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rivate Collection, Koran Leaf in Ege's Famous Books in Nine Centuries, Front of Leaf. Reproduced by permission.
Otto Ege’s Portfolio of ‘Famous Books’ and ‘Ege Manuscript 53’ (Quran)
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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You are browsing the Blog for Book of Hours

The Penitent King David from a Book of Hours

November 27, 2019 in Manuscript Studies

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.

Detached Manuscript Leaf on Vellum
with Framed Illustration and Text

King David with Crown and Lyre
at the Opening of Psalm 6 or 37 (38) in Latin from a Book of Hours

At least circa 125 × 160 mm (as framed and matted)

Rouen, circa 1480–90
or Western France circa 1470

J. S. Wagner Collection

[Posted on 27 November 2019, with updates, for which we thank our Honorary Trustee, James H. Marrow, and our Honorary Invited Associate, Gregory T. Clark.]

J. S. Wagner Collection, Detached Leaf. Opening of Psalm 6 or 37 (38) in 4 lines.J. S. Wagner Collection, Detached Leaf. Opening of Psalm 6 or 37 (38) in 4 lines, with an enlarged and decorated initial D for "Domine"..

J. S. Wagner Collection, Detached Leaf. Opening of Psalm 6 or 37 (38) in 4 lines.

Continuing our exploration of manuscript fragments in our Blog on Manuscript Studies, we welcome a new addition to the quest. See the Contents List for this blog, mostly written by Mildred Budny, for the series of revelations.

From the collection of J. S. Wagner, we offer images from a detached leaf on Vellum in Latin apparently from a Book of Hours. Some of our earlier posts have addressed Books of Hours. See our Contents List.

At present, the Wagner leaf is contained within a frame, so that only one side is visible.  It might be the recto or verso of the leaf. If the former, the reader and beholder would have to turn the page in order to advance to the sequential text. If the latter, the facing page would have manifested it at a glance.

As it stands, the page presents the illustrated opening of one of the Penitential Psalms in Latin in the Vulgate Version from a luxurious Book of Hours.  The ambition of its production is manifested by the script, illustration, and decoration, as well as the use of gold and other pigments. The quality of the execution, however, exhibits some haste in places.

The set of Penitential Psalms comprise Psalms 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142 (that is, 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143 in the Hebrew numbering).
The opening of text upon the page corresponds to Verse 1 of both Psalm 6 and Psalm 37 (38).  See below for those options.  That is, at present, given the state of the leaf, we don’t know which.

Now contained within a frame behind glass, this page might represent the recto or the verso of the leaf.  For example, if the other side (if the verso) continues the text, it would establish which Psalm is represented.  If the other side (if the recto) is the formerly previous text, then it might designate some Psalm or otherwise in the liturgical sequence.

Needless to say, problems aplenty can arise when a leaf is excised and dispersed without accompanying information.  (Examples and their challenges appear in many of our blogposts.  See our Contents List.)

Call it detective work, and you would be right on track.  The good thing is that sharing of images and information might yield increased knowledge.  We thank the owner for sharing his images with us, and we thank our friends, colleagues, Associates, and Trustees for helping to discover more information about the center from which this leaf came.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: "Beyond Use" website, Book of Hours, Books of Hours, Crown, Flemish Psalter Illustration, J.S. Wagner Collection, King David, Lyre, Museu Gulbenkian LA 135, Penitent Psalms, Playfair Hours, Poitiers, Psalm 37 (38), Psalm 6, Rouen
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2019 Anniversary Symposium: The Roads Taken

March 29, 2019 in Anniversary, Announcements, Conference, Conference Announcement, Manuscript Studies

The Roads Taken, Or, The Obstacle Course

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

2019 Anniversary Symposium
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University
Friday 26 and 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

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, we announce our Anniversary Symposium at Princeton University, host of many of our events over the years.  This event takes place on Friday afternoon 26 April and Saturday 27 April 2019.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Book of Hours, Early Printing, History of Paper, manuscript fragments, Manuscript Fragments Reused in Bindings, Manuscript studies, Medieval Writing Materials
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2016 M-MLA Report

March 14, 2017 in Announcements, Conference Announcement, Manuscript Studies, Reports

Border States:
Marginalia in North American Manuscripts and Printed Books

Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (colour version)Two Panels
Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
and Organized by Justin Hastings
(Department of English, Loyola University Chicago)

at the Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association (M-MLA)
held on 10-13 November 2016 at St. Louis, Missouri

[Report for our Panels on Marginalia in Books for 2016 M-MLA]

Invitation Letter, Plus Marginalia, for 24 June 1994.

Invitation Letter, Plus Marginalia, for ‘Marginalia in Manuscripts’, 24 June 1994

The Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, in keeping with the M-MLA conference’s theme of “Border States,” sponsored its pair of Special Session Panels examining materials in North American collections. The responses to the Call for Papers for our sponsored Special Session yielded two panels rather than one, and extended their scope both temporally and geographically.

The subjects, and their range, accord well with the Research Group’s long-term interest in the physical characteristics of books, their modes of production, and their processes of use across time. The subject of “Marginalia in Manuscripts” formed the focus of one of the Seminars on “The Evidence of Manuscripts” in our early years based in the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College. Our blog on “Manuscript Studies” — plus some printed books — includes reports of discoveries grounded in close analysis of their surfaces, marginalia often included.

Do we practice what we preach? Well, we prefer to refrain from writing in books belonging to others, as we recommend to you, but our own pages? That might be different. Witness the Master Copy of the Invitation Letter to that Seminar (see here). Marginalia Lives On!

For the 2016 Panels, we publish the Abstracts for the Papers.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Aesop's Fables, Book of Hours, California Gold Rush, Curricular Romulus, Dance of Death, Danse Macabre, J H Gybon Spilsbury, John Ker Duke of Roxburghe, John Ldgate, Justin Hastings, Manuscript Marginalia, Manuscript studies, Marginalia, Midwest Modern Language Association, Newberry Library, Office of the Dead, Otto Ege's Manuscripts, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 359, Thomas Hoccleve
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2016 Symposium on ‘Words & Deeds’ Report

June 9, 2016 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Bembino, Conference, Reception, Reports

Detail of initial from Beinecke leaf from 'Otto Ege Manuscript 35'. Otto Ege Collection, The Beinecke Manuscript and Rare Book Library, Yale University. Photography by Lisa Fagin Davis. Reproduced by permission.

Otto Ege Collection, The Beinecke Manuscript and Rare Book Library, Yale University. Photograph by Lisa Fagin Davis.

‘Words & Deeds’ Symposium Report

With the smooth accomplishment of the Symposium on ‘Words & Deeds’ at Princeton University on 25–26 March 2016, it is time for the Report.

As is our custom, the Save-the-Date Announcement and the Poster(s) for the event, as well as the Program, circulated ahead of time (both in paper and online), in stages as they called for updates.  They did so, for example, as the Sponsors gathered in number, and as the event initially intended for a day’s span extended into one and one-half days, to accommodate the increasing number of Speakers, Panelists, and Sessions.

[Note:  We have now corrected the next link, for the Program Booklet.  It should work correctly.  If not, please let us know.]

The Program Booklet, containing both the Program and the Abstracts of Papers, made its debut, as is customary, on the day itself in print.  In this case, the generous donation of so many images — some of which featured in our post announcing the event — encouraged us to include a greater number and to extend across a larger number of pages than ever before for one of our Symposia.  Extraordinary.

Now we publish those materials online.  In addition, the happy completion of the Symposium calls for a description of its character, account of certain changes in plan, and a celebration of its enthusiastic dedication of expertise and collegial discourse.

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Tags: Amulets, Book of Hours, Christian Liturgy, Department of Art & Archaeology, Early Modern Studies, Early Printing, Fragmentology, Gutenberg Press, Hortus Deliciarum, Index of Christian Art, Indulgences, Late-Antique Theater, manuscript fragments, Manuscript studies, Mazarine MS 2013, Medieval Documents, Medieval manuscripts, Otto Ege, Otto Ege MS 14, Otto Ege MS 15, Otto Ege MS 35, Otto Ege MS 44, Saint-Denis, Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, Wax Seals, Yale University
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Marginalia in Books for 2016 M-MLA

May 10, 2016 in Conference, Conference Announcement

Border States:
Marginalia in North American Manuscripts and Printed Books

Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (colour version)Two Panels
Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
and Organized by Justin Hastings
(Department of English, Loyola University Chicago)

at the Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association (M-MLA)
to be held on 10-13 November 2016 at St. Louis, Missouri

[Posted on 10 May 2016, with updates. A further update appears in the 2016 M-MLA Report.]

Invitation Letter, Plus Marginalia, for 24 June 1994.

Invitation Letter, Plus Marginalia, for ‘Marginalia in Manuscripts’, 24 June 1994

The Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, in keeping with the M-MLA conference’s theme of “Border States,” announces the following pair of Special Session Panels examining materials in North American collections.  The responses to the Call for Papers for our sponsored Special Session yielded two panels rather than one, and extend their scope both temporally and geographically.

The subjects, and their extended range, accord well with the Research Group’s long-term interest in the physical characteristics of books, their modes of production, and their processes of use across time. The subject of “Marginalia in Manuscripts” formed the focus of one of the Seminars on “The Evidence of Manuscripts” in our early years based in the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College.  Our blog on “Manuscript Studies” — plus some printed books — includes reports of discoveries grounded in close analysis of their surfaces, marginalia often included. Do we practice what we preach?  Well, we prefer to refrain from writing in books belonging to others, as we recommend to you, but our own pages?  That might be different.  Witness the Master Copy of the Invitation Letter to that Seminar (see here).  Marginalia Lives On!

For the 2016 Panels, we publish the Abstracts for the Papers in stages, starting now.  The publication of the Convention timetable allows us also to report the schedule for our Sessions.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Aesop's Fables, Book of Hours, California Gold Rush, Curricular Romulus, Dance of Death, Danse Macabre, J H Gybon Spilsbury, John Ker Duke of Roxburghe, John Lydgate, Justin Hastings, Manuscript Marginalia, Manuscript studies, Marginalia, Midwest Modern Language Association, Newberry Library, Office of the Dead, Otto Ege's Manuscripts, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 359, Thomas Hoccleve
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A Leaf from the Office of the Dead

March 15, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

Verso of Leaf with the Office of the Dead from an unknown Book of Hours, showing its elaborate foliate border in gold and polychrome. Photography © Mildred BudnyA Part of the Office of the Dead

from a 15th-century Book of Hours
made in Flanders
(perhaps at Bruges or Antwerp)
circa 1470

A single leaf, trimmed down in spoliation
to produce a decorated tidbit on its own
Circa 135 mm × 100 mm
< written area circa 66 × 50 mm >
Single column of 17 lines

Budny Handlist 12

Our series of posts by Mildred Budny on Manuscript Studies continues with a somber view of a detached leaf from the Office of the Dead in a gracefully decorated Book of Hours from Flanders.  With this post, given the subject of the manuscript text, we also reflect wistfully on the passing of some friends, colleagues, and others dear to us.  The occasion prompts us to offer a personal recollection of Jennifer O’Reilly (1943–2016).

Text and Layout

Manifestly the text on this detached leaf demonstrates that it forms part of the Office of the Dead.  On its own, it is not exactly clear for which part of that Office this part of the text was intended to serve, mainly because there are no indications upon the leaf, and because the assigned practices for liturgical observance could vary considerably from place to place, custom to custom, and time to time.

Such is the nature of Books of Hours, a widely popular and personal genre of manuscripts or printed books in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.  At least we know which part of that set of texts, that is, the Office of the Dead, to which this leaf pertained in its original setting, although we cannot be certain of its specifically intended purpose, that is, which part of that particular Office.  Discovery of other parts of the original book might reveal such features more precisely.  Meanwhile, let us see what we can see.

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Tags: 2002 British Museum Colloquium, Book of Hours, Detached Leaves, Jennifer O'Reilly, Josephine Edmonds Case, Manuscript Conservation, manuscript fragments, Manuscript Illumination, Office of the Dead, Swimming Lessons, Wedding Present
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Leaf from a Tiny Book of Hours

October 22, 2015 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

Leaf Within the Hours of the Virgin
From an Unknown Manuscript

Detached Vellum Leaf
Circa 76 × 54 mm < written area circa 40 × 36 mm >
Single column of 12 lines in Latin in Gothic rotunda script, with polychrome embellishments

Budny Handlist 11

Detail of Verso from a Detached Leaf from a tiny Book of Hours, with the decorated initial I of 'In' within the Hours of the Virgin. Photography © Mildred BudnyIn our series on Manuscript Studies, Mildred Budny reports on items in the Illustrated Handlist, among other specimens.

Usually those items have some evidence, internal and/or contextual, which enable or imply the identifications of their places or regions of origin, the original manuscripts to which the dispersed fragment belongs, and/or their routes of transmission to the current owner.  Various of our blogposts in the series prove these possibilities.  Not in this case.

Here we focus on a fragment of a tiny Book of Hours which strayed into the group without any record of its provenance. We illustrate this fragment as an opportunity for recognition among its peers.

In Perspective

The scale of this leaf leaf comes into perspective when set among some of its companions in the Handlist.  As in the set of Group Portraits, front and back. The Leaf had its debut among our Manuscript Groupies.

Within those collective Photo Opportunities, Views 1 and 2, this Leaf appears at bottom right, respectively with its Verso and Recto.

6 leaves in the 'Handlist', shown variously in their rectos or versos, by chance as the occasion arose. Photography by Mildred Budny

Group Portrait View 1

6 leaves in the 'Handlist', shown variously in their versos or rectos, by chance as the occasion arose. Photography by Mildred Budny

Group Portrait, View 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiny, right?  A lovely shape to clasp in the hand.  The original manuscript must have been a joy to hold and to behold.

Text and Context

The Leaf, turned to the Verso, alongside the small-format envelope used to 'contain' the leaf, shown from its front with the owner's handwritten inscription in blue ink 'Ms leaf', as well as a color guide and scale for reference. Reproduced by permission of the photographer.The thin Leaf turns its yellowed hairside of the animal skin toward the recto, and the whitish fleshside to the verso.  An unevenly undulating cut severed the leaf from its former conjoint stub or, more probably, conjoint leaf of a bifolium, with some traces remaining along the inner margin of marks for the former stitching of the volume.  The marks of dirt accumulated along the upper, lower, and outer edges attest to a period of storage as a closed volume.

The smudged, darkened stain aligned about midway down the outer edge probably derives from contact with a metal clasp oxidized over time.  Such a closure would have helped to embrace firmly a small, fat volume of the sort which a full Book of Hours in such a compact layout would have required.

At present, the leaf measures circa 76 × 54 mm, with a written area of circa 40 × 36 mm.  The single column of 12 lines is written in Latin in Gothic rotunda script, with embellishments.  Although somewhat perfunctory in the execution, the embellishments and their colorful materials add an element of luxury.

Recto of leaf from a tiny 12-line Book of Hours, with in-line initials decorated with red pen-flourishing. Budny Handlist 11. Photograph © Mildred Budny

Recto

The embellishments include rubricated titles, in-line initials with pen-flourishes, and enlarged polychrome initials with ornamental frames.  On the recto, the 1-line initials for sections beginning within the lines are alternately blue and gold respectively with red or purple penline extensions comprised mainly of undulating lines resembling pulled sugar ripples.

Recto of leaf from a tiny 12-line Book of Hours, with 2 polychrome opening initials in gold leaf and other pigments Budny Handlist 11. Photograph © Mildred Budny

Verso

On the verso, the polychrome decorated initials either stand alongside the column on the verso (6-line-high I for In of the Capitulum, that is, ‘Reading’, from the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiasticus) or occupy a position inset within it (2-line-high F for Famulorum of the Oratio or ‘Prayer’).  For these enlarged initials, the letter itself is rendered in gold leaf, with bulbous tips, against an asymmetrical background frame with toothed or cusped edges and extended tips.  Each frame, filled with sections of rusty reddish and blue pigments, has an inset inner contour of white pigment.  Within the F, the 2 enclosed counters above and below its tongue have a surcharged pattern of white dots.

The Text

The text on the leaf both starts and ends mid-phrase.  It extends from within:

Psalm 127:3 ([la-/]teribus . . . Israel)

to within:

Prayer: Famulorum tuorum . . . ut [/ qui] .

The text corresponds mostly to a portion of the Hours of the Virgin represented in a paragdigm online here (with an English translation), where the assigned location within the Hours (in that case, for the Use of Rome) is None, that is, the mid-afternoon prayer within the canonical periods for daily prayer.  Expanding the abbreviations in the text, the transcription here of the Leaf provides points of orientation as well as indications of its divergences from the paragdigm.

The preceding leaf apparently ended within Psalm 127:3

[3 Uxor tua sicut uitis abundans. in la-/]

[RECTO]

teribus domus tue Fi[-]
lii tui sicut nouclle [? sic for germina] oli[-]
arum in circuitu men[-]
se tue [4] Ecce sicut benedice[-]
tur homo [<uiro] qui timet do[-]
minum [5] Benedicat tibi
dominus ex syon et uideas bo[-]
na iherusalem omnibus diebus ui[-]
te tue [6] Et uideas filios
filiorum tuorum pacem super is[-]
rael Gloria A[ntiphon] pulcra es et de[-]
cora filia iherusalem terribi[-]

[RECTO] / [VERSO]

lis ut castrorum acies or[-]
dinata. Capittlu[m] [sic; = Ecclesiasticus 24:19–20].
In plateis sicut cynamo[-]
mum et balsamum arom[-]
tizans odorem dedi quasi
mirra decta electi dedi suaui[-]
atem odoris. deo gratias. V[ersiculus]
post partum uirgo. et. kyrie eleison
christe eleison. kyrie eleison. domine exaudi
et clamor. oremus Or[ati]o.
Famulorum tuorum quos
domine delictis ignosce. ut

[VERSO] / [qui tibi pacu . . . ]

The next leaf would have picked up from there.

Such a span of text occurs within various Books of Hours, and for various points within the Hours. The use of the Antiphon Pulchra es et decora filia Jerusalem terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata is recorded in a variety of sources for several occasions within the liturgical year.

Therefore, without fuller knowledge about the other parts of the original manuscript and its specific approaches, it seems difficult to determine to which place within the Hours the portion represented by this leaf would have specifically corresponded.

Without better evidence, we resist a temptation to assign this very reading in this specific manuscript to a particular part of the Office of the Virgin.

About that Manuscript

Haven’t identified it yet.

You may remember that some of our blogposts in the series on Manuscript Studies have identified fragments from manuscripts dispersed by Otto F. Ege (among others). So far, these have addressed ‘Ege Manuscripts’ 8, 14, 41, and 61.  So the nature of his dispersals and the resources for identifying some of them have become familiar.  You can find descriptions and references in those posts.

Scott Gwara’s Handlist (2013) of ‘Manuscripts Collected or Sold by Otto F. Ege’ does not apparently include any volume which corresponds neatly to the characteristics of this leaf. We were hopeful.

A somewhat similar manuscript, fragmented and dispersed, is represented in Ege’s Portfolio of Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts, Number 36, a mid-15th-century French Book of Hours with a (not identical) comparable style, layout, and decoration.  But it has 13 lines per column, rather than the 12 on this Leaf, and includes some other approaches to decoration, such as interlace patterns and the use of double (rather than single) white outlines inside the frames for initials.

Date and Origin?

Wish we knew.  Suffice, perhaps, for now, to say that the rotunda script indicates an ‘Italianate’ element.  Not that this means that it is Italian script, or the work of an Italian scribe.  Just an element, important to register.

However, the style of the initials seems French instead.

Interesting combination of influences.

So, perhaps, this leaf and its original manuscript (if fully consistent) might have originated in Southern France, Italy, or (say) Spain, circa 1400 or later.

Transmission?  Forget It!

The owner reports, in responses to questions repeated over years, that this leaf was acquired at an unknown date, unframed, and from an unremembered source.  He confirms that the single-line inscription in ink on the envelope is his own handwriting.

It was probably a gift, but not sufficiently memorable as such, unlike another leaf from a different Book of Hours (Handlist 12) acquired as a wedding present.  It was presumably a gift, he observes, because its purchase is neither remembered nor recorded among the available papers.

So much for continuity.

Shucks

On a personal note.  Usually I am reluctant to say such.

Collectors Gonna Do Whatever.  Right.  They can.

But this situation makes me wonder.  I remember vividly, clearly, precisely, the gifts, and their circumstances, which ever I have received.  When I see — of course, because I place them in view — any gift, you know, I smile with recognition of the person, place and time of presentation (by whatever means, near or far), and even I the recall of the light or sunlight of the reception.  That is how I think, and remember.  Sensitive Creature, that’s me.

Detail of Recto of the leaf from a tiny Book of Hours, with 2 1-line in-line initials respectively in Gold or Blue pigment with pen-flourishes respectively of purple or red pigment. Photography © Mildred BudnyAnd so, this occasion with the necessity to encounter forgetfulness, amounting apparently to negligence or indifference (same difference), makes me wonder differently, and with increased appreciation, about the merits of Eastern habits of stamping materials in the stages of successive ownership and appreciation.  It seems a method worth considering for Western Stuff.

Seems more respectful.  I aim to label gifts to me even more precisely than before.

P. S.  You hear that?  I am the sort of person who appreciates gifts.

Hint?  You think?

Over to You

Do you know of any other leaves from this tiny book?  They could be anywhere.

******

We thank the owner of the leaf for permission to photograph, research, and publish it.  It is a pleasure also to record thanks to Adelaide Bennett, Gregory Clark, and James Marrow for their expert advice about the leaf.

*****

 

 

 

Tags: Book of Hours, Gothic Manuscripts, Otto Ege's Manuscripts
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2014 Seminar on “Manuscripts & Their Photographs”

December 12, 2014 in Events, Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

Initial P of Prayer in Book of Hours, with Photography © Mildred Budny

Photography © Mildred Budny

Close Up & Up Close

On Tuesday, 9 December 2014, we held a seminar at the Index of Christian Art of Princeton University.  With examples on hand, Giles Constable and Mildred Budny offered reflections on the processes involved in

1) assembling over decades an ‘accumulation’ — not exactly a deliberate ‘collection’ — of medieval manuscripts (or fragments thereof), documents, and early printed materials, and

2) photographing them over several years, in stages and under varied conditions, for the record and for research, sometimes along with conservation work (where called for in certain cases).

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Tags: Book of Hours, Index of Christian Art, manuscript fragments, Manuscript Photography, manuscripts reused in bindings, medieval seal, Philip II Count of Savoy, Vitae Patrum
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