018 Congresses, we co-sponsor a Reception with the Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University (formerly the Index of Christian Art).

As usual, we publish the Program for the accepted Papers, once the Call For Papers has completed its specified span. We will publish the Abstracts for these Papers as the preparations for the Congress advance and as their Authors permit. Abstracts for previous Congresses appear in our Congress Abstracts, Indexed both by Year and by Author.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Bibliomancy, Divination, History of Documents, History of Magic, Manuscript studies, Medieval Seals, Prologues in Medieval Texts, Scrying, Seals & Signatures, Sortilège
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2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies Report

September 14, 2019 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Anniversary, Announcements, Bembino, Business Meeting, Conference, Events, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, POMONA, Reception, Reports, Societas Magica, Uncategorized

Report:  Events Sponsored and Co-Sponsored
by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies
9–12 May 2019

[Published on 2 June 2019. With the achievement of our Activities at the 2019 Congress, we offer this Report (Abstracts of Papers Included), while we advance with preparations for the 2020 Congress. For updates, as they evolve, please watch this space and our Facebook Page.]

Central Rock Garden at WMU International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo May 2019. Photograph Mildred Budny.

Central Rock Garden. Photograph Mildred Budny.

In 2019, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence celebrates its 20th year as a nonprofit educational corporation and its 30th year as an international scholarly organization. Accordingly, we hold both customary and extra-special events, both at the Congress and elsewhere. For example, shortly before the 2019 Congress, we

We have a tradition of celebrating landmark Anniversaries, both for our organization, with organizations which which we share anniversaries, and for other events. As described, for example, in our 2014 Anniversary Reflections. For 2019, our events aim to represent, to explore, to promote, to celebrate, and to advance aspects of our shared range of interests, fields of study, subject matter, and collaboration between younger and established scholars, teachers, and others, in multiple centers.

Now we Report the successful accomplishment of our Activities at the 2019 Congress.

Who, What, Why Not

Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (colour version)As in recent years, we co-sponsored Sessions with the Societas Magica (2 Sessions). It is the 14th year of this co-sponsorship, and the first year of co-sponsorship with the newly-founded organization Polytheism-Oriented Medievalists of North America (P.-O.M.O.N.A).

Also, like the 2015–2018 Congresses, we held

  • an Open Business Meeting, with a convenient downloadable 2019 Agenda, and
  • a co-sponsored Reception.

As usual, we publish the Program for the accepted Papers, as their Authors permit. Abstracts for previous Congresses appear in our Congress Abstracts, conveniently Indexed both by Year and by Author.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Animals in Celtic Magical Texts, Beinecke Takamiya MS 23, Business Meeting, Celtic Magical Texts, Classical Deities, Classical Deities in Medieval Northern European Contexts, Dionysus, Ecstasy Defense, Grettisfærsla, Hêliand, History of Magic, Lapidaries, Mary Moody Emerson, Medieval manuscripts, Medieval Studies, P.-O.M.o.N.A., Reception, Societas Magica
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2019 M-MLA Panel Program

August 18, 2019 in Announcements, M-MLA, Manuscript Studies, Midwest Modern Language Association, Uncategorized

Bust of the God Janus. Vatican City, Vatican Museums. Photo by Fubar Obfusco via Wikimedia Commons.

Bust of the God Janus. Vatican City, Vatican Museums. Photo by Fubar Obfusco via Wikimedia Commons.

“Duality and Manuscript Evidence”

2019 Panel Sponsored by the
Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the
Midwest Modern Language Association (M-MLA)

2019 Convention
Chicago, Illinois
November 14–17, 2019

[Posted on 17 August 2019, with updates]

Poster announcing the Call for Papers for the Permanent Panels sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, to be held at the 2019 MMLA Convention in Chicago in November. Poster set in RGME Bembino and designed by Justin Hastings.

Poster designed by Justin Hastings

The Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, in keeping with the MMLA conference’s theme of “Duality, Doubles, and Doppelgängers” for the 2019 Convention in Chicago, sponsors a panel on duality in manuscripts, broadly conceived.

Following the conclusion of our Call for Papers for the Panel, we announce its Program.

Poster 2 for 219 Anniversary Symposium, with symposium information and 2 images of cropped initials, from 12th-century Latin manuscripts, from the Princeton University Art Museum.

Poster 2 for 2019 Symposium

And now, on 14 November, we announce its successful accomplishment.  Hurray!

This event in Chicago formed part of our activities during 2019, a landmark Anniversary Year for the Research Group on Manuscript [and Other] Evidence.  Others include:

  • Specially Guided Tours for the RGME at the the Princeton University Exhibition on Gutenberg and After (November and December)
  • 2010 International Medieval Studies (May)
  • 2019 Anniversary Symposium on “The Roads Taken” (April)

“Duality and Manuscript Evidence” at the M-MLA

Thursday, 14 November 2019, 4:00–5:15 pm

Chair: Justin Hastings (Loyola University Chicago)

1. Morgan Aronson (US Naval Observatory Library)
“A Text Twice Born: Exploring the Origin of a Scientific Manuscript”

Namely the treatise on hydrodynamics by Abbé Edme Mariotte (1620–1684), posthumously published in French in 1686, with a second edition in French in 1700, and with an English translation in 1718 by John Theophilus Desaguliers.  Morgan’s paper introduces a manuscript of another English translation, dated apparently to 1690, also with illustrations.

Abstract of Paper

By Edme Mariotte - [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2565164

Title Page of Oeuvres de Mr. Mariotte (Leiden, 3 volumes: 1717). Via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.

Title-page for the First Printed English Translation

Title-page of first printed English translation of Mariotte's treatise (1718). Collection of Ronald K. Smeltzer.

Title-page of first printed English translation of Mariotte’s treatise (1718). Collection of Ronald K. Smeltzer.

Some of the Illustrations

Plate I in the first printed English translation of Mariotte's treatise. Collection of Ronald K. Smeltzer.

Plate I in the first printed English translation of Mariotte’s treatise (1718). Collection of Ronald K. Smeltzer.

Plate IIII [IV] in the first printed English translation of Mariotte's treatise (1718). Collection of Ronald K. Smeltzer.

Plate IIII [IV] in the first printed English translation of Mariotte’s treatise (1718). Collection of Ronald K. Smeltzer.

2. Emily Sharrett (Loyola University Chicago)

[Former Title]

“Generating London out of Roman Remains:
(1598, 1603)”

Namely the Survey of London (1598) by John Stow (1524/25 – 5 April 1605).

Church of St Andrew Undershaft, City of London,. Monument with effigy of John Stow, with arms of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, and with Latin inscription: "Either act by writing or write by reading". Image via Wikipedia Commons.

Church of St Andrew Undershaft, City of London,. Monument with effigy of John Stow, with arms of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, and with Latin inscription: “Either act by writing or write by reading”. Image via Wikipedia Commons.

[Update:   Final Title]

“Moral Guidebook from Medieval Bohemia:  A Study of Newberry Library MS 31.1”

3. Justin Hastings
“Emily Dickinson’s Choosing:
Biblical Intertext and Fascicle 33”

Namely the poems assembled in Fascicle 33 (of 40 Fascicles assembled between 1858–1865) by the American poet Emily Dickinson (1830–1886).

Abstract of Paper

Handout for Paper

mons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21206329. Amherst, Massachusetts, Amherst College Archives, Special Collections, Daguerreotype taken at Mount Holyoke, December 1846 or early 1847; the only authenticated portrait of Emily Dickinson after childhood. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Amherst, Massachusetts, Amherst College Archives, Special Collections, Daguerreotype taken at Mount Holyoke, December 1846 or early 1847; the only authenticated portrait of Emily Dickinson after childhood. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

We thank Justin and Morgan for providing detailed handouts for the session and for the Research Group, as projection during the session proved unfeasible.  Their resourcefulness and generosity are gratefully recognized.

Likewise, we thank our Associate, Ronald H. Smeltzer, dedicated collector of books on the history of science, for his generosity in providing photographs, displayed here with permission, of his copies of the first French edition and the first printed English translation of Mariotte’s treatise.

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Information about the 2020 M-MLA Convention appears on the MMLA website: MMLA Convention.

*****

We renew our thanks for the expert initiatives by our Associate Justin Hastings.  This will be the 4th year that the Research Group sponsors Permanent Panels at the Annual Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association.

  • 2018 M-MLA Panel on “Consuming Cultures and Manuscript Evidence”
  • 2017 M-MLA Panel on “Artists, Activists, and Manuscript Evidence”
    2017 M-MLA Panel Report
  • “Marginalia in Manuscripts and Books” for the 2018 M-MLA
    2016 M-MLA Report

As customary for our Sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, we publish the Abstracts of the Papers for our Panels at the M-MLA Convention in our Panel Announcements and Reports.

It is a special pleasure that our panel at this year’s Convention form part of our current anniversary celebrations. 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of our nonprofit educational corporation based in Princeton, New Jersey, and the 30th anniversary of our international scholarly society founded at the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

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The continuation of the tradition of Permanent Panels at the M-MLA Convention is most welcome, and we thank our organizer, Justin Hastings, and the Midwest Modern Language Association. We congratulate Justin for his expert organizational skills and outstanding collegiality, and we applaud his willingness to continue to organize the panels for the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence.

*****

Further information about the Convention and the Call for Papers for Permanent Panels can be found on the M-MLA website:

  • M-MLA Convention
  • M-MLA Convention Permanent Section Call for Papers .

Please Contact Us with your questions and suggestions.  We prepare for further activities.

*****

Tags: Anniversary, Edme Mariotte, Emily Dickinson, History of Hydraulics, John Stow, John Theophilus Desaguliers, Midwest Modern Language Association, Survey of London
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