Our Logo

August 18, 2016 in Design, Manuscript Studies, Uncategorized

The Design

We progress with writing the history of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, aided by materials in the Archives. While we prepare interviews with people who have contributed to its origins, survival, and accomplishments — soon comes the Interview with our Layout and Font Designer (responsible, for example, for our multilingual font Bembino), then an Interview about the choices for the design of the Illustrated Catalogue, with others to follow — we advance with showcasing some more highlights.

Now is the turn of our Logo, with reflections about its Origins, its Design, its Evolution, its Uses, its Intentions, and its Meanings. We still think that it’s beautiful. No wonder we haven’t felt any need to change it. Do you like it, too?

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Tags: design layout, History of the Research Group, Logos, Research Group Logos
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More Leaves from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 51’

August 10, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

Detached Leaves from Otto Ege’s
Erfurt Manuscript of
Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics
in Latin Translation on Paper

Continuing our series on Manuscript Studies, Mildred Budny newly identifies 2 detached leaves, in separate collections, from a paper manuscript dispersed by Otto F. Ege (1888–1951). Containing parts of the text of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics in medieval Latin translation, the leaves formerly belonged to a copy prepared at Erfurt in Thuringia in Germany, and dated by colophon to 1365 C.E.

Detached leaves from this book were distributed, in part, through one or another of Ege’s series of Portfolio editions of individual specimen leaves extracted from manuscripts and printed books. Earlier blogposts have examined cases from Ege’s Portfolios of Fifty Original Leaves (1930–1950) and Famous Bibles (1938 and 1949). They report the discoveries of a New Leaf respectively from Ege Manuscript 41, from Ege Manuscript 8, from Ege Manuscript 61, and from Ege Manuscript 14. Now it is the turn of “Ege Manuscript 51” and the Portfolios of Original Leaves from Famous Books (1923 and 1949), in which its Aristotelian specimens normally appeared as their Leaf Number 2.

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Tags: 'Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts', 'Original Leaves from Famous Bibles', 'Original Leaves from Famous Books in Eight Centuries', 'Original Leaves from Famous Books in Nine Centuries', Aristotle, Beauvais Missal, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Briquet Filigranes, Briquet Number 5726, Burgunsius Pisanus, Erfurt, Germany, History of Paper, History of Watermarks, Johannes Gutenberg, Kent State University Special Collections and Archives, Lisa Fagin Davis, Manicula, Manuscript Road Trip, Martin Luther, Nichomachean Ethics, Nurenberg Chronicles, Otto Ege, Otto Ege MS 51, Otto F. Ege, Robert Grosseteste, Royal MS 6 E V, The British Library, University of Erfurt, Vladimir Nabokov, Wilhelm von Mörbeke, Wilton Processional
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2016 Report for CARA

July 14, 2016 in Reports

Our Second Annual Report for the CARA Newsletter

Celebrating at the closing Reception of the 2016 Meeting in Boston of the Medieval Academy of America. Photography © Mildred Budny

Photography by Mildred Budny

This Report for CARA (Committee on Centers and Regional Associations of the Medieval Academy of America) has appeared in its 2016 June Newsletter (page 13). We are glad to be part of the organization.

Like last year, this year our Director attended the Annual CARA Meeting, which regularly follows the Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting. This year it took place in Boston.

The Report of our Group’s activities for 2015–2016 is now published in the CARA Newsletter, for which we thank Lisa Fagin Davis (our Associate), Executive Director of the Medieval Academy, and her staff. We congratulate Lisa, shown at its closing Reception, for the success of the 2016 Meeting in Boston.

Here we reprint the Report, with the addition of active links to its items, plus some illustrations. First we set the Report briefly in context.

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Tags: 2016 Words & Deeds Symposium, Bembino, CARA (Committee on Centers and Regional Associations), Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Manuscript studies, Medieval Academy of America, Midwest Modern Language Association, Societas Magica, Style Manifesto
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Italian Notarial Roll of 1305 from Cesena

July 10, 2016 in Documents in Question, Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

Italian notarial roll of 1305 unrolled, face. Photography © Mildred Budny

Italian notarial roll of 1305, face unrolled

Italian notarial roll, dorse unrolled. Photography © Mildred Budny

Italian notarial roll of 1305, dorse unrolled

Scrollwork

Notarial Document Roll of 1305
in Latin
with Docketing in Italian

Budny Handlist 20

Mildred Budny continues our blog on Manuscript Studies with the publication of a Latin document recording one transaction (a sale of land) on a single sheet of vellum in roll form, issued by the notary Johannes in 1305 at C(a)esena in Emilio-Romano in Italy, and provided with a docketing inscription in Italian on the dorse. This document joins the cases from Preston in Suffolk, from Grenoble, and from somewhere presumably in France already brought to light in our series.

For a change in this blog, here we place a few bibliographical references at the end. They provide the fuller citations for sources mentioned along the way in concise form — as with ‘Roschach (1867)’ — as well as a few suggestions for further reading.

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Tags: Armando Petrucci, Budny Handlist, Cesena, Documents from 1305, Ernst Roschach, Imperial notarial aula, Italian notarial documents, Medieval Latin documents, Notarial Sign, Scheide Library
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Call for Papers for 2017 Congress

July 8, 2016 in Conference, Conference Announcement, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Uncategorized

Sessions
Co-Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies
11–14 May 2017

Call for Papers
(Deadline 15 September 2016)

With the achievement of our Activities at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies, we give both a 2016 Congress Report and a special Behind the Scenes Report (Also Known As “Doctor Who Done It”). Now we proceed to preparations for the 2017 Congress. Some of our Session Proposals have been accepted, so that we progress to their Call for Papers.

The Congress now publishes the full 2017 Call for Papers for 52nd ICMS, with the list of Session Titles and Sponsors. Here we announce our 5 co-sponsored Sessions and describe their aims.

As in recent years, we co-sponsor Sessions with the Societas Magica (2 Sessions) and the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida (2 Sessions). It will be the 12th year of co-sponsorship with the Societas Magica, and the fourth year with the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. This year, for the first time, we also co-sponsor a Round-Table with a community of 5 other Co-Sponsors (including the Societas Magica), headed by AVISTA.

Also, like the 2016 Congress, we plan for

an Open Business Meeting and
a co-sponsored Reception with the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University.

Glimpses of our co-sponsored Receptions at the Congress appear in the souvenirs of our Celebrations and in the Reports for the individual Congresses (2016, 2015, and 2014 Anniversary).

The Agendas for our Open Business Meetings in both 2015 and 2016 serve as concise Reports for our Activities, Plans, and Desiderata.

We look forward to your contributions.

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Tags: AVISTA, Center for Medieval and, History of Magic, History of the Crusades, Ideal Rulership, Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, Islamic Magic, Manuscript studies, Medieval Military Orders, Medieval Tools, Medieval Writing Materials, Societas Magica
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Lillian Vail Dymond

July 6, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Uncategorized

All In A Name — Or Some Other Name

Our guest blogger Linde M. Brocato (University of Memphis) serendipitiously reflects on the conditions, and, it may be, contradictions, relating to the several names which official documents might perforce adopt at various times when referring to a single individual. Particularly an individual whose history also passes through various times and, it may be, places of different forms of record.

Her own experiences, energetically related here, may allow us to consider — as she encourages us to do — how medieval cartularies (among other forms of records) might sometimes reflect personal conditions (and contradictions) in their naming patterns. A companion post for our blog on Manuscript Studies will describe these reflections about medieval cartularies in their own terms.

As she remarks in sending this essay for our blog, “The other aspect that intrigues me is how we tend to judge medieval habits of re-inscription (in cartularies) as though we were innocent of the same habits in the case of a high-stakes issue like renaming an adopted child to erase any other origin for the child.”

It can always be important to think about the person behind, within, or beyond, the official record. And to be aware that the documentary evidence might not always be transparent. Hence our respect for Linde’s willingness to share her experiences with us, devoted to the manuscript record — fragile or tremulous as it can, or must, be.

Over to her:

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Tags: adoption, birth certificates, Cartularies, Documentary Studies, documents in question, Name Changes
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Doctor Who-Done-It

June 24, 2016 in Conference, Events, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Reception, Reports

Behind the Scenes
at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies

Who Done It? We Did Good!

(With the Useful Discovery that Our Director Apparently Drives a Tardis)

Our Director continues the Reports for our Activities at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, starting with the 2016 Congress Report.

Now, as a second installment for the Report, for the first time in our history, we tell about some experiences Behind the Scenes. With Thanks, Naming Names.

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Tags: Archaeology of Manuscripts, Bembino Digital Font, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, History of Magic, History of Paper, Index of Christian Art, Manuscript studies, Manuscripts & Early Printed Books, Medieval Writing Materials, Pont Neuf, Societas Magica
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Cover-Up

June 17, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

The Medieval-Psalter-Covered French Notebook in course of photography, archivally-sensitive equipment in place. Vire from the front cover, with untied ties. Photography © Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

A Medieval Bifolium
From a Medium-Format Vulgate Latin Psalter
Reused as the Cover
of the Binding
of an 18th-Century Paper Notebook
With Receipts in French

Budny Handlist 5

Continuing our reports of discoveries about manuscripts and written materials in our blog on Manuscript Studies,
Mildred Budny examines a reused medieval fragment in its reused state, still attached to its modern notebook containing many receipts in French. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Breviary, Dijon, French Notebooks, French Revolution, Fructidor, Manuscript Fragments Reused in Bindings, Medieval manuscripts, Napoleonic Wars, Psalter Manuscripts
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2016 Symposium on ‘Words & Deeds’ Report

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

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

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

‘Words & Deeds’ Symposium Report

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 21, 2016 in Conference, Events, Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

CopyCat Editor

Our Editor in Chief, also our Principal Blogger (see Her Page), gives credit to an expert adviser, who shows paws-on attention, even while lying down on the job.
P.S. That’s some of our text that she’s working on. You could view and download its completed version below.

Published on 21 May 2016 (with a couple of updates in April 2017).

We pause (paws) for an exclusive interview with our CopyCat Editor In Residence. She gives expert advice and encouragement for the preparations of our Events.

Recently, we have begun to gather interviews with experts who help — pro bono, of course — with our activities, events, publications, and other productions. (Starting here.) A series of interviews with our Graphic & Layout Designer is in the course of preparation. (He is shy, and works at many tasks, so it takes time to find the right time. Update: Now here.)

That our blog on Manuscript Studies may allow for some light-hearted views can be seen already, for example, in the installment on Manuscript Groupies.

Wonderful to learn about the people behind the scenes. Critters too.

Cats first. Cats as Cats Can. And Will.

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Tags: 2016 Symposium, 2016 Words & Deeds Symposium, Bembino Digital Font, Cat-a-Lan, CopyCat Editor, Interview, Mistie
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Archives

Featured Posts

The Design

Detached Leaves from Otto Ege’s Erfurt Manuscript of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics in Latin Translation on Paper

Our Second Annual Report for the CARA Newsletter

Scrollwork

Notarial Document Roll of 1305 in Latin with Docketing in Italian

Budny Handlist 20

Sessions Co-Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence at the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies 11–14 May 2017

Call for Papers (Deadline 15 September 2016)

All In A Name — Or Some Other Name

Behind the Scenes at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies

Who Done It? We Did Good!

A Medieval Bifolium From a Medium-Format Vulgate Latin Psalter Reused as the Cover of the Binding of an 18th-Century Paper Notebook With Receipts in French

Budny Handlist 5

‘Words & Deeds’ Symposium Report

CopyCat Editor

Detached Leaves from Otto Ege’s
Erfurt Manuscript of
Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics
in Latin Translation on Paper

Notarial Document Roll of 1305
in Latin
with Docketing in Italian

Sessions
Co-Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies
11–14 May 2017

Call for Papers
(Deadline 15 September 2016)

Behind the Scenes
at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies

A Medieval Bifolium
From a Medium-Format Vulgate Latin Psalter
Reused as the Cover
of the Binding
of an 18th-Century Paper Notebook
With Receipts in French