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      • Abstracts of Congress Papers
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    • Mission
    • Who We Are
      • Officers, Associates & Volunteers
      • RGME Committees
      • Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
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    • People
      • Mildred Budny — Her Page
      • Adelaide Bennett Hagens
    • Activities
      • Events
      • Congress Activities
        • Sponsored Conference Sessions (1993‒)
          • Panels at the M-MLA Convention (from 2016)
        • Co-sponsored Conference Sessions (2006‒)
    • History
      • Seals, Matrices & Documents
      • Genealogies & Archives
    • Contact Us
  • Bembino
    • Multi-Lingual Bembino
  • Congress
    • Sponsored Conference Sessions (1993‒)
    • Co-sponsored Conference Sessions (2006‒)
    • Abstracts of Congress Papers
      • Abstracts Listed by Author
      • Abstracts Listed by Year
    • Kalamazoo Archive
    • Panels at the M-MLA Convention (2016-2019)
      • Abstracts of Papers for the M-MLA Convention
      • Panels at the M-MLA Convention (from 2016)
  • Events
    • RGME Activities for 2024 and 2025
      • 2023 Activities and 2024 Planned Activities
    • Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia & Symposia (1989–)
      • Seminars on ‘The Evidence of Manuscripts’
      • Symposia on ‘The Transmission of the Bible’
      • The New Series (2001-)
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Program: The Roads Taken
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Registration
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Registration Open
      • RGME Symposia: The Various Series
      • The Research Group Speaks: The Series
      • Meetings of the Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
      • RGME Online Events
    • Abstracts of Papers for Events
      • Abstracts of Papers for Seminars on ‘The Evidence of Manuscripts’
      • Abstracts of Papers for Symposia, Workshops & Colloquia
    • Receptions & Parties
    • Business Meetings
    • Photographic Exhibitions & Master Classes
    • Events Archive
  • ShelfLife
    • Journal Description
    • ShelfMarks: The RGME-Newsletter
    • Publications
      • “Insular, Anglo-Saxon, and Early Anglo-Norman Manuscript Art at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge” (1997)
        • Mildred Budny, ‘Catalogue’
        • The Illustrated Catalogue (1997)
      • The Illustrated Handlist
      • Semi-Official Counterfeiting in France 1380-1422
      • No Snap Decisions: Challenges of Manuscript Photography
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    • Posters on Display
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A Leaf with Latin Liturgical Chants at the DRAGEN Lab

April 7, 2025 in CANTUS Database, DRAGEN Lab, Manuscript Studies, Reports, University of Waterloo

Manuscript Fragments
at the DRAGEN Lab

Part 2:
Leaf of Latin Liturgical Chants

[Posted on 7 April 2025]

Waterloo, University of Waterloo, DRAGEN Lab, Vellum Leaf with music and notation for liturgical chants: Verso: Bottom.

To accompany preparations for the 2025 RGME Autumn Colloquium at the University of Waterloo in November, we explore some manuscript and printed treasures at the University’s Medieval DRAGEN Lab (Digital Research Arts for Graphic and Environmental Networks). We thank the staff of the DRAGEN Lab and its director, Steven Bednarski, for permission to examine these materials and share the findings with you.

For information about the Colloquium and registration for it, please visit

  • 2025 RGME Autumn Colloquium at the University of Waterloo

In a series, first we examine leaves from two different medieval manuscripts in Latin. Part 1 in this series exhibited a leaf for the month of February in an unknown Book of Hours. See

  • A Latin Kalendar Leaf for February from Northern France at the DRAGEN Lab.

Now in Part 2 we consider a leaf with musical chants from a liturgical book so far unknown.

Standing on its own, without identifying inscriptions or other marks to indicate its origin, date and place of production, early and subsequent ownership, or other features of its transmission, the leaf must or can speak for itself.

II. Leaf with Liturgical Chants

On the recto, the chants open with Scitis quia post buduum Pascha fiet, from the text of Matthew 26:2. The enlarged initial for this text is written in black ink like the text; other enlarged initials for other chants are in red.

The verso finishes mid-word at the beginning of a chant, Si[. . . ]tio Con-.

The first chant corresponds with an item in the Cantus Database, for which only one other source is cited, also preserved in Ontario albeit in a different university’s collection.

  • Number 1002741

= St. Catharines (ON), Brock University Library – Archives and Special Collections, RG 394 (fragment).

  • St. Catharines (ON), Brock University Library – Archives and Special Collections (CDN-STCbul)
“A single parchment leaf from a liturgical manuscript. Square notation in black ink on five-line red staves with F clefs. 5 staves per folio side with humanistic, rounded script in the intervening spaces. 264 mm tall x 185 mm.”

Recto

Waterloo, University of Waterloo, DRAGEN Lab, Saint Jerome’s University, Latin Manuscript Fragment with Chants, Recto.

The Text:

Quid molesti estis huic mulieri?  Opus enim bonum operata est in me.

Nam semper pauperes habebitis vobiscum me autem non semper

/ [om. habetis in page-turn?] (Matthew 26:10–11)

[VARIANT? of Cantus

quid molesti estis huic mulieri bonum opus operata est in me ]

OR

Bonum opus operata est in me

nam semper pauperes habebitis vobiscum me autem non semper habebitis

Compare:

  • https://cantusdatabase.org/chant/671141, with one manuscript source.

Verso

Waterloo, University of Waterloo, DRAGEN Lab, Saint Jerome’s University, Latin Manuscript Fragment with Chants, Verso.

/ qui est ex ueritate audit uocem meam (John 18:38)

Non haberes potestatem adversum me ullam nisi tibi datum esset desuper propterea qui me tradidit tibi maius peccatum habet (John 19:11).

Mulier; ecce filius tuus. Ecce mater tua. (John 19:26 and 27)

Si  tio Con-

*****

Do you recognize this leaf? Do you know of other leaves from the same manuscript or by the same scribe and workshop?

Please leave your Comments here or Contact Us.

We look forward to hearing from you.

*****

Tags: CANTUS Database, DRAGEN Lab, Latin chants, liturgical manuscripts, Manuscript studies, Medieval manuscripts, Musical Manuscripts, University of Waterloo
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RGME Visit to the Lomazow Collection: Report

November 25, 2024 in Manuscript Studies, Reports, Student Friends of Princeton University Library, Visits to Collections

RGME Visit to
Dr. Steven M. Lomazow’s Collection of
American Magazines

Saturday 16 November 2024
(In-Person and by Zoom Meeting)

Follow-Up to the 2024 Autumn Symposium

by Dr. Phillip A. Bernhardt-House and Mildred Budny

[Posted on 25 November 2024, with updates]

An Invited Visit

On Saturday, November 16, 2024, the Research Group on Manuscript [and Other] Evidence had the rare opportunity to allow a small contingent of in-person visitors, as well as an online group of others joining via Zoom, to be given access to the extensive collection of magazines and other ephemera in the home of Dr. Steven M. Lomazow in West Orange, New Jersey. The announcement of the visit was circulated on social media, email circulars, word of mouth, and our website:

  • RGME Visit to the Collection of Steven M. Lomazow, M.D.

Visitors by Zoom came from both near and far. The distances ranged from Washington State, Colorado, and Minnesota, through New York, New Jersey, and Florida, to India.

The in-person attendees included the RGME Director and individuals from the Student Friends of the Princeton University Library (SFPUL), led by Co-Leader Jacqueline Zhou and accompanied by Kurt Lemai. This collaboration with the SFPUL for the first time was most appreciated, and would be of tremendous mutual benefit in the future.

Dr. Lomazow on Screen and in the Room. Photography by Mildred Budny.

A Born Collector

A spirited enthusiast for collecting, and part of a lineage that has done the same at least back to his grandfather’s time, Dr. Lomazow treated the online and in-person group over several hours to a small selection of his holdings, with invitations for requests. The holdings number over 80,000 individual pieces in total, and range across a comprehensive variety of subjects within the historic American press from the 18th century onwards.

His collection of American Magazines has been featured in exhibitions at the Grolier Club and online; he has been the subject of segments on CBS This Morning; and he has written several substantial publications on periodicals as a medium, which can be viewed at his website:

  • https://www.americanmagazinecollection.com/.

Pre-1800

Selections which the assembled audience enjoyed began with parts of Dr. Lomazow’s pre-1800 pieces. Highlights are

  • early printings of the Declaration of Independence,
  • the original publication of the United States Constitution for public consumption in gradually smaller typeface,
  • early engravings depicting the Boston Massacre by British troops and maps of the Pennsylvania territory,
  • and magazines published by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and John Peter Zenger.

Dr. Lomazow holds up ‘The American Chronicle’ for 1743-1744 to our audience on Zoom, as seen across the country onscreen by Annabelle House Fox.

Dr. Lomazow also has periodicals containing samples of the poetry of Phyllis Wheatley, the enslaved African-American woman brought from West Africa to Massachusetts. She had a book of poems (Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral) published in London in 1773, was given manumission shortly after, and died at roughly the age of 31 on December 5, 1784. Wheatley first put the idea of Columbia, the Goddess of the United States, into print in a poem for George Washington, “To His Excellency General George Washington,” written in 1775. In stages, Dr. Lomazow was able to reconstruct the entire issue of a magazine containing her poetry by obtaining part of it from a cartography collector who wanted the map in the publication but not the poetry, and the map from an African-Americana collector who was not interested in said map but wanted the poetry! Given the nature of ephemera and publications of this type, such chance finds and selective collecting can yield beneficial results for those who are diligent as well as fortunate.

1800s

Other items in Dr. Lomazow’s collection of tremendous historical interest include publications in broadsheet format by William Lloyd Garrison on emancipation, which helped to launch the Abolitionist movement as it then became known in the early 1800s.

Literary works of the 1800s include several original printings of works by Edgar Allan Poe — such as the poems “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee,” and the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” — and the original American publications of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story “The Sign of the Four” and of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, along with magazines containing stories by Samuel L. Clemens (including the 1852 “The Dandy Frightening the Squatter” from Carpet-Bag) and this author’s first appearance under his more famous sobriquet Mark Twain. One of the desired pieces that Dr. Lomazow does not have in his collection is the first printing of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” though he does have later editions of it.

The ‘gaps’ in the collection seem to be few and far between, given the sheer number and astonishing quality of the specimens, whether as individual issues, groups of issues, or bound volumes — and the collector’s zeal in hunting for the specimens to augment and strengthen the assembly.

1900s

The 19th-century philosophical, literary, religious, and political movement of American Transcendentalism is well represented in Dr. Lomazow’s collection, with a full series of The Dial, other periodicals edited by Margaret Fuller containing the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the original printing of Henry David Thoreau’s widely influential “Civil Disobedience,” which inspired the future activism of individuals ranging from Mahatma Gandhi to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

2000s

Early twentieth-century literary magazines in Dr. Lomazow’s extensive holdings feature such titles as The Smart Set, which published the early works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dashiell Hammett, and had amongst its various editors H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan. These editors also published the pulp magazine The Black Mask, which was where Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon was first printed.

Cover Stories

The collection has cover paintings by Norman Rockwell for The Saturday Evening Post, in both printed form as well as originals for them, and other hitherto-unknown magazine covers which Rockwell produced for the Canadian magazine Maclean’s. These items have been the subject of bibliographic works and exhibitions in their own right. Dr. Lomazow had a friendship both with Rockwell and his son in his later years (still living!). Likewise, he enjoys the illustrations and cover art produced by Maxfield Parrish and Alphonse Mucha, both of whose work features prominently in his collection.

Dr. Lomazow’s endless enthusiasm and bottomless reservoir of energetic fervor to share his collection were vividly manifest throughout our visit. Among many items that elicited further elaboration was the first cover photograph of one well-known model and actress, Lauren Bacall, which is only known to exist in the example from his collection. The uniqueness of this item caused it to be featured on the Late Show with David Letterman when Bacall appeared on it in the later 1990s. Several items from across the centuries shared with the audience on this visit were described similarly.

Cover of ‘Town and Country Magazine’ (1789). Photograph by Mildred Budny.

Wrappers & Volumes

An important aspect of periodical collecting that was highlighted by Dr. Lomazow at many points in the visit was that the paper wrappers which traditionally enclose issues of magazines are often not preserved, and are even discarded by some libraries and collectors (particularly on more recent publications) as being of no worth, when in fact they often contain exquisite examples of typography and calligraphy, engravings, and other valuable historical data, as well as being of value in themselves.

Examples among many are issues of ‘The Gentleman’s Magazine’; ‘The Bee’ (1765), whose author has a pleasingly appropriate mellifluous name (William Honeycombe); and a publication whose very title inspired Dr. Lomazow to be sure to show our RGME visit: ‘The Manuscript’ (1837).

‘The Manuscript’ Magazine in original cover. Photograph by Mildred Budny.

True examples of the term “ephemera,” such wrappers (including some made of thin leather in 18th century publications!) proliferate in this extraordinary collection in such frequency that their uniqueness of preservation was almost diminished by how many examples of such preservation exist and were shared from Dr. Lomazow’s trove of treasures. Among the apt and worthwhile questions along the way, it was possible to wonder, for example, “If a publication was intended to have more than one issue, but only printed a single issue, is it a magazine/periodical?” Whatever the case, it is to be admired that these ‘solitary’ witnesses to the publication of individual serials also have a place in the collection.

Steven Lomazow shows a manuscript specimen to visitors both in person and online, with representatives of the Student Friends of the Princeton University Library, Jacqueline Zhou and Kurt Lemai. Photograph by Mildred Budny.

Selections and Themes

From bookcases, boxes, and wall-displays were brought many examples of bound volumes or individual issues. By request, they included, for example, children’s magazines, botanical magazines, movie magazines, highlights of graphic design and calligraphy, and publications of momentous historical events. Indeed, the visit demonstrated Dr. Lomazow’s observation that his collections contain, or touch upon, “everything”.

Contents of the Children’s Magazine for February 1789.

The survival, assembly, and preservation under one roof in Dr. Lomazow’s collection of so many witnesses to the multifold production of magazines in the United States, in English and other languages, bridging very many subjects and interests, in publications large and small, in quality of production spanning a wide range from informal to highly polished, provide an extraordinary opportunity to examine specimens in their own right and their wider context.

The generosity of Dr. Lomazow and his wife Suze Bienaimee in welcoming the RGME both in person and in virtual company created an experience long to be praised.

Front Cover of American Periodicals: A Collector’s Manual and Reference Guide. An annotated catalog of a collection by Steven Lomazow, M.D. (1996).

Souvenirs

As souvenirs of the in-person visit, Dr. Lomazow presented a copy of his publication on American Periodicals, an important reference work, to each attendee. Each copy was inscribed for the recipient, and the company joined in the shared signing by adding a personalized inscription for each recipient’s copy. Thus these copies represent unique souvenirs, representing a co-ordinated set of guestbooks to remember the occasion.

Tip of the Iceberg

In an anniversary year filled with landmark events, stellar presentations, and no small amount of fun and fellowship along with learning and teaching, this visit by the RGME to an archive-quality collection that would be the envy of both museums and university libraries in Dr. Lomazow’s home was one not to be forgotten by those who were able to experience it. Dr. Lomazow observed that there is enough material therein to constitute at least another five such visits for highlights alone.

The presentation of materials in truly rapid-fire fashion, resonating with enthusiasm to consider as many specimens as possible, responding to requests and expressions of interest on the occasions, gave attendees the sense of wishing further to process and to savor the gravity of the materials being exhibited on the occasion in terms of their historical and literary significance alone, much less the conditions of their preservation.

While we certainly wish that such further visits may take place, whether in hybrid format or on Zoom, this particular occasion with its exceptional opportunity for the RGME to bring both in-person visitors and online attendees, in co-ordination for the first time with the Student Friends of the Princeton University Library, and to listen to Dr. Lomazow’s formidable knowledge about his collection and its ramifications will stand as not only noteworthy, but legendary.

An Afterword on Landmarks

 

Bridges

In keeping with the RGME’s Theme of Bridges for our 2024 Anniversary Year, we honor the wide scope of Dr. Lomozow’s collection of American Magazines and other materials with a show of famous bridges spanning a vast continent by their locations in Brooklyn and San Francisco respectively.

Spanning the Strait: The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, as seen from Battery East. Photograph © Frank Schulenburg / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

New York, Brooklyn Bridge viewed from Manhattan. Photograph (29 June 2009) by Suiseiseki, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Visitors Ahoy!
More to See!

Would you like to see the RGME have more visits like this to collections? Please let us know.

Please Contact Us or visit

  • our FaceBook Page
  • our Facebook Group
  • our Twitter Feed (@rgme_mss)
  • our Bluesky nest @rgmesocial.bluesky.social)
  • our LinkedIn Group
  • our Blog on Manuscript Studies and its Contents List

*****

Tags: 2024 RGME Anniversary, American Magazines, Friends of the Princeton University Library, Grolier Club, RGME Anniversary, RGME Visits to Collections, Steven Lomazow Collection, Student Friends of Princeton University Library
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Two Pages from a Roman Breviary in Gothic Script

November 26, 2022 in Manuscript Studies, Reports

Two Framed Pages
from a Roman Breviary
on Vellum in Latin in Gothic Script

containing
Hours for First Sunday after Easter
and
Vespers for Holy Trinity Sunday

Private Collection, Roman Breviary Leaf in Frame: Page with Part of Vespers for Holy Trinity Sunday. Photography By Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

Single-Column Pages
laid out in 27 lines of Gothic Script
with
Rubrications,
Minor Initials in Red or Blue Pigment,
and
Enlarged Initials
embellished with Pen-line Decoration

[Posted on 27 November 2022]

Two separate leaves, now in frames, in a Private Collection contain parts of a Latin Breviary for Roman Use, that is, the Church of Rome, or Breviarum Romanum. (See, for example, The Roman Breviary and Roman Breviary.)

Some earlier blogposts have considered fragments of Latin Breviaries or related liturgical books.

  • Two Vellum Leaves from a Large-Format Breviary in Gothic Script
  • The Pearly Gateway: A Scrap from a Latin Missal or Breviary
  • A Leaf from Prime in a Large-Format Breviary
  • Written in the Stars: Roman Breviary Fragment with Latin Lections on Astrology

For example, from a different Private Collection, several leaves from a Roman Breviary:

Private Collection. Breviary Fragment, Folios IIv/Ir, with Revised Title and Penultimate Page of the Lections. Photography by Mildred Budny.

Private Collection. Breviary Fragment, Folios IIv/Ir, with Revised Title and Penultimate Page of the Lections. Photography by Mildred Budny.

The Pages from Two Leaves

Private Collection, Roman Breviary Leaf in Frame: Page in the Hours for First Sunday after Easter. Photography By Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

The visible sides of the vellum leaves, on one page per leaf, contain parts of the text from the Hours for the First Sunday after Easter (see Second Sunday of Easter) and from Vespers for Holy Trinity Sunday (see Trinity Sunday).  Let us call the  Leaves 1 and 2, taking them in the sequence of their seasonal occasions in the cycle of the liturgical year, which extends from Advent to Trinity.

In the Western liturgical calendar, Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost; it is intended to celebrate the doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God, namely the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Easter (or Resurrection) Sunday commemorates Jesus’ resurrection from the dead; the event is reported in the canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and some other sources.  As the start of Eastertide, or the Paschal season, Easter Sunday is followed by seven weeks to the fiftieth day on Pentecost Sunday.

The contents of the other sides of the leaves are unknown, apart from show-through onto the visible sides.  The text establishes that the two leaves were non-continuous in their former manuscript.

The vellum material of both leaves is evident in the texture of the visible surfaces as well as undulations across the expanse of the stretched animal skins. The smooth, whitish appearance makes it appear that both pages stand on the flesh sides of their skins.

Bringing the Leaves to light, we report the contents of the Pages, with descriptions and photographs.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Breviarum Romanum, Fragmentology, House of Heydenryk, Manuscript studies, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, RGME Workshops on Looking at Manuscripts, Roman Breviary, The Bridge of Signs
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More Leaves from an Old Armenian Praxapostolos

May 30, 2022 in Manuscript Studies, Reports, Uncategorized

More Leaves from
an Old Armenian New Testament Manuscript:
The “Kurdian/Chicago Praxapostolos“

Separate Leaves on Vellum
from the Acts of the Apostles
in Different Collections

Double columns of 27 lines in bolorgir minuscule script,
with rubrications and Euthalian apparatus

1) Private Collection: Acts 16:24 [middle] – 17:6 [middle]

2) Richard Weber Collection: Acts 20:5 [beginning] – Acts 20:26 [end]
(Leaf size: 10.2 x 13.7 cm; Written area: 7.1 x 10.2 cm; Column width: 3.2 cm)

[Posted on 30 May 2022, with updates]

"Cover, with the opening of Acts 23:12"

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, “Two Detached Leaves” Booklet Cover, with the opening of Acts 23:12.

More leaves emerge into view from a dismembered manuscript in Old Armenian with selections from the New Testament. Apparently it comprised a copy of a Praxapostolos, that is, containing parts of the New Testament without the Gospels and certain other Books.  We have examined several leaves from this book before.

Some earlier blogposts, and an RGME Research Booklet, have introduced other leaves from the same manuscript.

  • New Testament Leaves in Old Armenian
    reporting “A Pair of Leaves [in a Private Collection] Identified, Described, Collated, and Set into the Context of its Manuscript”
  • Leslie J. French, Two Detached Manuscript Leaves containing New Testament Texts in Old Armenian: A Report prepared for the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (RGME, 2015)
  • The Plot Thickens
    reporting on “A New Leaf Found at the University of Pennsylvania
    from the “Kurdian/Chicago New Testament Praxapostolos[?]
    in Old Armenian”

For the Research Report, Armenian glyphs were designed for the Research Group’s multi-lingual digital font Bembino, freely available on our website.  (See Multi-lingual Bembino.)

As the word spreads, the story grows.

After those reports, we were contacted by Sani Eskinazi (then at Stanford University), as he worked to complete a Final Project for History 14N on “Reconstituting an Armenian Bible from the 15th Century” (2019), based upon a leaf in Special Collections with part of II Corinthians:  Stanford University Libraries, M0297, Box 1, Item 103. With Sani’s expected collaboration, we continue to prepare an updated and expanded version of the Report Booklet.

Meanwhile, it is time to show some more leaves from the same manuscript, as custodians and owners respond to our blogpost, and wish to share their materials more widely. As part of the work for the updated Report, here we present two leaves which have come to our attention this year.

First, we recall some other leaves from the manuscript.  (See below.)

Next we present the “new” leaves. Each of them was purchased online as a separate leaf, with or without an accompanying label. Each presents part of the text of the Acts of the Apostles.

1) One has come to the same Private Collection with the two leaves which prompted both our first blogpost on the manuscript and its accompanying Report Booklet. Those two leaves are considered to be Folios “I” and “II” in the collection; the new one is its Folio “III” (or “3”).

2) The other belongs to the collection of Richard Weber. While we prepare a report, or series of reports, on a group of other materials in his collection, manuscript and printed, we begin with the Old Armenian New Testament Leaf which he purchased on its own (plus label) from an online seller, who had little information about it.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Dawson's Bookshop, Kurdian/Chicago Praxapostolos, manuscript fragments, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Old Armenian, Old Armenian New Testament Praxapostolos, Otto F. Ege, Portfolio of Original Leaves from Famous Bibles, Richard Weber Collection, University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Zohrab Bible
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2021 International Congress on Medieval Studies Report

July 7, 2021 in Conference, Conference Announcement, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Reports

Report

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

#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.

We report the accomplishment of our activities at the 2021 ICMS, held entirely online. Individually and collectively, we have attended the Congress for many years.  Our ICMS blog records activities sponsored and co-sponsored by the RGME along the way.

This year’s Congress presented the first time for a totally “virtual” process.  Next year’s Congress will be the second.

The new format posed challenges, mostly surmounted.  Gladly we observe that, albeit with several technical glitches and scheduling issues, the activities of the RGME, both sponsored and co-sponsored, succeeded as we had wished.  The Sessions and Business Meeting proceeded smoothly, with time and scope for feedback and discussion.

How We Prepared

First, there was the cancellation of the 2020 Congress itself.  See our 2020 Congress Program Announced.

Then came the re-planning for the 2021 Congress.  Initially, it was designed to be held in person, like the 2019 Congress, and others before it.

Only after all the re-submissions of our intended 2020 Sessions to the Congress Committee, the completion of the 2021 Congress Call for Papers, the selection of the Session Programs, and the bookings for our Reception and Business Meeting (see our 2021 Congress Planning), did there come the decision that the 2021 Congress had to take place only online.

That choice led all 3 co-sponsors for our planned Reception —RGME, Societas Magica, and Index of Medieval Art — to agree that it makes sense to wait, instead, for such an event until a suitable occasion in person.  Likewise, a few rearrangements were required for the Sessions as had been planned.

Preparing for the 5 Sessions and our Open Business Meeting, we announced our Activities for the 2021 Congress Program.

Next came the Congress itself, as described in its own Program (plus Corrigenda), with further information on its website.

Sessions

Recorded Sessions

Vajra Regan presents his Paper for his 2021 Congress Session on “Prologues”.

With the virtual format, some Congress events were recorded, so as to be available for viewing by Congress Registrants from 17 to 29 May.  According with the participants’ wishes, 2 of our Sessions were recorded.  

  • Medieval Magic in Theory:
    Prologues to Learned Texts of Magic

Congress Session 103

  • Revealing the Unknown, II

    Congress Session 279

Thus were available, for a time, the chances to view and to re-view, a few of our activities ‘there’ this year.  For them and the others, this Report describes the accomplishment of the plans, already for the 2020 Congress, which had to be cancelled.  This year’s Congress gave the opportunity to complete the plan, with some changes as appropriate.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Toulouse deformity', Bibliomancy, Ephesia Grammata, Headbinding, History of Documents, History of Magic, Manuscript studies, Matthew Paris, Medieval Lapidaries, Medieval Prologues, Medieval Seals, Picatrix, Reused Antique Gems, Scrying, Seals and Signatures, Sortilège, Thomas Hoccleve
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Another Leaf from the Warburg Missal (‘Ege Manuscript 22’)

April 25, 2021 in Manuscript Studies, Reports

J. S. Wagner Collection, Ege Manuscript 22, Folio clvi, recto, within its frame.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Ege Manuscript 22, Folio clvi, recto, within its frame.

The Wagner Leaf

from Ege Manuscript 22

***

“The Warburg Missal”

Folio CLVI in the Temporale

with Part of the Mass for Corpus Christi

Latin Missal made in Germany circa 1325 Written in Gothic Script (Textualis)

Double columns of 31 lines

Circa 360 × 257 mm < written area circa 289 × 190 mm >

with Rubrications, Inset Initials in Red or Blue, and Musical Notation in Hufnagelschrift (“Horseshoe-Nail Notes”) on 4-Line Staves

With thanks to the collector, J. S. Wagner, we examine a newly identified leaf from one of the manuscripts dispersed by Otto F. Ege (1888–1951). It comes from ‘Ege Manuscript 22’, a Latin Missal written in double columns of 30–32 lines in Gothic Script, with musical notation.

This blogpost by Mildred Budny and the companion Report Booklet (2021) by Leslie J. French examine the Leaf, set it in context of its former manuscripts, and re-assess the attribution of the book.

The ‘Ege’ Number comes from the position of this manuscript (and its portions) in Ege’s distribution within one of his Portfolios of specimen leaves forcibly extracted from manuscripts and printed books. The Portfolio in question exhibits Fifty Original Leaves (FOL) from Medieval Manuscripts, Western Europe, XII–XVI Century. In this case, Leaf Number 22. The numbering system is defined and enshrined in Scott Gwara’s “Handlist” of Otto Ege’s Manuscripts (2016).

In the FOL Portfolio, specimens from the manuscript travelled, in their individual windowed mats, in the company of other Ege manuscript leaves. The Wagner Leaf, however, travelled on its own, through a different highway of circulation. It arrived in a glass-fronted ornamental frame. Behind that frame, Ege’s handwritten note on the recto, and the accompanying printed slip (see below), directly establish the Ege connection. All the features of text, script, musical notation, and folio numeration manifest a place within Ege’s Manuscript 22, as the collector readily discerned.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Leaf from Ege Manuscript 22, verso, bottom right: Ege's inscription in pencil.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Leaf from Ege Manuscript 22, verso, bottom right: Ege’s inscription in pencil.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts', Benedictine Missal, Bergendal Collection, Bergendal Manuscript 69, Binding History, Ege Manuscript 22, Ege's FOL Portfolio, Fragmentology, Leander van Ess, Measure Theory, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Missal Herbipolensis, Missale Coloniense, Otto Ege, Otto Ege's Manuscripts, Parochial Church of St John the Baptist Warburg, Reused Binding Fragments, Sales Catalogues, Sir Thomas Phillipps, Sothebys, The Warburg Missal
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Another Leaf from the Warburg Missal (‘Ege Manuscript 22’)

March 23, 2021 in Manuscript Studies, Reports

J. S. Wagner Collection, Ege Manuscript 22, Folio clvi, recto, within its frame.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Ege Manuscript 22, Folio clvi, recto, within its frame. Reproduced by permission.

This post has moved to:
Another Leaf from the Warburg Missal
(“Ege Manuscript 22”)

 

Tags: 'Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts', Benedictine Missal, Bergendal Collection, Bergendal MS 69, Binding History, Ege Manuscript 22, Ege's FOL Portfolio, Fragmentology, Leander van Ess, Measure Theory, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Missal Herbipolensis, Missale Coloniense, Otto Ege, Parochial Church of St John the Baptist Warburg, Reused Binding Fragments, Sir Thomas Phillipps, The Warburg Missal
Comments Off on Another Leaf from the Warburg Missal (‘Ege Manuscript 22’)

Carmelite Missal Leaf of 1509

October 6, 2020 in Bembino, Manuscript Studies, Reports, Uncategorized

Single Leaf on Paper from an
Early-Printed Latin Missal (Missale Romanum)
For use in a Carmelite Monastery

Part of the Mass for Holy Saturday (Sabbato Sancto)

Printed in 1509
by Lucantonio Giunta in Venice
in 2 columns of 36 lines
With Music on 4-Line Staves

J. S. Wagner Collection

Another leaf from the J. S. Wagner Collection takes center stage as we examine its features.  We thank the collector for allowing us to see and to show the material.

Other leaves from this collection are reported in earlier posts. They came from medieval manuscripts and stand on vellum.

  • Updates for ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 19’
  • A Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 19’ and Ege’s Workshop Practices
  • The Penitent King David from a Book of Hours
  • A Leaf from Prime in a Large-Format Breviary .

*****

This time, the single leaf stands on paper and came from an early-printed Latin Missal. On paper.  The form of book contains all the instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of the liturgical year.

We offer a description, identification, and 12-page downloadable Report. The Report, by our Associate and Font Designer, Leslie J. French, is available below. It is set in our copyright digital font Bembino (of course).

Worth saying that the printed leaf has sparked the interest of our Font Designer.  Glad for his expert examination and exploration.  This blogpost serves as a foundation, counterpart, and compliment to his report.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail. Reproduced by Permission.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail. Reproduced by Permission.

Other Materials from the Same Collection

The collector has generously shared with us images of some fragments, manuscript and printed.  They include a leaf from a dismembered Vulgate Bible manuscript, now known as ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 19’, which occupied center stage in earlier blogposts.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Ege Leaf 19, verso, detail. Lower portion, with end of the Book of Malachi, the Argumentum ("Summary") of the Books of Maccabees, and part of the text of I Maccabees.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Ege Leaf 19, verso, detail.

Other leaves carry illustration or decoration (or both) as well as text.  For example, The Penitent King David from a Book of Hours:

J. S. Wagner Collection. Detached Manuscript Detached Leaf with the Opening in Latin of the Penitent Psalm 37 (38) and its Illustration of King David.

J. S. Wagner Collection. Detached Manuscript Leaf with the Opening in Latin of the Penitent Psalm 37 (38) and its Illustration of King David.

And A Leaf from Prime in a Large-Format Breviary :

J. S. Wagner Collection, Leaf from from Prime in a Latin manuscript Missal. Folio 4 Recto, with the end of Psalm 53, the title for the Gloria Patri, and the opening of Psalm 117 (118), set out in verses with decorated initials..

J. S. Wagner Collection. Leaf from from Prime in a Latin manuscript Breviary. Folio 4 Recto.

The Leaf in Question

The text on the leaf to which we turn now contains part of the Mass for Holy Saturday (Sabbato Sancto), including music with notation on staves, for use in a Carmelite Monastery, that is, Carmelites, known as the “Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel” (Ordo Fratrum Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmelo). The spiritual focus) of the Carmelite Order is contemplation, encompassing prayer, community, and service.

Pietro Lorenzetti, Predella panel. Carmelite Hermits at the Fountain of Elijah (1328-1329). Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena. Image Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Pietro Lorenzetti, Predella panel. Carmelite Hermits at the Fountain of Elijah (1328-1329). Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena. Image Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The features of the Missal Leaf, including fonts, demonstrate that it was printed by Lucantonio Giunta in Venice, Italy. That is, Lucantonio Giunti (or Giunta), prolific book publisher and printer, born in Florence and active in Venice from 1489.

The Numbers Game

The recto of the leaf carries the printed folio number cij. Numbers in pencil in the outer corners at top and bottom label it as folio 148 and as an item-of-some-kind number 49991. The unevenly cut inner edge more-or-less follows the fold-line between the leaf and its mate in the former bifolium, or pair of leaves which nested within the gathering of leaves. The inner edge retains the 5 more-or-less regularly spaced notches which were cut into the fold of the gathering in preparation for stitching the text-block into the binding. (According to Ligatus: The Language of Binding, such features are to be known as “knife-cut recesses”, thus defined.)

The top of the Recto, with alternate Folio numbers in print and in pencil:

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail: Top Portion. Reproduced by Permission.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail: Top Portion. Reproduced by Permission.

The bottom of the recto, with a large number very close to 50,000:

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 by Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail: Bottom Portion. Reproduced by Permission.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 by Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail: Bottom Portion. Reproduced by Permission.

The Leaf in Full

Recto and Verso, one by one. Let us have a look and turn the page.

Recto of Leaf Number CII/148

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto. Reproduced by Permission.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto. Reproduced by Permission.

Verso of Leaf, with Catchword

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail: Top Portion. Reproduced by Permission.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal (‘Missale Romanum’) containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 by Lucantonio Giunta in Venice, Italy. Verso of Leaf. Reproduced by Permission.

Features to note: Well, everything. (It’s what we do.)

Including: the Running Title, the Text, the Initials, the Music; and the Yellow Wash. Etc.  For example, as showcased in our accompanying Booklet (See Below):

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail. Reproduced by Permission.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail. Reproduced by Permission.

In passing, we note that other blogposts have had occasion to observe the placement of a wash or fill of yellow pigment within minor initials of manuscripts.  Some authorities regard the feature as Italian or ‘Italianate’.  See, for example

  • More Discoveries for ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 41″
  • A 15th-Century Theological Volume from Le Parc Abbey

Private Collection, Le Parc Abbey, Theological Volume, Part B, opening page: Peter the Venerable.

Private Collection, Le Parc Abbey, Theological Volume, Part B, opening page: Peter the Venerable.

Other Leaves From This Dispersed Book

It took a while to find some comparanda, as we continued to explore. You know, we might now wonder (story be told), if that dearth of close comparanda might indicate a rarity, we’d be prepared to agree.

The Report (see below) and this blogpost tell that story.

To start, where we began, once trying to fine some bearings among online resources.

Here is a close relative, exhibited online for sale at one time on ebay and now shown via worthpoint.com as
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1509-giunta-missal-leaf-woodcuts-172119411 . It is described thus:

A Leaf From a rare, Giunta Missale, (secundum usum Carmelitarum), numerous woodcuts of New Testament scenes and saints, facing pages with composite borders of figured vignettes, profusion of woodcut historiated and decorative initials. Text and music printed in red and black throughout. The Missal contains the prayers said by the priest at the alter [sic] as well as all that is officially read or sung in connection with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the ecclesiastical year. This particular leaf features two woodcuts as well as the text for the Mass that is celebrated during Passion Week for The Easter Season. Verso: Text and music printed in red and black throughout. (Venice: Lucantonio Giunta, 13 January 1509). Condition of this leaf is under fine[F-] and this leaf measures 6.75″ x 4.5″.

Note the generic description that addresses a single “Leaf”, but cites multiple leaves from the same source-volume, as it mentions “numerous woodcuts”, “facing pages with composite borders”, a “profusion of woodcut historiated and decorated initials”, “text and music printed in red and black throughout”, etc., and then refers to features on “this particular leaf”. To whit:

This particular leaf features two woodcuts as well as the text for the Mass that is celebrated during Passion Week for The Easter Season.

Even so, the description could serve for any leaf within the portion dedicated to Passion Week, provided that it has “two woodcuts” and carries music on the verso. Perhaps that is the idea.

(We have become familiar with such a generic approach to identical labels circulated with different individual leaves from a single book in our investigations of manuscripts and other textual materials dispersed from the collection of Otto F. Ege (1888–1951), as considered in multiple posts on our blog; see its Contents List.)

We note the seller’s grading of the condition of that leaf: “under fine” or “F-“, according to recognized book-selling terminology for “used books”. Presumably, if that grading is correct, it could aptly apply to other leaves from the same book, unless, that is, other parts of the book suffered different and more extensive forms of damage.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail: Bottom Portion. Reproduced by Permission.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail: Bottom Portion. Reproduced by Permission.

According to the image exhibited online in the sales offering, its recto (with a single woodcut) carries the printed folio number liv, and 2 more numbers in pencil: another folio number (“109”) in Arabic numerals in the top right corner, and another number in the bottom right corner (“49952”) — the latter in the same hand as the number 49991 on the Wagner Leaf.

Customarily we could think of such large numbers at bottom right as an inventory number in a seller’s marker. Given the specificity of the number, in a high number not always evenly rounded off, it seems clear that the number is not a price, in whatever currency. Identifying the ‘code’ particular to a given seller might aid in deducing the provenance of the piece. Thus might progress a hunt for a particular seller’s style.

That is how we first regarded the high number on the Wagner Leaf. Further exploration, and the discovery of other leaves carrying similar numbers in a sequence which can be revealed to have a specific import relating to the volume itself, is explained in the Report downloadable below.

Spoiler Alert: We still think that these numbers are inventory numbers, which pertain to the individual leaves of the given volume. But they also appear to stand within a very large inventory which could or would involve very many individual leaves extracted from very many individual books.

The Leaf and its Provenance

The present owner reports that the Leaf came to him in a collection, with no identification of its contents or a source for the item.

And so, exploring aspects in turn of the Missal Leaf — as described here and in the 12-page Report by our Associate (and Font Designer), Leslie J. French (see below) — we have discovered that this very Leaf was listed for Sale via faginarms.com, where it was presented as an Italian Missal Page [Update of 17 November 2020:  that post appears to have been removed], with an image clinching the identification:

Straight from the heart of the Renaissance! Printed page, 6 3/4″ x 4 1/2″, by Lucantonio Giunta, Venice, 13 January, 1509. This page with the prayers and songs for Holy Saturday. Excellent and suitable for framing.

Stock Number: FNS3583

Sold

Discovering, if wished, which individual copy of the Missal was dismembered and dispersed, from which collection, and by whom, would require further research.

Other Leaves from the Same Book

Suffice it to say that we have seen online a few other leaves which must have come from the same copy. Mostly, it appears, they passed through eBay. For example, a 1509 Giunta Missal Leaf, described as:

(Venice:  Lucantonio Giunta, 13 January 1509).

More leaves are described in our booklet, for which see below.

The Edition and Its Components

Thus, identifying the printer and the date of the edition led us to consult standard bibliographical resources for the genre of book, the printer, Missals printed by the same printer, and other aspects.

First:

  • William H. James Weale and Hanns Bohatta, ed., Bibliographica Liturgica: Catalogus Missalium ritus latino ab anno M.CCCC.LXXIV Impressorum (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1928).

An earlier version of the catalogue appears online:

  • William H. James Weale, ed., Bibliographica Liturgica: Catalogus Missalium ritus latino ab anno M.CCCC.LXXIV Impressorum (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1886), online via archive.org.

Both versions mention this Missal among the Missals for Use of the Order of the Fratres B. V. Mariae de Monte Carmelo.

But they differ.

In the 1886 version, this Missal is no. 1509 (p. 251), listed only briefly, with the mention of the date and place of publication, and the existence of a copy at “Frankfurt a. M. : S”. I give this detail because you can see its evidence online. I can also report the extra text in the 1928 book, which I possess.

In the 1928 version, this Missal is no. 1887 (p. 319), with more information:

1509, ID. Ian. (13 Jan.) Missale secundum ordinem fratrum Carmelitarum. In Uenetorum ciuitate, Lucas antonius de giunta. 8vo. 44 nn., 299 n., 1 vac = 344 Fol. . . . 2 col. 36 lin.

Frankfurt a. M. : S.

Rivoli 311, 274

That is, in 3 stages:

1) Bibliographical information about the publication itself, its date (the Ides of January, or 13 January, 1509), title, place of printing (“In the City of Venice” or In Uenetorum ciuitate), printer, colophon, format, number of leaves (344), layout in number of columns (2) and lines per page (36), etc.;
2) A known copy of the book, in this case at Frankfurt am Main in the “S[tadtbibliothek].”, however with unspecified pressmark; and
3) The reference to another bibliographical resource, namely “Rivoli” with the numbers “311, 271”.

The 3rd stage refers to a substantial publication by the 3rd Duc de Rivoli (also the Prince d’Essling), Victor Masséna (1836–1910), bibliophile and scholar (see also Essling, Victor Masséna):

  • Duc de Rivoli (Victor Masséna), Les Missels imprimés à Venise de 1481 à 1600: Description — Illustration — Bibliographie. Études sur l’art de la Gravure sur Bois (Paris: J. Rothschild, 1894), p. xviii and no. 274 on pages 311–312, online via 1894.

There we find a more detailed description of the volume, according to the single copy examined or known (“l’exemplaire que nous avons vu”) — albeit lacking its title page and some other pages. As a result, the title for the Missal is not reported. The description includes a list of 22 woodcut illustrations, which appear in a cycle from the Immaculée Conception to Christ de pitié — including some which seen to appear also in other Missals printed by or for L.-A. Giunta. Also noted by the description are:

Nombreuses petites vignettes, dont une certaine quantité a fond noir criblé, principalement dans les encadrements qui se trouvent au recto des pages en regard des grands bois. — Initiales ornées.

No mention of the music, but presumably that is to be taken as a given for the genre of book?

The colophon (on R. 288):

Explicit missale per ordinem fratrum gloriosissime dei genitricis semperque virginis marie de monte carmello : … quod impensa sua ac solerti cura Lucasantonius de giunta florentinus in Venetorum ciuitate floretissima impressit. Anno natalis domini. M. d. ix. idibus ianuarij.

(“Here ends the Missal for the Order of the Brothers of the Most Glorious Mother of God and eternal Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, . . . which, at his expense and by the diligence of skills, Lucas Antonius de Giunta, the Florentine, printed [or caused to be printed?] in the city of Venice. In the year of the Lord, 1509, on the Ides of January.”)

Rivoli identified the sole copy under his consideration as belonging to the city library at Frankfurt, with a pressmark: “Francfort, B[ibliothèque]. de la Ville, Rit. cath. 512”.

In Frankfurt, the Stadtbibliothek now combines with another major institutional library, as the Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt am Main (since 1945). So far, we have not been able to learn about its copy of this Missal (pressmark “Rit. cath. 512”) through the library website.

The apparent rarity of appearances of copies (or fragments) online or in some standard reference works might show a small-scale printing to start with, or a wider disinterest in the edition as such, given some with earlier dates and/or heightened extents of illustration. If it was a rare issue, then the dismemberment of the volume sold piecemeal online (perhaps not very recently) would represent an even more lamentable loss, with the destruction of the integrity of an early-printed object not easily to be found or replaced elsewhere.

Because Rivoli does not illustrate any of its woodcuts in this edition, we may glimpse their character and perhaps their style from other illustrations of the same subjects in other of Guinta’s Missals which appear among Rivoli’s figures and descriptions. Some of these correspondences or resemblances which Rivoli noted in his entry for this 1509 Missal, by referring to other Missal numbers and to other pages (as with “Missel 59 et p. 167” for the Annonciation XVI, the Assomption (“Cf. pp. 22, 25), and the Nativité de la Ste Vierge (“Cf. p. 113”) — subjects centering upon the Virgin Mary presumably of especial interest to the Carmelites.

Some examples:

  • 1509 Giunta Missal Leaf Medieval Music Leaser Lent
  • Recto only of Leaf 49952, with a part-page woodcut. An opportunity described in these glowing terms:

A Wonderful Leaf for The Manuscript Collector and A Great Gift Idea! Purchase Three or More Individual Auctions and There Will Be No Charge For Shipping We Now Accept PayPal WE SHIP WORLDWIDE – PLEASE CONTACT US FOR A FREE SHIPPING QUOTE! for more information.

The Printer and His Works

The printer’s career is surveyed in Lucantonio Giunti or Giunta (1457 – 1538), or in English via Lucantonio Giunti. We learn, for example:

Lucantonio Giunta or Giunta (1457–1538) was a Florentine book publisher and printer, active in Venice from 1489, a member of the Giunti family of printers. His publishing business was successful, and among the most important in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Through partnerships, often with members of his family, he expanded the business through much of Europe.

It is useful to note that for some works he served directly as printer in the production, and for others indirectly as publisher in the distribution.

The Printer, His Devices, and Examples of Title-Pages

Over the course of his output, Giunta employed several forms of printer’s device. Some are gathered and displayed online via Luca Antonio Giunta. Examples appear in Missals both earlier and later than the 1509 Carmelite Missal, in various formats, and for various Orders, as well for the practices of various Churches — as with the Church of Rome in the Missal Romanum. Some title-pages for his Missals are illustrated in Rivoli (1894).

Here follow a few specimens.

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1521), Title-page, detail: Printer's Device. Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1521), Title-page, detail: Printer’s Device. Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

1) From the Roman Missal of 1501 in Folio Format

The title-page of the Missale Romanum nouiter impressum, printed by Lucantonio de Giunta on 20 November 1501 in Venice.

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1501), Title-page. Image via Creative Commons.

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1501), Title-page. Image via Creative Commons.

The end-page with the colophon displays a mostly full page of text printed in black and red.

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1501), End-page. Image via Creative Commons.

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1501), End-page. Image via Creative Commons.

The edition is listed in Weale and Bohatta (1928), no. 964 (p. 169); and Rivoli (1894), no. 59 (pp. 167–168).

2) For the Dominican Order of 1504 in Folio Format

The title-page of a folio Missale secundum ordinem fratrum Predicatorum, printed by Lucantonio de Giunta on 30 June 1504 in Venice.

The full title, citing the “most beautiful figures (figuris)” describes the work thus:

Missale predicatorum nuper impressum ac emendatum cum multis missis: orationibus pulcherrimisque figuris in capite missarum festiuitatum solennium de nouo superadditis: ut inspicienti patebit.

The edition is listed in Weale and Bohatta (1928), no. 1828 (p. 311); and Rivoli (1894), no. 256 (pp. 300–301).

The tapered title is surmounted by a woodcut illustration of a full-length and haloed figure holding flowers and an edifice, in a depiction of the founder and patron of the Order, the Castilian Saint Dominic (1170–1221). At the bottom of the page appears the printer’s device in an upright rectangular frame, including the initials L and A. The whole volume appears online from a copy still in Venice, at the Biblioteca nazionale Marciana: here.  The title-page, from Biblioteca nazionale Marciana – Venezia – IT-VE0049 :

First page of the 'Missale predicatorum' (1504), printed by Lucantonio de Giunta in Venice. Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

First page of the ‘Missale predicatorum’ (1504), printed by Lucantonio de Giunta in Venice. Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

3) From a Missal Romanum of 10 May 1521 in Folio Format

That is, Missale romanum nuper adoptatum ad commodum. Venetijs in aedibus Luce antonij de giunta.

The Title page carries a variant version, within a paneled border.

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1521), Title-page, detail: Printer's Device. Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1521), Title-page, detail: Printer’s Device. Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The page in full:

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1521), Illustrated Title-page. Image via Creative Commons.

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1521), Illustrated Title-page. Image via Creative Commons.

The detailed title:

Missale Romanum ordinarium. Missale romanum nuper ad optatum comodumquorumcumque sacerdotum summa diligentia distinctum et ortographia castigatum atqueita ex nouo ordine digestum . . .

The edition is  Weale and Bohatta (1928), no. 1046 (p. 182); Rivoli (1894), no. 92 (pp. 196–198).

From the copy in Florence, Biblioteca nazionale centrale, shelfmark MAGL.2.109 (identifier info:sbn/CNCE011532), some specimen pages are shown in the Biblioteca digitale italiana via www.internetculturale.it, specifically here.  The colophon:

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1521), End Page with Colophon. Image via Creative Commons.

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Missale Romanum printed by Lucantonio Giunta (1521), End Page with Colophon. Image via Creative Commons.

4) From a Missale Nouum of 21 April 1537 for the (Hungarian) Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit in Quarto Format

From a copy in Budapest, National Széchényi Library, I. II, 66:

Budapest, National Széchényi Library, I. II, 66, Title-page. Missal (1537). Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Budapest, National Széchényi Library, I. II, 66, Title-page. Missal (1537). Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

This edition is Weale and Bohatta (1928), no. 1814 (p. 308); Rivoli (1894), no. 247 (p. 296).

*****

In sum, the Wagner Missal Leaf belongs to a dispersed copy of Guinta’s Missal of 1509 for Carmelite Use.

We offer more information about the leaf and its edition in this 12-page illustrated booklet prepared by our Font and Layout Designer.  Free to download.  Enjoy!

As customary, we offer the booklet in 2 versions.  They might conform with your preferences for viewing and printing.

  • Leslie J. French, “A Detached Printed Leaf containing Part of The Mass for Holy Saturday for Carmelite Use: A Process of Discovery” (Princeton: Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, 2020)1) Booklet as consecutive pages (8½” × 11″).

    2) Booklet as foldable Booklet, printable on 11″ × 17″ sheets ready to fold into a nested Booklet.

We thank the owner for permission to examine the material and to present it here.  We thank Leslie French for his research and the booklet.

*****

Camelite Booklet Cover Page with New Front Cover with border

Camelite Booklet Cover Page with New Front Cover with border

Suggestions for Further Reading

More information about this printer, his Missals, and their Music:

  • Mary Kay Duggan, Italian Music Incunabula: Printers and Type (Berkeley, etc.: University of California Press, 1992)
  • Lesley T. Stone, From Chapel to Chamber: Liturgy and Devotion in Lucantonio Giunta’s Missale romanum, 1508 (M. A. dissertation, Department of Art and Art History, University of South Florida, 2005), examining the edition of 3 October 1508 (especially its woodcuts),
    online via https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1877&context=etd = University of South Florida Scholar Commons
  • Leslie J. French, “A Detached Printed Leaf containing Part of The Mass for Holy Saturday for Carmelite Use: A Process of Discovery” (Princeton: Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, 2020), freely available for download here.

*****

Do you know of other leaves from this Missal? Do you have information about the provenance of this copy?

Please let us know.

Add your Comments here, Contact Us, and visit our Facebook Page.
Follow our blog on blog for further research on dispersed books, and watch its Contents List.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail. Reproduced by Permission.

J. S. Wagner Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal containing part of the Mass for Holy Saturday for use in a Carmelite Monastery, printed in 1509 by Lucantonio Giunta in Venice. Recto, detail. Reproduced by Permission.

*****

Tags: Carmelite Missal of 1509, Dominican Order, Duc de Rivoli's Missels, Early Printing, Early Printing in Venice, history of printing, Holy Saturday, J.S. Wagner Collection, latin Missal, Lucantonio Giunta, Roman Missal, Weale and Bohatta
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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.

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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 Anniversary Symposium Report: The Roads Taken

July 28, 2019 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Anniversary, Announcements, Bembino, Conference, Index of Medieval Art, Manuscript Studies, Princeton University, Reception, Reports

The Roads Taken, Or, The Obstacle Course

Challenges & Opportunities for
Assessing the Origins, Travels & Arrivals
of Manuscripts & Early Printed Materials

2019 Anniversary Symposium
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University
Friday 26 & Saturday 27 April 2019

Co-Sponsored by The Bibliographical Society of America

Rejoined Pieces of a Leaf from a Book of Hours. Private Collection, reproduced by permission.

Rejoined Pieces of a Leaf from a Book of Hours. Private Collection.

Sponsors

Department of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University

The Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University

James Marrow and Emily Rose

Celia Chazelle

Barbara A. Shailor

The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies

Vassar College

The Plan

In 2019 the Research Group on Manuscript [and Other] Evidence celebrates 20 years as a nonprofit educational corporation based in Princeton, and 30 years as an international scholarly society founded at the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Across the years, we have engaged in multiple events in many places, over multiple manuscripts and other original sources, and on a broad range of subjects. We celebrate our friends, colleagues, hosts, donors, volunteers, and subjects of study.

As part of these celebrations, our Anniversary Symposium took place at Princeton University, host of many of our events over the years, as remembered here.  Sponsorship for this Symposium included Sponsors from earlier years, as well as new sponsorship by The Bibliographical Society of America and by Vassar College .

The Cover Page for the 2019 Anniversary Symposium Booklet displays the name and logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, the title and subtitle of the Symposium, the List of Sponsors, and a description of the scope and aims of the Symposium. Like the rest of the Booklet, the Cover Page is set in RGME Bembino, the copyright multilingual font of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence.

2019 Anniversary Symposium Booklet Cover Page

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Tags: Anniversary Symposium, Early Printing, manuscript fragments
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