I Was Here . . .

February 20, 2022 in Manuscript Studies

“I was Here . . . ”

Books across Time and Place
(P. S. It’s What They Do)

We begin with a haunting page which came to my attention when its cataloger began to describe its challenges. The process had to do with preparing for a RGME roundtable disussion, arranged by request. We were considering, and we continue to consider, Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases, Part I . . .

To Whit:

Across my screen, as we considered case-studies for the round-table, came images from a challenge of a book. To call it a “Hybrid Book” puts it mildly. (In my book, “mildly” is not a simple, bland, boring term.) Besides, the RGME is preparing to examine the classes of “Hybrid Books” for some sessions in 2022.

Meanwhile:

I offer for your consideration this page, which presents for inspection and reflection a series of layers of time, place, and material, in the best tradition of archaeological stratification.

It comes from: Richard Twiss, Farrago, folio 253 recto.

AKA: Travelling in time, across the page, and across spaces, in the company of the print of the Pons Pragensis (“Prague Bridge”) by Winceslaus Hollar (1607 – 25 March 1677). It carries the first-hand hand-written inscription recording that “I was here / from 20 to 26 September 1769”, along with details about the Charles Bridge (“18 arches. 618 paces long. broad enough for three carriages abreast”) and other features.

Richard Twiss, ‘Farrago’, held in the Unversity of Miami Special Collections, Artists’ Books Collection, ‘I was here’. Photograph Linde M. Brocato.

Who knows if the inscription with the date of 1769 corresponds with the date of entry upon the page — even if its date might accurately record the span of the visit to the place? My question does not record a challenge. It simply registers a question relating to the material evidence.