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      • Seminars on ‘The Evidence of Manuscripts’
      • Symposia on ‘The Transmission of the Bible’
      • The New Series
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Program: The Roads Taken
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Registration
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        • The Illustrated Catalogue (1997)
      • The Illustrated Handlist
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      • No Snap Decisions: Challenges of Manuscript Photography
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Donncha MacGabhann on the Making of “The Book of Kells”

November 1, 2022 in Announcements, Manuscript Studies, Research Group Speaks (The Series)

The Research Group Speaks
Episode 9
Saturday 19 November 2022 online

“The Book of Kells:  A Masterwork Revealed”

Donncha MacGabhann at work on his close study of letter forms in the Book of Kells. Photograph via his publisher, Sidestone Press (Leiden 2022)

Donncha MacGabhann at work on his close study of letter forms in the Book of Kells. Photograph via his publisher, Sidestone Press (Leiden 2022)

– An informal Interview/Conversation with Donncha MacGabhann, Associate of the RGME, about his newly published book

[Posted on 31 October 2022 by Mildred Budny, with updates]

For Episode 9 in the online series of The Research Group Speaks, we present an informal Conversation or Interview with the author about his new book on The Book of Kells:  The Making of a Masterwork (Leiden, 2022).

The Book has emerged from Donncha’s detailed study for the Ph. D. dissertation (London, 2016), as well as his own experience as an artist.  For our Episode, he will tell us about the making of his Book on the making of the Book of Kells . . .

To Register for the event, see Below.

The Book of Kells

One of the chief treasures of the Library of Trinity College Dublin (since at least 1661), and the subject of widespread fame, the Book of Kells might need no introduction.

The Long Room of the Old Library, Trinity College Dublin, seen from the entrance (2015). Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC BY-SA 3.0.

  • Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS A. I. [58], the Codex Cennanensis, now comprising 340 vellum folios, bound (since 1953) in four volumes, one for each Gospel.

The online Library catalogue offers concise descriptions.  About the contents, for example, some essential facts:

The Book of Kells (Leabhar Cheanannais, Trinity College Dublin MS 58) contains the four Gospels in Latin based on the Vulgate text which St Jerome [circa 342 – circa 347 – 30 September 420] completed in 384AD, intermixed with readings from the earlier Old Latin translation. The gospel texts are prefaced by other texts, including “canon tables”, or concordances of gospel passages common to two or more the Evangelists; summaries of the gospel narratives (Breves causae); and prefaces characterizing the Evangelists (Argumenta).

A different approach can be found, for example, in a concise guide for the curious:

  • Ten Things You Should Know about the Book of Kells, or the Book of Columba
    — along with, say, 10 Things You Should Know About The Gutenberg Bible.

Have a Look:

  • The Book itself, in online facsimile: Book of Kells. IE TCD MS 58
  • Its introduction: Book of Kells

For my part, one of the principal highlights — not the only one — of my long study of early medieval manuscripts from the British Isles, their companions, and their contexts (for example, British Library, Manuscript Royal 1 E. vi: The Anatomy of an Anglo-Saxon Bible Fragment and Deciphering the Art of Interlace), was the opportunity to examine directly, turning the pages, two volumes of the Book of Kells. That experience, over some days, augmented and amplified the observations of the volumes on display, along with other treasures, in the imposing Long Hall of the Library. The opportunity, with permission, to look at the Book itself took place in the Director’s office, with the clear light of natural light during an unusually dry summer with cloudless skies. Memorable indeed.  #turnedthepages.

A few years later, while part of the Book came on tour among the travelling Treasures of Ireland (1982 and 1983), I could see part of it again, in museums in Paris and in New York, under subdued light and behind the glass case. Different views, same astonishing monument.

Very, very many people can say that they have seen the Book of Kells.  Attracted by its fame, visitors to the Library, where it has been displayed since the nineteenth century, number on average some 500,000 each year.  On her visit, Queen Victoria (1819–1901) was encouraged to sign it — as an extraordinary form of ‘Visitors’ Book’.

Over the centuries, many have commented upon the Book of Kells.  They include scholars, historians, palaeographers, art historians, authors, artists, and others.  Some observers have taken inspiration from it in multiple ways, verbal and visual, to form creative works of their own, ranging from, say, Finnegans Wake (1939) to The Secret of Kells (2009).

Donncha MacGabhann’s long-term study, considering detail after detail of script and ornament, of the original Book of Kells as a whole brings fresh views of its process of creation, as the scribes worked their way across the pages and into an accomplishment truly worthy of curiosity, admiration, and wonder.  Aware of Donncha’s study for some years, I have looked forward to his book revealing the results of his research.

Donncha MacGabhann’s Book on Kells

About Donncha, see, for example,

  • Donncha MacGabhann Curriculum Vitae
  • Curriculum Vitae.

His Book, just about to appear in print, examines

  • The Book of Kells. A Masterwork Revealed: Creators, Collaboration, and Campaigns
    (Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2022).
    Paperback ISBN: 9789464261226 | Hardback ISBN: 9789464261233 |
    Ebook only (pdf) and Ebook (read online for free)Format: 210x280mm | 324 pp. | Language: English | 11 illus. (bw) | 109 illus. (fc) |
    Keywords: Book of Kells; insular manuscripts; insular art; palaeography; Early Medieval gospel books; Early Medieval Christianity; art history; calligraphy |

 

From the publisher comes this description:

Front Cover of Donncha MacGabhann, “The Book of Kells: A Masterwork Revealed” (2022).

Sublime calligraphy, marvelous art, and amazing initials, have charmed and captivated the audience of the Book of Kells for over twelve hundred years. This remarkable illuminated Gospel book attracts the attention of scholars as well as those more generally interested in the fabulous artifacts of the past.

Everybody knows it was made by an extensive team of scribes and artists. Donncha MacGabhann knew that too. However, he was certain that a thorough examination could clearly identify the various contributions of its creators.

His life and work as an artist and teacher inspired the belief that a close visual study could solve some of its enduring puzzles. The deeper he delved, the more he was convinced that Kells is entirely the work of two individuals. This evolved into a novel paradigm through which he came to know and understand the manuscript. Following years of meticulous research, this book tells the story of Kells’ two Masters and their collaboration to create a Gospel book of unprecedented magnificence. Most poignantly, it reveals the struggle of the lone survivor of the two-man team to attempt the completion of their magnum opus.

The most important outcomes of this book go far beyond the simple attribution of work to different hands. Much more significantly, it affords insights into the imagination which inspired its creators, especially the unique vision of Kells’ great Scribe-Artist. Collectively, these new perspectives reveal a previously unknown ‘Book of Kells, ‘ one which, as it were, has remained hidden in plain sight.

Descriptions of Donncha’s book and its contents, approach, discoveries, and significance appear among various booksellers, as with

  • https://www.bookdepository.com/Book-Kells-Donncha-MacGabhann/9789464261226

The Process of Research and Discovery

In Donncha’s own words, as the research unfolded:

Dublin, Trinity College, MS A. 1 (58), folio 34r. Chi-Rho Initial Page (Matthew 1:18). Image via Wikimedia Commons; Public Domain in the US.

Key research interests include Insular palaeography and illumination. My current focus is to extend and develop the research which was the basis for my PhD (2016). My thesis investigation was concentrated on the makers and the making of The Book of Kells. This provides the first in-depth and comprehensive analysis of both the illumination and the scribal work in the manuscript.

My research was significantly informed by the experience gained in my career as an Artist and Art-Teacher. Complementary to the more traditional modes of academic enquiry this enabled me to draw on a skill-set which was integral to the development of my research methodology. This methodology of close visual analysis was central to my approach.

My immediate aim is communicate, through publication, the results of my doctoral research to the scholarly community. It is also my intention to extend the application of the methodology developed in my thesis to a number of other Insular manuscripts and to consider the implications of the revision of hands in the material culture of the Insular world more broadly. (Donncha MacGabhann)

Donncha’s Ph.D. dissertation is freely available for download:

  • The making of the Book of Kells: two Masters and two Campaigns (Doctoral thesis, University of London, 2016)  https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/6920/ (via Creative Commons)

Its Abstract:

This thesis investigates the number of individuals involved in the making of the Book of Kells. It demonstrates that only two individuals, identified as the Scribe-Artist and the Master-Artist, were involved in its creation. It also demonstrates that the script is the work of a single individual – the Scribe-Artist. More specific questions are answered regarding the working relationships between the book’s creators and the sequence of production. This thesis also demonstrates that the manuscript was created over two separate campaigns of work. The comprehensive nature of this study focuses on all aspects of the manuscript including, script, initials, display-lettering, decoration and illumination.

Detail from Front Cover of Donncha MacGabhann, “The Book of Kells: A Masterwork Revealed” (2022): Black-and-white reproduction by the author of the ornamented center of the Chi-Rho Initial Page (Dublin, Trinity College, MS 58, folio 34r).

Previews

We met Donncha when he spoke for the RMGE about a facet of the Ph.D. research on the manuscript for one of our Sessions at the 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2014).  The Session considered “Individual Style or House Style?  Assessing Scribal Contributions, Artistic Production, and Creative Achievements”.

Donncha’s paper examined the scribal uses of two forms or grades of late-antique and early-medieval script, Half-Uncial and Uncial, for the letter a at line-endings, where options for compression and variation could call for choice and artistic expression.

Half-Uncial a and Uncial a at Line-Ends:
The Division of Hands in the Book of Kells
and an Insight
into the ‘Calligraphic Imagination’ Evident in the Script

The abstract for Donncha’s paper appears on our website: MacGabhann 2014 Congress.

At the Congress, although we had corresponded earlier, we could meet Donncha, learn about his careful studies, his approaches to the creation and understanding of forms of the written word, and his observations about the original materials, in manuscript and in print, offered for display at some of our sessions.

David Sorenson and Donncha MacGabhann examine manuscript materials

David Sorenson and Donnach MacGabhann examine manuscript materials after the RGME Writing Materials Session at the 2014 Congress. Photography by Mildred Budny.

Several papers published in the course of the research spell out the methodological approach.  For example,

Palaeographer Erika Eisenlohr has stated that ‘the similarity or dissimilarity of hands in Kells has so far mainly been based on more general impressions of the scripts’ (1994). My research attempts a more comprehensive investigation of the evidence including illuminated pages, script and illumination of the canon tables, mise-en-page, punctuation, display script, decorated initials, regular script and elaborations to the script.

— Donncha MacGabhann, Abstract for “The et-ligature in the Book of Kells (Revealing the ‘calligraphic imagination’ of its great scribe)” (2017), in Conor Newman, Mags Manion, and Fiona Gavin, eds., Islands in a Global Context. Proceedings of the seventh Conference on Insular Art, held at the National University of Ireland, Galway, 16–20 July, 2014 (Dublin, 2017), pp. 138–48.

The Script(s) of Kells

Discussion of the varieties of script, ornamented letter forms, and other forms of ornament in the Book of Kells continues in its own right over time.  It also forms, or should form, an integral part in an ongoing consideration of many features of the book, both individually and in combination.  That is:  the various texts (Gospel texts, their companion texts including prefaces, summaries, and canon tables with numerals and titles, as well as added texts such as Irish charters), illustrations, canon arcades and frameworks, scribal characteristics, writing materials (animal skins, inks, pigments, their binding agents, traces of layout marks, and so on), layers of accretion, condition, sewing patterns, binding history, library history, layout, design, artistry, and more.

Many features figure, to varying degrees, in assessments of the likely place and date of production of the manuscript.  Those assessments may remain open to exploration and refinement, as research advances, methods of exploration expand, attitudes may direct, and discoveries emerge.

Reproductions, Photographic and Pre-Photographic

Poster for lecture on 'Manuscripts versus Photography: Image and "Imago" in a Digital Age' by Mildred Budny at Princeton University on 19 November 2010. Photograph by Mildred Budny of MS 10, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Bibliothèque des Annonciades,reproduced by permission.

Poster, designed by the RGME, for a lecture on 19 November 2020. Image: Photograph by Mildred Budny of Boulogne-sur-mer, Bibliothèque des Annonciades, MS 11, reproduced by permission.

With restricted access nowadays to the treasured original, and with the proliferation of digital means of reproduction and dissemination, close study of the multiple features of the manuscript would mostly rest upon consultation of such reproductions, however high in quality or ‘fidelity’.  That those reproductive materials would, in no small measure, determine, affect, or direct the nature of the forms of study — as well as, it may be, the interpretations of that (indirect) evidence — should be evident.

Such factors in the study of manuscripts under current, prevailing, conditions in the age of photographic reproduction and the age of the internet remain a subject of considerable interest for the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence.  For example:

  • Mildred Budny, “No Snap Decisions:  Challenges of Manuscript Photography”.  Paper delivered at the Session on “Imaging Manuscripts for the Twenty-First Century:  Photographs and Beyond” (1994), sponsored by the RGME at the 1994 International Congress on Medieval Studies.
    Published, with its Abstract, Text, and Images, here.
  • “Manuscripts versus Photography:  Image and Imago in a Digital Age”.  Lecture for the Program in Medieval Studies, Princeton University (19 November 2010).

Our events continue to consider such factors of manuscript studies, whether as, perhaps, part-and-parcel, bread-and-butter, or meat-and-potatoes.  That is, as Food for Thought.

As always, our interest in the processes of production and the people behind the books, keenly explored in cases of the medieval objects, extends also to the processes which underpin, sustain, and shape the studies themselves of those materials.  These interests are manifest in many RGME activities, as with continuing explorations of relationships between “Manuscripts and Photography” in Seminars, Workshops, Conference Sessions, and Symposia; and in Episodes of our series wherein The Research Group Speaks.  On such occasions, we might have opportunity to hear the authors of close studies of manuscripts or other materials speak about the origins, progress, and processes of their research, as well as its results.  Such is the case for this Episode with Donncha MacGabhann, as his new book, long in the making, reaches publication.

Drawings of elements in the Book of Kells — as appear among Donncha’s figures — belong to a venerable tradition which reaches back to pre-photographic means of reproduction.  Notable examples in that tradition include images from the manuscript carefully prepared by the observant entymologist and antiquarian John Obadiah Westwood (1805–1893).  Examples appear in these of Westwood’s publications:

  • Palaeographia sacra pictoria: Being a series of illustrations of the ancient versions of the Bible, copied from illuminated manuscripts, executed between the fourth and sixteenth centuries (London, 1845)
  • Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts (London, 1868)
    Also, in excerpts: Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts (London, 1868)

Close examination fostered by line-by-line reproduction, from one surface to another, may develop a keen awareness of specific details, in much the same way that detailed verbal descriptions can do, as with a catalogue or ‘inventory’ of features within a manuscript (or other monument).  I myself learned the lasting value of preparing such descriptions — from the originals, aided by my photographic reproductions including macro-photography — for features of manuscripts in the Illustrated Catalogue, one of the co-publications of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence.

From observations of the evidence, by various means and methods, the interpretations may follow, redirect, or revise.

In the new book, the choice of methodology of palaeographical examination, centered upon photographic reproductions and drawings, focuses upon excerpts of specimen letters and initials.  Arrayed on these pages (printed or digital) in groups or rows of related letter-forms, the specimens stand removed or isolated from the ebb-and-flow of their naturally-occurring lines and columns of running texts upon their pages, and their openings, across the unfolding of the original book as a whole.

Mostly at a distance perforce from that original (even when viewed through the glass case of its exhibited pages), and very exceptionally in a direct encounter, we might find ways variously to imagine, to ‘reconstruct’, or to recollect, the process of turning its very pages and sensing the feel of the width of its leaves as their edges are turned.

Donncha’s Book on The Book of Kells
in our Episode for 19 November 2022

The publication of Donncha MacGabhann’s book is expected on 31 October 2022.  The book can be ordered in print and pdf forms from the publisher and other booksellers.  From the publisher’s website, it can be read online free of charge.  See:

  • The Book of Kells. A Masterwork Revealed: Creators, Collaboration, and Campaigns

Episode 9 in the online series of “The Research Group Speaks” is planned for Saturday 19 November 2022, via Zoom, at 12 pm EST (GMT – 5) for about 1 1/2 hours, with discussion and Q&A.  You are welcome to join us.

Registration for the Episode

If you wish to attend, please register here:

  • The Research Group Speaks, 9: Donncha MacGabhann on Making the Book of Kells

If you have questions or issues with the registration process, please contact director@manuscriptevidence.org.

Future Episodes

Future Episodes are planned.  See

  • “The Research Group Speaks”: The Series.

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Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga: The mid 15th-century Saint Vincent Panels, attributed to Nuno Gonçalves. Image (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Nuno_Gon%C3%A7alves._Paineis_de_S%C3%A3o_Vicente_de_Fora.jpg) via Creative Commons.

*****

Front Cover of Donncha MacGabhann, “The Book of Kells: A Masterwork Revealed” (2022).

*****

Tags: Book of Kells, Donncha MacGabhann, Early Medieval Gospel Books, early medieval manuscripts, Finnegans Wake, Manuscript Photography, Manuscript studies, Medieval manuscripts, Palaeography, The Research Group Speaks, The Secret of Kells, Trinity College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin MS A 1 [58]
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How to Be Tarzan in the Catalog, Or, Tarzan-Moves of the Mind

July 2, 2022 in Manuscript Studies, Research Group Speaks (The Series)

The Research Group Speaks
Episode 8

Tarzan of the Apes (1914). Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Tarzan-Moves of the Mind
— or —
Brachiation in Research:
Going from Indiana Jones’s Big Picture
to Effective Research Moves

Linde M. Brocato

Saturday, 17 September 2022 online via Zoom

Rennes, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 255, folio 1 recto. L’Estoire del saint Graal, Opening initial.
Photographer: Peter Scott. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

[Posted on 2 July 2022, with updates]

The Plan

This Episode in the online series of The Research Group Speaks complements and develops from Episode 4 (11 December 2021):

  • “How to be Indiana Jones in the Catalog:  Treasure and Power in/of the Bibliographical Record”.

As the next installment, this one about Tarzan and Brachiation applies the ideas and techniques explored then to some specific problems.

While we might informally call the subject of Episode 8 “How to be Tarzan in the Catalog”, the full title reveals the complexity and some appropriate exercises to strengthen skills for encountering the challenges — some of which might be unexpected.

The Aim and the Reach

Our presenter Linde M. Brocato, scholar-librarian, is Associate of the Research Group on Manuscript [and Other] Evidence, and long-time contributor to our events of various kinds. On her experience and expertise, see Linde Brocato, Linde M. Brocato, Curriculum Vitae, and Google Scholar.

She describes her plan for the Episode as an invitation, and an inviting challenge:

Tarzan-Moves of the Mind,
— or —
Brachiation in Research:

Going from Indiana Jones’ Big Picture to Effective Research Moves

Linde M. Brocato

This workshop / demonstration of how to leverage the power of the bibliographical catalog follows up on the presentation 11 December 2021,“How to be Indiana Jones in the Catalog:  Treasure and Power in/of the Bibliographical Record”, applying those ideas and techniques to specific bibliographic problems.

I invite submissions of irritating and evasive bibliographic problems for a demonstration of how I would go about solving them.  Let’s see if we can!

The earlier Episode, with a Handout with useful links, considered as ‘model’ the popular fictional figure of Indiana Jones (or Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr.) in the quest for a Holy Grail of some kind.

Now, the Episode turns to another “notable” character for inspiration and possible instruction in an authentic encounter of material evidence “in the wild”.

Brachiation in Research

After Indiana Jones, this Episode turns to another imaginary figure, larger perhaps than life, and evocative as can be:  Tarzan in one form and another.

Color cover of the book Tarzan of the Apes, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs and published in 1914. Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

For example, the fabulous character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, starting with a magazine publication in 1912, Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) had a feral upbringing and an intricate, conflicted, introduction to ‘civilization’, before choosing to return to the wild (in whatever forms) — with heroic encounters. Many films, among other media, ensued, successfully to promulgate, expand, and reinforce knowledge (or the like) about this mythical creature, as a foil or embodiment of the situation of the individual in (or against) the prevailing general cases or standards.

With this resonant model, what might we discover in the wilds — or a hitherto neglected or ill-tended wilderness — to be found in the catalog (however defined)?

Some of our earlier blogposts have expressed grumbles about the standardization of catalog descriptions, notably where WorldCat lumps together multiple cases of individual sets of various Portfolios, with specimen manuscript and printed leaves, assembled from dismembered books by Otto Ege.  See, for example, More Discoveries for ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 61″.

We look forward to learning more about the skills of Brachiation, and how to exercise as well as to develop and deploy them, when we find ourselves in the Catalog(ue) — and in the world of exploring books and related written materials of whatever kind or unkind.

This Episode engages in conversation not only with other Episodes of The Research Group Speaks:  The Series, but also with other sessions in our RGME events.  Notable among them are the examinations of “Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases” in that series as well as in our 2022 Spring and Autumn Symposia on “Structured Knowledge”, whose theme was designed and inspired by Linde Brocato.

Send Suggestions for Bibliographical Problems to Explore

Please let us know if you wish to attend this Episode and if you have specific bibliographic wishes on your To Do List.  If so, please contact director@manuscriptevidence.org.

*****

[Update:

Soon after the event, there appeared a news story about a discovery which Linde mentioned in the University of Miami Libraries — discoveries by a new member of staff, Catherine Steele, bringing to light not only one, but two, important books.

  • “Valuable Treasures Unearthed in the University’s Special Collections”.

Among the findings was a sketch in a book at the University of Miami Otto G. Richter Library determined to be a drawing by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. . . . It was owned by Andy Warhol, the famous artist, and then sold to Jay Jensen, a University of Miami alumnus and former actor who taught drama at Miami Beach Senior High School for many years. Jensen donated the book to the University.

The next discovery, only a few days later, “was a green cloth tome of ‘Leaves of Grass’ signed by the author, American poet Walt Whitman, which was published in 1882″.

Recognized for what they are, they can tell their stories more clearly.

“These treasures, and others housed by Special Collections, provide many opportunities for students and scholars to do research and delve deeper into areas of study such as art, history, and literature”, [Linde M.] Brocato pointed out.

“This collection is heavily used for teaching and that is why you want to have these kinds of books.”

There is a special excitement when a user encounters a book like Whitman’s and the one with the Rivera sketch, Brocato explained. “Once you have opened it up there is a physical engagement. It almost jumps out at you.”

We know the feeling.

*****

More Episodes are in hand and in preparation.  See The Research Group Speaks:  The Series.

Do you have suggestions for subjects?  Please let us know.  Please leave your Comments below, Contact Us, and visit our FaceBook Page.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga: The mid 15th-century Saint Vincent Panels, attributed to Nuno Gonçalves. Image (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Nuno_Gon%C3%A7alves._Paineis_de_S%C3%A3o_Vicente_de_Fora.jpg) via Creative Commons.

*****

Tags: Bibliographical Records, Brachiation, Catalogs & Metadata & Databases, Indiana Jones, Tarzan
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2022 Spring and Autumn Symposia

March 2, 2022 in International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Manuscript Studies, Research Group Speaks (The Series), Uncategorized

Spring and Autumn Symposia 2022
2 April and 15 October

2020 Symposium "From Cover to Cover" Poster 2

2020 Symposium Poster 2

The Research Group prepares a pair of Symposia in 2022. In this way, we return to our series of Symposia (formerly held in person). The series underwent an interruption with the cancelled 2020 Spring Symposium. That Symposium was planned for subjects extending From Cover to Cover:  Activities Dedicated to Manuscripts, Early Printed Materials & Beyond, From Collecting & Cataloguing to Deciphering & Beholding.  It has its record in the illustrated Program Booklet, with Abstracts of the planned presentations and workshops.  Its core and its promise inspire this renewal.

This year, each Symposium in the pair is designed as a one-day event, with sessions and workshops of about 1 and 1/2 hours, giving scope for discussion. The dates are set for Saturday 2 April and Saturday 15 October (The “Sweetest Day”). The Spring Symposium will be held online by Zoom. The Autumn Symposium would be held online, but, conditions permitting, it might be hybrid, that is, partly in person, as well as online.

These events, by request, flow in addition to — and partly from — our other activities during the year:

1) Continuing Episodes in the online series of The Research Group Speaks (2021–)

  • https://manuscriptevidence.org/wpme/the-research-group-speaks-the-series/

2) Our four sponsored and c0-sponsored Congress Sessions at the 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies (online) in May

  • https://manuscriptevidence.org/wpme/2022-international-congress-on-medieval-studies-program
    (Abstracts of the Papers are included).

“Structures of Knowledge” (Spring)
and “Supports for Knowledge” (Autumn)

The interlinked pair of Spring and Autumn Symposia examine themes of Structured Knowledge.

Some proposed presentations at these Symposia offer refreshed materials which had been planned for the cancelled 2020 Spring Symposium.

  • See https://manuscriptevidence.org/wpme/2020-spring-symposium-save-the-date, with a published Program Booklet including illustrations and Abstracts.
Sessions under consideration include approaches to databases and library catalogs; specific case studies and projects; issues relating to reproductions and display, research and teaching, and more.

A Monk Reflects Upon the Text. Eugene, Oregon, University of Oregon, Knight Library, MS 027, folio 34v, detail. Latin Decretals of Pope Gregory IX. Rome, 1290, folio 34v.

For example:

  • “Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases, Continued (Parts II and III)”
    — building upon our Roundtable in February on Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases, Part I.
  • “The Living Library”
  • “History and Uses of Paper”
  • “Hybrid Books, I and II”
  • “Manuscripts, Works of Art, Photography, and Facsimiles, I and II”
  • “Teaching with Manuscripts”
  • “Pattern in and on Books”
  • Etc.

Spring Symposium
(2 April 2022 online)

[Now see 2022 Spring Symposium on “Structures of Knowledge”]

Speakers and respondents for the Spring Symposium include Phillip Bernhardt-House, Linde M. Brocato, Mildred Budny, Katharine C. Chandler, Barbara Williams Ellertson, Howard German, Hannah Goeselt, Thomas E. Hill, Eric J. Johnson, Zoey Kambour, David Porreca, Jessica L. Savage, Ronald Smeltzer, and David W. Sorenson.
Presentations examine such subjects as:
  • “The Warburg Institute Library: Where Idiosyncracy Meets User-Friendliness”
  • “Psyche’s Library:  Reading the Library as a Text Illuminated by the Cupid and Psyche Tapestries in the Frederick Thompson Memorial Library at Vassar College“
  • a collector’s view of a series of limited-edition fine-printed publications in mixed media on esoteric subjects, with accompanying amulets and related materials
  • medieval scribes’ and readers’ responses to the text in a copy of the Latin Decretals of Pope Gregory IX (University of Oregon, Knight Library, MS 027), formerly owned by the Abbey of San Bartolomeo di Azzano d’Asti
  • experiences in “Teaching Cataloging Today”, with an Update on the DACT (Digital Analysis of Chant Transmission) Fragments Campaign (https://dact-chant.ca/ ) and Controlled Vocabularies for the Fragmentarium (https://fragmentarium.ms/ ) and CANTUS Chant (https://cantus.uwaterloo.ca) databases.
  • Cover Page for Sorenson (2020 Spring Symposium Paper as a Draft For Comment), with an array of illustrations and the title "Introduction to Indian Manuscripts"

    Cover Page for Sorenson (2020 as Draft for Comment).

    a discussion about the published “Draft for Feedback” from David W. Sorenson’s planned 2020 Spring Symposium paper on An Introduction to Indian Manuscripts for the NonSpecialist: Draft for Feedback, with updates

Suggestions for Reading and Browsing

  • Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases: A Handlist of Links.
  • David W. Sorenson, An Introduction to Indian Manuscripts for the NonSpecialist: Draft for Feedback (2020).
  • _____, Paper-Moulds and Paper Traditions: Draft for Comment (2020).
  • [Mildred Budny and David Sorenson,] Watermarks and the History of Paper (2020–).

Vassar College, Frederick Thompson Memorial Library, Entry, Ceiling and Gobelin Tapestry Series.

Autumn Symposium
(15 October online or hybrid)

Plans for the Autumn Symposium develop some of these themes, and add more.

See 2022 Autumn Symposium on Supports for Knowledge.

Watch this space.

And There Is More . . .

Workshops, Webinars, Interviews, etc.

Subjects for episodes for The Research Group Speaks include, by request, a workshop to follow up the episode on How to be Indiana Jones in the Catalog (December 2021), with a demonstration by Linde M. Brocato:
  • “How to be Tarzan in the Catalog” (with audience requests invited ahead of time).

A Pointer to the Text. Eugene, Oregon, University of Oregon, MS 027, Latin Decretals of Pope Gregory IX, folio 3r, detail: manicle with an extended forefinger and flounced cuff.

RGME at the 2022 ICMS

Note that the RGME activities (4 Sessions and our Open Business Meeting) at the Kalamazoo Congress (online in May 2022) will provide more ways to announce the Autumn Symposium and the series of “The Research Group Speaks”, to plan further activities, and to gather their audiences.

  • See https://manuscriptevidence.org/wpme/2022-international-congress-on-medieval-studies-program
    (Abstracts of the Papers are included).

Pre-Congress Business Meeting

Like 2021, before the online Congress in May, the RGME will precede its Open Business Meeting online at the Congress with a Pre-Congress Business Meeting, likewise online.  Thus it may gather participants from within Congress-goers and beyond, so as to prepare for the planning in the Congress Business Meeting, for example about which Sessions the RGME might wish to propose for its sponsorship and co-sponsorship at the 2023 Congress.

More details about events will follow. Watch this space.

Woodcut Illustration for the First Sunday of Advent in "Postilla" (Lyons, 1527). Photograph by Mildred Budny

Creation. Woodcut Illustration for the First Sunday of Advent (Postilla, 1527). Photograph Mildred Budny.

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Do you have suggestions for subjects? Please let us know.

Would you like to help with organizing the events, presenting contributions to them, preparing our publications, engaging in our research projects, and volunteering as interns?

Would you like to donate to our mission and activities, in funds and/or in kind? Suggestions about methods, causes, and purposes are described for Donations and Contributions.

Please leave your Comments below, Contact Us, and visit our FaceBook Page. We look forward to hearing from you.

*****

 

Tags: Catalogues & Metadata & Databases, Manuscript Photography, Pattern in and on Books, RGME Symposia, Structured Knowledge, Structures of Knowledge, Supports for Knowledge, Teaching with Manuscripts, The Living Library, Warburg Institute Library
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Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases (Part I)

February 9, 2022 in Manuscript Studies, Research Group Speaks (The Series), Uncategorized

Card Division in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Photograph circa 1900-1920. Image Public Domain.

The Research Group Speaks
Episode 6

Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases (Part I)
A Roundtable

19 February 2022

[Posted on 9 February 2022, with updates, now with the accomplishment of the event.]

By special request, a roundtable discussion aims to consider challenges and opportunities encountered in making, and using, catalogs and databases — with a focus especially on bibliographical and manuscript materials. This aim flows from the plan to hold a lunch at the Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University during our 2020 Spring Symposium (which had to be cancelled), to bring together participants engaged with such issues, from the Index of Medieval Art, the BASIRA Project, the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, and elsewhere.

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

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

As the next episode in the online series of webinars, workshops, and other meetings wherein The Research Group Speaks, the February 2022 Roundtable  explores challenges and opportunities for the catalogs, metadata, and databases, the characteristics of the materials which these structures seek to address, and some case studies.  Examples include the BASIRA Project on “Books as Symbols in Renaissance Art”, the Index of Medieval Art Database, Digital Scriptorium 2.0, the Pinakes/Πίνακες Database of Greek Texts and Manuscripts, and approaches to cataloging collections or selected source materials (such as artists’ books).

Speakers and Respondents include Barbara Williams Ellertson, Jessica L. Savage, Linde M. Brocato, Lynn Ransom, Katharine Chandler, Georgi Parpulov, Howard German, and David Porreca.  Subjects for consideration include “Standards and Vocabularies in Art-History Cataloging”, “Labelling, Way-finding, and Meaning”, “About ‘Aboutness’ “, “Teaching Cataloguing Today”, “The Pinakes Database”, “Digital Scriptorium 2.0:  Manuscript Description in a Linked Open Data Context”, and more.  See the Program below.

We gather perspectives from those who make, and those who use, such resources.

Preparations for the roundtable offer ‘Handouts’ in online format.

1) Below here:

  • a preliminary list of Questions for discussion at the roundtable and beyond, with a view also to planning further sessions on these subjects
  • an announcement about Future Plans, as Some Next Steps, for further sessions on these and related subjects.

2) Also, as an individual webpage:

  • an online Handout with a Draft List of Links to projects, databases, and other resources, including some mentioned in presentations in the roundtable:
    Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases: A Handlist of Links.

The roundtable is designed to compare notes, formulate questions, express wishes, and plan further sessions.  For example, we prepare sessions on “Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases, Continued“, for the pair of Spring and Autumn Symposia on “Structures of Knowledge” and “Supports for Knowledge”.  They belong to one of the overarching themes for RGME activities in 2022:  “Structured Knowledge“.

We welcome advice, suggestions, and contributions.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: BASIRA Project, CANTUS Chant, Controlled Vocabulary, DACT Project, Digital Scriptorium, Digital Scriptorium 2.0, Fragmentarium, History of Cataloging, Index of Medieval Art, Linked Open Data, Manuscript studies, Metadata and Databases, Pinakes | Πίνακες Database, Structures of Knowledge, Supports for Knowledge, The Research Group Speaks
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The Curious Printing History of ‘La Science de l’Arpenteur’

December 1, 2021 in Manuscript Studies, Research Group Speaks (The Series), Uncategorized

The Research Group Speaks
Episode 5

The Curious, Possibly Unique, Printing History
of Editions (1766–1813)
of La Science de l’Arpenteur
by Dupain de Montesson

Ronald K. Smeltzer

Dupain de Montesson, Le spectacle de la campagne and La science de l’arpenteur (1777), First Title-page, Vignette. Ronald K. Smeltzer Collection. Photograph Ronald K. Smeltzer, reproduced by permission.

[Posted on 1 December 2021, with updates]

For Episode 5 in our series (23 January 2022), Ronald K. Smeltzer (Ronald K. Smeltzer, Ph.D.) examines a telling case of multiple editions, issued with variations in printing methods, of an eighteenth-century treatise in French on methods of surveying.  The technique of surveying has a long and venerable tradition, with a varied series of books on the subject from late-antiquity onward.

The Plan

Direct, detailed examination of the editions, all in octavo format, of La science de l’arpenteur by Louis Charles Dupain de Montesson reveals multiple changes and adaptations that illuminate its extraordinary printing history.  Early editions were printed all engraved including signatures of the leaves.  Some of the later changes to the text and to the book design were a direct result of the French Revolution.  Assembling examples of all the known editions has taken twenty years.  The process attests to the value of direct inspection.  This presentation describes the results.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Dupain de Montesson, French Revolution, history of printing, History of surveying, Intaglio printing, La science de l'arpenteur, Le spectacle de la campagne, Letterpress Printing, The Research Group Speaks
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