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Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (November 1993)

October 22, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Uncategorized

“Professionals’ Views of Manuscript Writing: A Workshop”
Parker Library, 1 November 1993

Page 1 of Invitation Letter for Workshop on 1 November 1993 at the Parker Library on 'Professionals' Views of Manuscript Writing'

Page 1 of Invitation Letter for 1 November 1993

Page 2 of Invitation Letter for Workshop on 1 November 1993 at the Parker Library on 'Professionals' Views of Manuscript Writing'

Page 2 of Invitation Letter for 1 November 1993

In the Series of Seminars and Workshops on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”
The Parker Library
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
2-page Invitation in pdf with 1-page RSVP Form

The previous Workshop in the Series considered

“British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius A.iii”
The British Library
9 August 1993

Face to Face

This special occasion brought together manuscript scholars, practising calligraphers inspired by medieval manuscripts, and some of the manuscripts themselves.  What’s not to love?

Show&Tell Op:  Bury Bible, Eadmer’s manuscripts, Missal of Saint Augustine’s Abbey, and some other beautiful books:  Meet Your Fans!  To seek Your Autographs is What We Do!  P.S.  We know what Your Handwriting Looks Like.

Read On, Dear Reader.

[First published in 22 October 2016, as Mildred Budny reviews the event and its setting among the many events and activities of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Update: A Research Group Seminar the next year examined challenges of manuscript fragments, including some specimens on loan from the collection of our Associate Toshiyuki Takamiya:

  • Medieval Manuscript Fragments (19 August 1994).

More than 2 decades later, the Takamiya Collection moved to the Beinecke Library at Yale, where it finds a welcoming home.

  • an exhibition at the Library showcases highlights of this collection together with selected manuscripts in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library: Making the Medieval English Book, on display from 1 September to 10 December 2017,
  • an associated conference on 6–7 October 2017 focuses on the scope of the collection, with contributions by numerous experts (including some Associates of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, among them Toshiyuki Takamiya himself): Conference, and
  • a published catalogue illustrates and describes the collection:  Raymond Clemens, Diane Ducharme, and Emily Ulrich, A Gathering of Medieval English Manuscripts: The Takamiya Collection at the Beinecke Library (Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, 2017).]

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Alexander R. Rumble, Book of Kells, Bury Bible, Corpus Christi College MS 2, Corpus Christi College MS 271, Corpus Christi College MS 3, Corpus Christi College MS 389, Corpus Christi College MS 4, Corpus Christi College MS 41, Corpus Christi College MS 86, Eadmer of Canterbury, Emiko Kinebuchi, Gareth Colgan, Gaynor Goffe, Gerald Fleuss, Missal of Saint Augustine's Abbey, Parker Library, Peter Kidd, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Toshiuki Takamiya
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Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (September 1990)

October 4, 2016 in Seminars on Manuscript Evidence

“Corpus Christi College MS 139”
A Twelfth-Century Historical Miscellany

Invitation Letter to 'Corpus Christi College, MS 139' Workshop on 28 September 1990

Invitation Letter for 28 September 1990

The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
29 September 1990

In the Series of Seminars (and Workshops) on the Evidence of Manuscripts
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Invitation Letter (with no RSVP form or slip) in pdf

The previous seminar in the series considered
Sixteenth-Century Interventions in Anglo-Saxon and Related Manuscripts
Parker Library, 22 April 1990

[First published on 3 October 2016]

*****

The Subject

The Invitation asks for collective help in guiding the course of the research work on one of the manuscripts selected for the Research Project proposal.  It invites the selected specialists

to join us for a workshop consultation concerning our MS 139, a twelfth-century composite manuscript which includes the unique medieval copy of the Historia Regum attributed to Symeon of Durham.  It also has an erased ex-libris inscription of the Cistercian abbey of Sawley, although it may not have been made there.

At present it is undergoing conservation and research while disbound.  This has provided a unique opportunity for examining and comparing the different sections of the manuscript, some of which originated separately.  Before it will be rebound in the autumn, we wish to discuss the evidence thus revealed with a team of specialists in various disciplines.  For example, we would like to consider how the evidence modifies the existing historiography of this important manuscript.  The script and decoration may help to determine the date and place of origin of the manuscript and its components more satisfactorily.  The character of the texts included in the manuscript might have further implications worth exploring.

We would very much value your presence in these discussions.  We hope that your expert knowledge might help provide some fresh evaluations of the evidence.  In this way we hope to ensure that the research on the manuscript will be of the maximum benefit for future scholarship.

Ruins of the Chapel of Salley / Sawley Abbey, Lancashire. Photograph by Chris Heaton via Wikipedia Commons.

Ruins of the Chapel of Salley / Sawley Abbey, Lancashire. Photograph by Chris Heaton via Wikipedia Commons.

The Logistics

The time-frame for “the consultation over the disbound manuscript” was planned to begin at 11 a.m. and “to work until about 4:40 p.m.  As for logistics:

Although we are unable to reimburse fares, we will provide a buffet lunch.  We might also, depending upon availability, be able to supply overnight accommodation in College free of charge on the 27th or 28th, if you require it.

Some participants chose to stay in College for one night or the other.

*****

Participants

Invitations were, in the first instance, sent to:

Bernard Meehan, Patrick McGurk, Christopher Brooke, Christopher Norton, Anne Lawrence, Derek Baker, Tessa Webber, Ian Doyle, Alan Piper, Martin Brett, David Rollason, Simon Keynes, Julia Crick

Most of them attended.  The Research Group Archives contain correspondence relating to the preparations and the follow-up of the “consultation workshop”.

Invitation Letter to 'Corpus Christi College, MS 139' Workshop on 28 September 1990

*****

Timing

It is probably important to tell that a principal reason for assigning this manuscript to our Research Project was the characteristic determination of our Director/Librarian to wage polemics with his colleagues, with whatever methods and persons he had to hand.  Shame that he found it appropriate to shackle people, tasks, and manuscripts to that base aim.

MS 139 entered the sphere of our research work, from the very start, as we were embarking upon the integrated research of the Pilot Project, and as we designed the application for the follow-up Research Project, because R.I. Page wished to prove that one of his colleagues was wrong.

He said so long and often.  The issue had to do with something or other (specified, but so what, as it evolved, that wasn’t really the issue, it was the dominance, stupid, what a waste).  Obedient and obliging, we responded earnestly to the directions.  Set up the research, photographed the manuscript, began the integrated investigations, identified the relevant experts, invited the specialists to the workshop, and laid out the plan, with requests for advice and assistance.  Wrote up the results, Tim and I.  Ready to roll.  Stupid, as it turned out.

Fell into a trap.  One hopeful scholar/editor saw an opportunity, longed for a full facsimile (we’re talking analogue, remember), plus big-time commentary, and talked us into it.  Another, our Boss, continued to want the shaming of that colleague.  Whatever, it was a manuscript, and manuscripts have their complexities, which we could address.  We set to work.  Stupid.  It was idiotic, as Hindsight states clear-sightedly, to assign our assembled resources (willing to photograph and to integrate research, and unfortunately being available to be exploited by all those political aims) to a manuscript of a date and genre for which our assembled expertise was inexperienced.

We — that is, the Senior Research Associate (Yours Truly) and the new Research Assistant (being trained) — had to scrabble to learn about the texts, authors (or probable authors), monastic houses, scholarly controversies, individuals engaged in such studies, and all the rest.  We did so, but it took time.  And it deflected energy, time, and resources, from the other tasks for the Project.

Soon, our Boss Got Bored.  He had no experience with the work of preparing Monographs (we learned that already, alas, with the aims and efforts to produce a monograph study of the early Insular Gospel Fragment, about which another Post).  In time, through a “conspiracy” of forces, both in Cambridge and far elsewhere, reaching into the heartlands of the United States, the earnest research work on Corpus MS 139 could not find a full publication.  I still lament all that wasted work.  And it cost a lot, my own money included.

But let us return to the Workshop in its time and place, with taking a deep breath to start that entry.

Follow-Up and Follow-Through

The follow-up from the workshop extended into paths unexpected, as requirements, opportunities, and obstacles arose.  Their processes formed part of the larger external as well as internal contexts in which the Research Project had to operate.  The Memoirs might Tell All.  Meanwhile, let’s look at the Manuscripts and what we could learn about and through them.

Reports of Sorts

The Consultation Workshop of September 1990 and the continuing work on the manuscript by the Research Group Research Team are reported in the Annual Reports to the Leverhulme Trust, starting with the First, as the meeting took place close to the end of the first year of the Research Project (on the calendar of the academic year, revolving at 30 September / 1 October), and as the series of Seminars and Workshops had already begun before the Project began.

1.  In the First

Front cover of the assembled booklet with the Profile of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence and the full set of 5 Annual Reports to the Leverhulme Trust, which funded the 5-year major Research ProjectThe First Annual Report (1989–1990) cites this workshop and the work on this manuscript among the 3 “Manuscripts Studied in Detail” (MSS 197B, 23, and 139):

MS 139. A late twelfth-century historical miscellany with a very complex structure, including rare or unique texts, from Northern England.  While it is disbound Mr Graham and Dr Budny have recorded and analysed the different sections of the manuscript and its binding history, with reference to numerous studies which have been published on it.  Ms H. Humphreys, a professional draughtswoman, was employed to make technical drawings recording the sewing patterns on the leaves.

We presented our preliminary conclusions at a workshop attended by outside specialists.  Present were:  Drs A.I. Doyle and D.W. Rollason (Durham), Dr P. McGurk (London), Dr M. Brett, Ms J. Crick, Dr S.D.Keynes and Dr J.M. Sheppard (Cambridge), Dr C. Norton (York), Dr T. Webber (Southampton) and Prof. D. Baker (North Texas).  Our text forms the core of a monograph on the manuscript, to which Prof. Baker and Dr Norton will contribute.

Among the “Project Publications”, the Report observes:

MS 139.  The work on individual aspects of the manuscript is being planned for publication as a set of essays on the manuscript and its problems.  Prof. Baker is preparing his contribution to the text and investigating the possibility of funding for a full facsimile, which we hope might become the first in a series of such publications.

2.  Wait a Second

The Second Annual Report (1990–1991) continues the dual approach.

“Studied in Detail”

While it remains disbound Mr Graham and Dr Budny have advanced with recording and analysing the different sections of the manuscript and its production and history.  We have followed up the suggestions given by the specialists who attended our workshop on the manuscript in the first year of our project.  Prof. Baker, who is collaborating with us on its study, advised on the work and its publication.  Dr Budny supervised the preparation of detailed technical drawings of the stitching patterns by Ms Helen Humphreys.  These are now complete.  Our text is undergoing revision in the light of our further discoveries.  It will form the core of a monograph to accompany a full colour facsimile of the manuscript.  The work is drawing to a close and the manuscript will be rebound next year

“Project Publications”

The detailed study by Mr Graham and Dr Budny approaches completion.  Prof. Baker is preparing his contribution to the text.  His intention to investigate the possibility of funding for a full colour facsimile, reported last year, has now borne fruit, as part of our wider plans for Research Group publications.  The facsimile and monograph study will appear in two volumes.

3.  Third Time Around (not exactly Third Time Lucky)

“Studied in Detail”

Before its rebinding this year Mr Graham and Dr Budny completed the task of recording and analysing the different sections of the manuscript; identifying its numerous scribes, rubricators and annotators and the distribution of their work; and examining the evidence for its production and history.  This included carrying out the photography for the full facsimile.  Some of the photography recorded the pages or parts of pages revealed in the last stages of conservation before rebinding began in June.  The conservation work is now complete.

We have continued to follow up the suggestions given by the specialists whom we targeted in the first year of our project and who have provided additional assistance since then, as well as by other specialists whom we have identified through further work. These include Drs Brett, Doyle, Meehan, Piper, P. McGurk (London), C. Norton (York) and D. Park (London).  Prof. Baker continues to assist in planning the publication of the full colour facsimile of the manuscript accompanied by our monograph study.  Our text is undergoing revision in the light of our further discoveries.  The publication will represent a major research took, as well as a landmark in manuscript facsimiles.

“Project Publications”

Our planned publication is taking shape as Mildred Budny, Timothy Graham and Derek Baker, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 139:  A Twelfth-Century Historical Miscellany from Northern England, to appear within the series Manuscripts in Facsimile.  The facsimile and introduction are intended to form two volumes.  Photography for the facsimile was carried out this year, mostly in March before the manuscript was rebound; portions revealed during conservation were photographed in June.  The detailed study by Mr Graham and Dr Budny approaches completion.  Prof. Baker is preparing his contribution to the text.

“Links with Other Projects”:  Namely “Academia”

In May the Research Group helped to form Academia, a non-profit organisation now registered in the United States.  The Directors are Mildred Budny, R.I. Page, Derek Baker (North Texas) and Donald Kagay (Texas).  The Board of Advisers includes Prof. Godden.  Academia plans to produce the in-house publications of the Research Group, the Texas Medieval Association and the Haskins Society.  Medieval Institute Publications has agreed to distribute its publications.  Dr Budny has received proposals for various publications and has commissioned works on specific subjects.  In September Dr Baker visited us to consult in detail about the planned publications.

4.  And So Fourth

By the Fourth Annual Report, it had become clear that “Prof. Baker was unable to meet his original commitments for the publication, and we no longer count on his assistance.  We are now seeking an alternative route for the publication.”  Sums it up.

Under the heading of “Publications of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence”, the Report puts it clearly, if deftly:

Last year the plans for such publications were reported under the heading of Academia, a non-profit organisation which the Research Group helped to form in May 1992 at the suggestion of Prof. Baker.  It aimed to produce the in-house publication of the Research Group and some groups in America.  Prof. Baker visited us in October to discuss these plans as well as work on MS 139.  Yet the registration of Academia in America appears to be delayed, for reasons we have not been able to ascertain.  Therefore, as our Research Project nears completion, the Research Group has ceased to engage in Academia and has turned directly to Medieval Institute Publications for the distribution of its in-house publications.

5.  Fifth and Done, or, Over and Out

Derek Baker at the 1992 Kalamazoo Congress

Derek Baker at the 1992 Kalamazoo Congress

In the final year of the Research Project, which, while wrapping up the project, continued its work on many fronts (seminars and workshops included) and experienced additional challenges in the final months.  Among them was the unexpected need in the Summer of 1994 to renegotiate the contracted position which had been signed on 14 February of that year for a position in the United States, and was scheduled to commence on 1 October, but which had changed unilaterally, unexpectedly and untenably.

Without institutional support of any substance, the renewed efforts in 1994 to arrange for publication of the monograph and facsimile of MS 139 had come to nothing.  There were other, more pressing, challenges to address (illnesses for some years after 1994 included), if strength permitted.  Meanwhile, the world changed.  And we were no longer deemed useful or worthy, it appeared.  The Memoirs might name names.  (But we digress.)

The Fifth Annual Report put it bravely:

Some results of our detailed study of MS 139 while it was disbound have now been reported in Dr Budny’s paper on ‘Physical Evidence and Manuscript Conservation’.  She and Mr Graham have begun to replan the publication of their fuller study, after Prof. Baker abandoned his commitments to it and the proposed facsimile, despite Dr Budny’s appeal to him at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in May.

6. Paying the Price

After the completion of the outside-funded project, after the move of the Research Group to the United States, as expected, but not to the expected address (see the Memoirs), and after a brief recovery from those illnesses (which returned, of course), the investor which Derek Baker had assembled for his “Academia” project held Mildred Budny accountable for the outlay for the photographic work.  After all, she was the photographer, and had performed the work.  Not that, after those disasters on both sides of the Atlantic, did she have any employment or savings.  After all, Derek did not answer our calls.  And some of the others, contributors and promised publishers or distributors included, had deserted as well.  Hard going.  Where were friends when we needed them?

No Good Deed, Etc. (Memoirs, remember.)  No wonder she fell ill for some years, for real.  Running on empty has its costs.  Not just money.  And some things money cannot buy.  No wonder, eventually, ReGrouping, we came to welcome, also, Donations in Kind.  (UnKind not so much.)  Good for those Donations!

A Place-Holder or Sign of Life

The Final Report for the Leverhulme Trust Research Project could record that, at least, “some results of our detailed study of MS 139 while it was disbound” would appear in print as part of the essay on “Physical Evidence and Manuscript Conservation” within a volume on Conservation and Preservation in Small Libraries: Proceedings of the 5th Anniversary Conference of the Parker Library Conservation Project (1994), pages 29–46, with many typos, of which some incorrect plate-numbers are remedied in the unnumbered full-page list of Errata solely for that essay.

This volume publishes the updated proceedings of “The Parker Library Conservation Project, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 5th Anniversary Conference on Conservation and Preservation in Small Libraries”, held at Corpus Christi College in September 1988.  The completed paper includes black-and-white photographs of MS 139 (and other manuscripts) taken before or during their conservation, along with Helen Humphrey’s technical drawings of the exposed sewing patterns of MS 139 before the rebinding and reconstructed views of the former binding, with its clasping mechanism.  That publication’s report was an effort to show something of the labors’ results, even if in a compacted and somewhat out-of-the-way publication.

Technical Drawings as Study Aid

Mildred Budny had worked with Helen before, in the course of researching, photographing, and helping to guide the technical drawing of original artefacts, with technical drawings which had seen publication in several notable places. For example:

  • The Anglo-Saxon Embroideries at Maaseik: Their Historical and Art-Historical Context (1984)
  • The Maaseik Embroideries (1984)
  • The Early Medieval Textiles at Maaseik, Belgium (1985)

This, too, was the sort of network of expertise and personal connection which came, as if a Dowry, with the arrival of the designated Senior Research Associateship, all outside-funded, at the Parker Library in the autumn of 1987.

Some marriages — even arranged marriages — may be, or become, happy.  Some households may welcome, or come to welcome, their Brides.

*****

Some Published Results

Because the Illustrated Catalogue (1997) emerging from the Research Project did not include MS 139 (on account of the requisite date-range), the principal publication from the Leverhulme Research Project for all our work on that manuscript remains this one:

  • “Physical Evidence and Manuscript Conservation: A Scholar’s Plea” (1994)

Here we reproduce its Abstract, with full Authorial permission:

Advances in techniques of both examining and conserving manuscripts call increasingly for the careful assessment and preservation of their physical features as very much as possible. Usually regarded as standing outside textual, historical and art-historical spheres, many such features have frequently been ignored, dismissed or destroyed outright. They can. however, when properly observed, deciphered and set in context, yield considerable information — sometimes surviving in no other forms — regarding the nature, origin and history of the manuscripts themselves, and often also of related manuscripts and works in other media. When taken hand in hand, scholarly knowledge of and research on the manuscripts can greatly aid the sensitive conservation, just as conservation can contribute immeasurably to scholarly understanding of the books, not only through the evidence which emerges into view during disbinding, but also through collaborative interchange between scholars and practitioners.

Another time, we aim to present some more of those findings.  We start with a tidbit.

Something Anew

We prepare to publish, in a more accessible venue, some bits of the information which that essay endeavoured to present, absent a monograph study and facsimile of the manuscript.  The compressed information presented in the 1995 essay seemed the best, in a cloudy, mostly abandoned state, that might be done.  That study/monograph/facsimile turned out to be one of the very many casualties which fell prey to the problems besetting the Research Project in its full set of years.

That Was Then.  This Is Now.

Here we are.  (We Are Here.)  Digging into the Archives and trying to make some things right.  (You may have noticed in some of the previous posts about the Series of Seminars Etc. on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”)

Starting now:

Corpus Christi College, MS 139

Figure 1 (courtesy of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)

a) Traces on the former pastedowns of the vellum turn-ins and the nail-or-stud holes from a lost binding on folios 1v and 182r

b) Suggested reconstruction of the former, characteristically medieval, cover and its binding mechanism, based upon those traces

Technical drawings by Helen Humphreys, guided by Mildred Budny, while the manuscript was disbound.

Corpus Christi College, MS 139. a) Traces on the former pastedowns of a lost binding on folios 1v and 182r; and b) Suggested reconstruction of the former cover, based upon those traces. Technical drawings by Helen Humphreys, guided by Mildred Budny, while the manuscript was disbound. © Research Group on Manuscript Evidence.Soon we will present the Quire Diagrams, and more.  Better late than never, it may be.

*****

Invitation to 'Technical Literature' Seminar on 13 July 1991The next Seminar in the Series on “The Evidence of Manuscripts” considered

Technical Literature and its Form and Layout in Early Medieval Manuscripts
Parker Library, 13 July 1991

You could also review the full Series.  It was a wonderful ride!  So many colleagues and friends responded to its call, and so many manuscripts opened their pages, with permission, for the chance to look, consider, admire, and converse!

Aren’t they wonderful?  Don’t they talk a lot, when we pause to listen?  Fun when they talk back.

#puttingthefunbackintomanuscriptstudies.  Hurray!

*****

Tags: Binding Stitching Patterns, Budny's Illustrated Catalogue, Composite Manuscripts, Corpus Christi College Ms 139, Historia Regum, manuscript facsimiles, Manuscript Photography, Parker Library, Sawley Abbey, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Symeon of Durham, Technical Drawings
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“Medieval Binding Structures” Trial Project (1989-1990)

October 3, 2016 in Reports, Uncategorized

Trial Project at the Parker Library
(1989–1990)

for the Census of

Medieval Binding Structures to A.D. 1550
Preserved in the British Isles

Plus Continuing Links
1989–1994

At early stages, members of the Research Team both at the Parker Library (from 1989–1994) and in its 5-year Leverhulme Trust Research Project (1 October 1989 – 30 September 1994) participated in the discussions and some in-house research which, among other contributions, explored the ground for a survey of medieval binding structures in the British Isles.

That aim, directed by Jennifer M. Sheppard of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, became a large-scale project for identifying and recording the corpus of Medieval Binding Structures to A.D. 1550 Preserved in the British Isles.  Among the results of that aim was the publication of her detailed study of The Buildwas books:  Book production, acquisition and use at an English Cistercian monastery, 1165-c.1400.  (Oxford:  Oxford Bibliographical Society, Bodleian Library, 1997).  A list of her published works, including reports about this project, can be found here: Sheppard, Jennifer Mary.

Some milestones along the journey, recorded in publications by Jennifer M. Sheppard:

  • “Some Twelfth-Century Monastic Bindings and the Question of Localization”, in Making the Medieval Book: Techniques of Production. Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of the Seminar in the History of the Book to 1500, Oxford, July 1992, edited by Linda L. Brownrigg (1995), pages 181–98
  • ‘Describing Medieval Binding Structures:  Experiences of a Census-Taker’, Rare Books Newsletter, 57 (Winter 1997), 57–70.
  • ‘Census of Western Medieval Bookbinding Structures to 1500 in British and Irish Libraries’, Journal of the Society of Archivists, 13:1 (2009), pages 29–30

A worthy project, and we are glad to have witnessed stages in its creation.

As part of the work now of recording the early history of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence for our website, we enter the Archives, survey their range, and report some of their materials.  Thus we may assess the Group’s activities both for its own research projects and in support of others’.  Always glad to celebrate the work of manuscript studies, from wherever the dedication may emerge.

[Published on 3 October 2016 by Mildred Budny]

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts', Corpus Christi College Archiveds XXVII.5, Corpus Christi College Archives XVII.1, Corpus Christi College MS 212, Corpus Christi College MS 86, Corpus Christi College MS 87, Corpus Christi College MS 89, Jennifer M Sheppard, Leverhulme Trust, Medieval Binding Structures Project, Parker Library, Research Group Archives, Trial Project
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Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (February 1993)

September 30, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Uncategorized

“Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 44:
The Corpus Canterbury Pontifical”
Parker Library, 27 February 1993

Invitation Letter Page 1 for 27 February 1993

Invitation Letter Page 1 for 27 February 1993

Invitation Letter Page 2 for 27 February 1993

Invitation Letter Page 2 for 27 February 1993

In the Series of Seminars and Workshops on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

2-page Invitation in pdf, with 1-page RSVP Form.

This Workshop followed the Workshops and other Events
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
in Japan in November and December 1992.

The previous Seminar held in England took place in Oxford and considered

“Research on Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Cambridge and Oxford”
Pembroke College, Oxford, 20 June 1992

*****

The Plan

Dated 20 January 1993, the 2-page Invitation Letter (shown here and downloadable here with the 1-page RSVP Form) provides the Menu for the Food for Thought.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Canterbury at Corpus' exhibition, 'Manuscript Studies' Blog, 'Matthew Parker in Cambridge' exhibition, Andrew Prescott, Budny's Illustrated Catalogue, Canterbury Cathedral, Catherine Hall, Corpus Canterbury Pontifical, Corpus Christi College MS 146, Corpus Christi College MS 163, Corpus Christi College MS 265, Corpus CHristi College MS 267, Corpus Christi College MS 270, Corpus Christi College MS 44, Corpus Christi College MS 79, Corpus Christi College MS 81, Ely Cathedral, John Parker, Matthew Parker, Nicholas Hadgraft, Palaeographical and Textual Handbook, Parker Library, R.I. Page, Richard Cox Bishop of Ely, Richard Emms, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence
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Research Group Archives

September 24, 2016 in Events, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Manuscript Studies, Parker Library, Photographic Exhibition, Reception, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Uncategorized

Our Archives

[First published on 24 September, 2016, with updates]

As our website (You are Here) records more and more of our activities, which continue to advance and to expand, we also present more elements from our organization’s archives. These elements take various forms, on paper, in photographs, in print, and in scanned materials.

Our Websites (2007‒)

Header for the RGME website

Our official website is a generous, long-term donation by our Webmaster, our Associate Jesse D. Hurlbut.  Designed and maintained by Jesse, it is updated by our WebEditor, Mildred Budny, with contributions by Guest Bloggers and Administrators.  It is one of our principal Publications, whose number continues to grow.

Our First Website (2007‒2014)

From the first, once we received a website (2007‒), it began to report our activities variously in progress and in preparation.  In a series of Pages, it published our Profile (formerly circulated only in print — as with the Profile dated October 1992 — but now online, with updates, starting with our Front Page).  With our Mission statement on the Front Page, this first website presented a series of Pages outlined in its sidebar.  It named our Officers, Associates, and Volunteers, described our various events, listed our Publications, and more.

That first website is archived in some “snapshots” by the Wayback Machine.

  • March 24, 2008
  • May 25, 2008
  • September 11, 2011
  • February 11, 2013
  • June 5, 2013
  • December 11, 2013
  • January 2, 2014
  • May 8, 2014
  • May 9, 2014
  • May 17, 2014
  • December 8, 2014
  • December 17, 2014

Thenceforth, the Wayback Machine has captured snapshots of our new website (You are Here), starting in June 2015.

  • June 24, 2015

In the transition between websites (2014), the first site (Drupal) remained active, as a site archived online and still accessible directly, while the second site (WordPress) was launched, albeit with some “teething problems”.

As preserved in a final snapshot via the Wayback Machine (December 17, 2014), the first site proclaimed its obsolescent state prominently at the top of the Front Page:

PLEASE NOTE:  OUR WEBSITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION.  We are upgrading and redesigning our website.  While we transfer materials from this site (our first website), to the new one, it is now available for viewing:  http://manuscriptevidence.org/wpme/).  The new site allows for images and other media, so that we can illustrate our activities and publish more of our materials.

At that time in our history, when we could launch our first website in 2007, our principal activities in the form of scholarly gatherings focused upon the Congress Activities (1993‒1995, 1997, and 2004‒), occurring at the annual International Congress of Medieval Studies, held at Kalamazoo each May. Soon, we resumed the tradition of other events as well.

For convenience, we come to distinguish between these many “Congress Activities” (1993‒1995, 1997, and 2004‒) and our other “Events”, which occur elsewhere. Those Events take the forms notably of Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia, and Symposia (1989–).

Another group of Events comprises our Photographic Exhibitions and Masterclasses. They overlap in significant ways with our growing list of Publications, which appear in print and electronic forms.

Our Second Website (2014–)

Cover for the Report on 'Two Detached Manuscript Leaves containing New Testament Texts in Old Armenian' by Leslie J. French for the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, with a detail of Leaf I verso, column a lines 10-12, with the opening of Acts 23:12Snapshots of our second, redesigned website (You are Here) appear in the Wayback Machine.

  • June 24, 2015
  • August 1, 2015
  • October 20, 2015

And so on.  The archive presents 11 snapshots for 2016 and 6 for 2017. See manuscriptevidence.org there.  Thus the Internet Archive contributes (arbitrarily) to the records of our history outside our own sphere.

With the upgrade and redesign of our website (launched in 2014), we could display more materials, in both images and downloadable pdfs. This opened the path to set up Galleries of Images, for example to show you the Posters for our Events and our Congress Activities, to exhibit examples of our Layout Designs, to display Photographs from our Events, Activities, and Research Discoveries, and to give you more of our Publications, including the Program Booklets for Events and Activities and the Booklets publishing some of our Research Discoveries.

Other Social Media

  • Research Group on Manuscript Evidence Page on Facebook (2011–). Set up and maintained principally by Mildred Budny.

Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia & Symposia (1989‒)

One of the first phases of the process of opening the Research Group Archives for our website focused upon the Early Years of our Seminars, Workshops, and Symposia, which occurred regularly as part of the collaborative Research Project at the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, from which the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence emerged. This “First Series” was principally dedicated to Seminars on “The Evidence of Manuscripts” (1989‒1995). Organized or co-organized by Mildred Budny, these events took place mainly at the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and occasionally at other centers in England, Japan, and the United States.

View Toward the Entrance to the Parker Library in mid-1989 photograph © Mildred Budny

View Toward the Entrance to the Parker Library in mid-1989. Photograph © Mildred Budny.

Following the move of our principal base to the Princeton in 1994, we developed a wide-ranging further series of Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia, and Symposia. First among them was the annual series of Symposia on “The Transmission of the Bible” (1995‒2000), held in turn at Princeton, Rutgers, and Fordham Universities. There followed the The New Series of Symposia, Colloquia, Workshops & Seminars (2001–), held at a variety of centers, including Princeton University.

Poster for 'Crusading and the Byzantine Legacy" Session 1 of the RGME MEMS Sessions. Poster set in RGME Bembino.Poster for the Sponsored Session on 'Paper or Parchment' at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence. Poster laid out in RGME Bembino, with images supplied by David W. Sorenson. Reproduced by permission.Poster 2 for the 2016 'Words & Deeds' Symposium at Princeton University, with 2 images from the Otto Ege Collection, The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Photography by Lisa Fagin Davis. Reproduced by permission. Poster set in RGME BembinoWhile the Research Group continued its Congress Activities at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, with the addition annually (since 2014) of a Reception and an Open Business Meeting (and its handy 1-page Agenda, available on our website), we have also begun the tradition of Sponsored Panels at the Annual Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association (2016‒).

As the redesigned website took fuller shape, and the work of presenting more of our archival evidence, the site could include a blog on Manuscript Studies (2014–), which, among other things, showcases some discoveries from our long-term, as well as recent, research.  See the Contents List for the blog, arranged mainly by subjects and materials.

Detail of an initial M on the verso of the leaf. Photography by Mildred Budny

M for ‘Manus’ (‘Hand’), Bouquets Included

Interviews

A new series of Interviews, in various forms, reflects upon our origins and history as an organization, as well as our publications and activities.

  • Radio Star
  • Interview with Our Font and Layout Designer

*****

More is on the way. Watch this Space.

*****

Tags: Archives, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Parker Library, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence
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Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (19 June 1993)

September 21, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Uncategorized

“Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 201”

The Parker Library, 19 June 1993

Invitation for 'Corpus MS 201' Seminar 19 June 1993In the Series of Seminars on the Evidence of Manuscripts
The Parker Library

Invitation in pdf (2 pages including RSVP Form)

The previous Seminar in the series considered

“Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts at Worcester”
(Pembroke College, Oxford, 13 March 1993)

[First published on 21 September 2016 by Mildred Budny]

This meeting cast the spotlight upon a single volume — albeit a complicated and multi-partite volume, comprising an assembly of 3 Parts from different former manuscripts.  A Triple Decker, with lots of trimmings.

Once upon a time, the margins of the book were included in the trimming process, alas.  We had a close look as experts gathered from several centres, even by proxy.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Archbishop Wulfstan, Archbishop Wulfstan's Commonplace Book, Budny's Illustrated Catalogue, Corpus Christi College MS 190, Corpus Christi College Ms 191, Corpus Christi College MS 196, Corpus Christi College MS 201, Corpus Christi College MS 265, Cotton MS Nero A I, Cotton MS Tiberius A III, Cotton MS Vespasian A VIII, David Ganz, Grimbald of Saint-Bertin, Julia McGrew, New Minster Winchester, Palaeographical and Textual Handbook, Parker Library, Patrick Wormald, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, Stowe MS 944, The Library Cafe, Thomas Hill, Vassar College
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Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (January 1992)

September 20, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence

“Anglo-Saxon Writing Materials and Practices”
The Parker Library
11 January 1992

Invitation Letter for Seminar on 'Anglo-Saxon Writing Materials & Practices' on 11 January 1992

Invitation Letter for 11 January 1992

RSVP Form for Seminar on 'Anglo-Saxon Writing Materials & Practices' on 11 January 1992

RSVP Form for 11 January 1992

In the Series of Seminars on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Invitation in pdf, with 1-Page Invitation Letter and 1-page RSVP Form

The previous meeting of the seminar considered

“Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 383”
The Parker Library, 16 November 1991

[Published on 20 September 2016 by Mildred Budny]

The Plan

From the moment of the First Seminar in the Series, devoted to “Manuscript Illustrations as Evidence for Anglo-Saxon Life”, and taking inspiration from it, the subject for this Seminar emerged naturally, early in the Series, as part of a Research Project at the Parker Library designed to examine “The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts” and to integrate expertise in a variety of disciplines.

The Brandon Plaque. 9th-century Anglo-Saxon gold and niello. The British Museum, via Creative Commons.

The Brandon Plaque. © Trustees of the British Museum.

The design of the Project flowed, in no small part, from the work for a Ph.D. dissertation (University of London, 1985) which focused on an integrated study of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and was supervised by an archaeologist, David M. Wilson, the Director of the British Museum and author of the catalogue of Ornamental Anglo-Saxon Metalwork, 700–1100, in the British Museum (1964).  That authoritative catalogue contains some of the materials considered at the Seminar.

For the Seminar, the 1-page Invitation Letter (shown here and downloadable here, with the RSVP Form), dated 15 December 1991, lays down the cloth for the repast.

We will hold the next meeting of this seminar on Saturday, 11 January.

The subject will be:  Anglo-Saxon writing materials and practices.  We wish to look at the evidence for manuscript production in the Anglo-Saxon period, especially

1) the archaeological record of writing materials, tools, processes and book bindings;

2) the linguistic and literary evidence for writing and making manuscripts from both Old English and Latin sources; and

3) the evidence of the manuscripts themselves.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts', 'The Making of England' Exhibition (1991), 2002 British Museum Colloquium, Apotropaic, Brandon Plaque, British Library Additional MS 89000, British Museum, Budny's Illustrated Catalogue, Chester-le-Street, Christine Fell, Corpus Christi College MS 183, Corpus Christi College MS 23A, Corpus Christi College MS 286, Corpus Christi College MS 389, Corpus Christi College MS 41, Ernst Kitzinger, Flixborough, Kevin Leahy, King Athelstan, Leslie Webster, Lindisfarne, Manuscript Illustrations, Medieval Writing Materials, Parker Library, Saint Cuthbert's Coffin, Saint Cuthbert's Gospel, Saint Cuthbert's Pectoral Cross, Saint Cuthbert's Relics, Scribal Portraits, Scribal Practices, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Stonyhurst Gospel, Thomas Julian Brown, Vivien Law
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Research Group Events in Japan (November-December 1992)

September 17, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence

Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence in Monochrome VersionResearch Group Visit to Japan
Seminar, Workshop, Lectures, and Symposium
November and December 1992

In November and December 1992, 4 members of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence visited Japan at the invitation of our Japanese Associates, Professors Shuji Sato and Tadao Kubouchi.  The visit included a Research Group Seminar, a Research Group Workshop, a Research Group Symposium, a Research Group Photographic Exhibition, and Lectures at various locations.  The visit was organised with the help of very many members of the Japan Society for Medieval English Studies and others.

Cover for "Selected Pages from Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Palaeographical and Textual Handbook" by Mildred Budny, Leslie French et al.The lectures, seminar, and workshop considered in depth specific subjects surveyed in the symposium; demonstrated the approach of the Palaeographical and Textual Handbook; and examined themes, challenges, and advances in Anglo-Saxon manuscript studies.  The photographic exhibition accompanied the seminar, workshop, and symposium.

A Set of Events, with Lectures and a Seminar, Workshop, and Symposium, took place at several centers in Japan in November and December 1992.

They formed an extension of the Research Group Series on “The Evidence of Manuscripts” (1989–1995)
held mostly at the Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

The previous seminar in the Series considered

“Research on Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Cambridge and Oxford”
(with a Travelling Exhibition of Photographs)
Pembroke College, Oxford, 20 June 1992)

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Integrated Approach to Manuscript Studies', Abraham Whelock, Aoyama Gakuin University, Ælfric, Chuo University, Corpus Christi College Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 12, Corpus Christi College Ms 139, Corpus Christi College MS 144, Corpus Christi College MS 173, Corpus Christi College MS 173A, Corpus Christi College MS 173B, Corpus Christi College MS 178, Corpus Christi College MS 190, Corpus Christi College MS 201, Corpus Christi College MS 23, Corpus Christi College MS 383, Corpus Christi College MS 41, Corpus Christi College MS 422, Corpus Christi College MS 422B, Evidence versus Interpretation, Imperial Palace Kyoto, Japan Society for Medieval Studies, John Joscelyn, Kinkaku-ji Kyoto, Manuscript Art, Matthew Parker, Palaeographical and Textual Handbook, Parker Library, photographic exhibition, Photographic Exhibitions, Professor Shuji Sato, Professor Tadao Kubouchi, Robert Talbot, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, University of Tokyo at Komaba, Wulfstan
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Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (11 December 1993)

September 16, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Uncategorized

“Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 41:  A Workshop”
Parker Library, 11 December 1993

Invitation Letter Page 1 for Workshop on 'Corpus Christi College MS 41' on 11 December 1993

Invitation Letter Page 1 for 11 December 1993

Invitation Letter Page 2 for 11 December 1993

Invitation Letter Page 2 for 11 December 1993

In the Series of Seminars and Workshops on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

2-page Invitation in pdf with 1-page RSVP Form

The previous Workshop in the Series considered

“Professionals’ Views of Manuscript Writing”
1 November 1993

[First published in 15 September 2016, as Mildred Budny reviews the event and its setting among the many events and activities of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence]

*****

The Plan

Dated 12 November 1993, the 2-page Invitation Letter (shown here and downloadable here with the 1-page RSVP Form) provides the Menu for the Food for Thought.

We plan to hold a workshop on Saturday, 11 December, devoted to Corpus Christi College, MS 41:  the Corpus Old English Bede.  This large-format eleventh-century manuscript principally contains a copy of the Old English version of Bede‘s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, with a large cycle of decorated initials, including historiated initials depicting secular and religious subjects.  It also has numerous texts added in the margins and other available areas.  In Latin and Old English, the additions include liturgical, homiletic, poetic and other texts:  portions of a sacramentary, part of a martyrology, metrical and prose charms, a recipe, prayers, the beginning of Solomon and Saturn I, six anonymous homilies, two runic inscriptions and the bilingual donorship inscription recording Bishop Leofric‘s gift of the book to Exeter Cathedral.  There are many trials, sketches and drawings, including some supplied, retouched or retraced initials.  The multiple additions endow the book with the remarkable character of a combined “commonplace book” and sketchbook, forming a richly layered artifact.

Much goes on between the covers.  Not all of it seemly.  For example, this manuscript sees fit to include an image of a hanged man.  Creepy.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Commonplace Books', Bishop Leofric, Charms, Corpus Christi College MS 12, Corpus Christi College Ms 162, Corpus Christi College MS 190, Corpus Christi College Ms 191, Corpus Christi College MS 201, Corpus Christi College MS 326, Corpus Christi College Ms 357, Corpus Christi College MS 41, Corpus Christi College MS 411, Corpus Christi College MSS 419+ 421, Exeter Cathedral, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, Historiated Initials, Martyrology, Old English Bede, Parker Library, Prayers, Runic inscriptions, Sacramentary, Saint Michael, Scribbles and Sketches, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Solomon and Saturn I
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Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (June 1994)

September 12, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence

“Marginalia in Manuscripts”
Parker Library
24 June 1994

Invitation Letter, Plus Marginalia, for 24 June 1994.

Invitation Letter, Plus Marginalia, for 24 June 1994

RSVP Form for 24 June 1994

RSVP Form for 24 June 1994

In the Series of Seminars on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Invitation in pdf, with 1-Page Invitation Letter and 1-page RSVP Form

The previous Seminar in the Series considered
“King Alfred and His Legacy”
(English Faculty Building, Oxford University, 20 April 1994)

[First published on 12 September 2016]

This seminar was “devoted to marginalia in medieval manuscripts.”  A complicated and fascinating subject.

Now, at the distance of more than 20 years, Mildred Budny reviews the event, with some highlights, and considers its annotated Invitation Letter as a case in point.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Annotations, Anthony Grafton, Ælfric's Colloquy, British Library Additional MS 32246, Corpus Christi College MS 100, Corpus Christi College Ms 108, Corpus Christi College MS 111, Corpus Christi College MS 153, Corpus Christi College MS 173B, Corpus Christi College MS 2, Corpus Christi College MS 223, Corpus Christi College MS 23, Corpus Christi College MS 286, Corpus Christi College MS 326, Corpus Christi College MS 389, Corpus Christi College MS 422, Corpus Christi College Ms 57, Graham Caie, Joyce Hill, Manuscript Marginalia, Manuscript studies, Omission-Insertion Signs, Parker Library, Pen-trials and scribbles, Plantin–Moretus Museum MS 47, Research Group Archives, Rohinie Jayatilaka, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence
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