Manuscript studies Archives

2020 Spring Symposium: Save the Date

February 15, 2020 in Announcements, Conference, Conference Announcement, Events, Index of Medieval Art, Princeton University, Reception, Uncategorized

$New York, Grolier Club, \*434.14\Aug\1470\Folio. Flavius Josephus, De antiquitate Judiaca and De bello Judaico, translated by Rufinus Aquileinensis, printed in Augsburg on paper by Johannn Schüsseler in 2 Parts, dated respectively 28 June 1470 and 23 August 1470, and bound together with a manuscript copy dated 1462 of Eusebius Caesariensis, Historia ecclesiastica.$

New York, Grolier Club, *434.14Aug1470Folio.

“From Cover to Cover”

Activities Devoted to Manuscripts, Early Printed Books & Beyond
From Collecting & Cataloguing to Deciphering & Beholding

2020 Spring Symposium
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University
Friday & Saturday 13–14 March 2020

Update 5 April 2020

The Symposium Booklet, with illustrations and Abstracts of Papers, is now published and available for download.
See Keeping Up: Updates for Spring 2020.

The Abstract of one paper in the 2020 Symposium Booklet has been expanded to a Draft Paper, available for Feedback:

“A Quick Introduction to Indian Manuscripts for the Non-Specialist”, with examples and illustrations,
downloadable here.

Update 9 March 2020

This event is now cancelled, as Princeton University and other institutions respond to current health concerns, and take precautions regarding travel and meetings of various kinds in person.
The Symposium might be rescheduled, conditions permitting.

Meanwhile, the Research Group aims to complete the Symposium Booklet and distribute it to contributors, registrants, and others, as a souvenir of our speakers’ good intentions. Already, as a sign of appreciation, we have adopted the custom of posting on our website the abstracts of contributors who become unable to attend to present in person (as with the 2018 Congress, among others).

This time, under wider — even global — circumstances affecting the ensemble as a whole, we wish to show appreciation for the remarkable enthusiasm and dedication for the collaborative event demonstrated by our hosts, sponsors, speakers, moderators, and others. This knowledge is something to remember with satisfaction, gratitude, and praise.

The publication could, perhaps, give a token to show for our shared efforts, and to demonstrate something of the spirit of dedication and focus which prepared to assemble for the event itself.

This aim might help to ease some of the disappointment over cancellation, while the cancellation itself might ease some uncertainties about travel at present.

P. S. Only once before, in more than 30 years of activities in many centers in the United States and elsewhere (see our Events and Congress Activities}, has the Research Group had to cancel an event. It, however, was only 1 Session among 7 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies in May 2013, when the Session organizer and 2 presenters were unable to travel to the Congress. We honored their intentions to contribute by continuing to record their abstracts and the statement of purpose of the Session on this website.

Similar solidarity pertains to our record of this intended 2020 Spring Symposium. A summary of this Update appears in its own post.

Here we preserve the description of the event in the updated version just before the decision to cancel this Symposium, among many gatherings at Princeton University and elsewhere at the beginning of the week in which the Symposium was planned to take place.

*****

What We Planned

Saint Andrew. Oil on Canvas. Artus Wollfort (1581–1641). Private Collection, Public Domain. Via Wikipedia Commons.

We announce the next Symposium of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, to be held at Princeton University on Friday afternoon and Saturday, 13–14 March 2020. This event follows from, and builds upon, our earlier events, including our 2019 Anniversary Symposium, also held at Princeton University.

Our subject this time: “From Cover to Cover”. Some say, “That Covers It”. (We might well agree.)

Such activities include Collecting, Curating, Conserving, Cataloguing, Deciphering, Editing, Reading, Teaching, Translating, Displaying, Accessing, Beholding, Reconsidering, and More. Cover to Cover.

Naturally, these activities need not necessarily occur in that order, and often they appear in combination.

In addition we consider activities dedicated to manuscripts, early printed books, and beyond, in terms (as is our custom) of both media and chronology. As often, we consider medieval manuscripts and early printed books from Western Europe, but also— as usual — we examine materials from other cultures, languages, and time-frames.

This recognition of the processes (necessarily integrated) infuses the collection of presentations and conversations which our Symposium aims to gather. In a nutshell: Food for Thought, Refreshments included.

For which ability, we have Sponsors, Hosts, Trustees, Associates, Contributors, and Volunteers heartily to thank.

On the Road

Poster 1 for 2019 Anniversary Symposium, with symposium information with images of manuscript and early printed pages..

Poster 1 for 2019 Symposium

Poster 2 for 219 Anniversary Symposium, with symposium information and 2 images of cropped initials, from 12th-century Latin manuscripts, from the Princeton University Art Museum.

Poster 2 for 2019 Symposium

Following upon, and building upon, the success of our Anniversary Symposium last year, we prepare the 2020 Spring Symposium. Its date is now set, as is the Schedule. (See below.)

For our 2019 Anniversary Symposium, see its Report and its freely downloadable 2019 Anniversary Symposium Booklet. Like the Booklet, the 2 Posters (seen here) illustrate examples of manuscripts (Western and non-Western) showcased in the Symposium, its papers, and its workshops.

All these publications, as customary, are set in our very own copyright multilingual font Bembino , and designed and laid out according with our Style Manifesto. This font is freely available through our website, for your use – whether individual, nonprofit, or commercial.

Both the font, and its descriptive Booklet, are downloadable here . We have also prepared a booklet showing its abilities in setting multiple languages, both Western and non-Western. See Multi-Lingual Bembino . Plus our Style Manifesto .

Cover Story

Now we turn to our 2020 Spring Symposium. Please register (details below).

Poster 1 for the 2022 Spring Symposium.

Gladly we list the Sponsors, Speakers, and Moderators.

Speakers and Moderators (in alphabetical order)

Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection, MS LJS 101, folio 1v. Opening of Boethius's translation of Aristotle's "Peri erimenias" within a collection of secular and classical texts, France, possibly at the Abbey of Fleury (Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire), 9th–11th centuries. Photograph courtesy OPenn.

Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection, MS LJS 101, folio 1v. Photograph courtesy OPenn.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS latin 190, folio 1r. Opening page of the Commentarii notarum tironiarum, with an enlarged initial decorated with interlace and foliate ornament. Image via gallica.bnf.fr.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS latin 190, folio 1r. Photograph via gallica.bnf.fr.

Christine E. Bachman (Art History Department, University of Delaware and Graduate Student Fellow 2019–2020, Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, University of Pennsylvania)

Mildred Budny (Director, Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, Princeton)

Raymond Clemens (Curator, Early Books and Manuscripts, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven)

Meghan Constantinou (Librarian, The Grolier Club, New York, New York)

Barbara Williams Ellertson (Books as Symbols in Renaissance Art and Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)

Lynley Anne Herbert (Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland)

Carson Koepke (Program in Medieval Studies, Yale University)

Laura Light (Director and Senior Specialist, Text Manuscripts, Les Enluminures)

John T. McQuillen (Associate Curator, Printed Books & Bindings, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, New York)

Bernard Maisner (Bernard Maisner and Bernard Maisner, Master Calligrapher)

New York, Morgan Library & Museum, PML 7, folio P2r. Blockbook of Apocalypsis Sancti Johannis, printed in Germany circa 1468. Revelation 15:1, with hand-colored illustration.

Sabrina Minuzzi (Researcher in Early Modern History, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

Ronald D. Patkus (Associate Director of the Libraries for Special Collections and Vassar Head of Special Collections, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York)

Pamela Patton (Director, Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University)

Lynn Ransom (Curator of Programs, The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, University of Pennsylvania Libraries)

Helmut Reimitz (Professor of History and Director, Program in Medieval Studies, Princeton University)

Jessica L. Savage (Art History Specialist, Index of Medieval Art)

Barbara A. Shailor (Department of Classics, Yale University, and President, Bibliographical Society of America)

David W. Sorenson (Independent, Quincy, Massachusetts)

Kelly Tuttle (Project Cataloger, Manuscripts of the Muslim World, University of Pennsylvania Libraries)

Eric White (Curator of Rare Books and Acting Curator of Manuscripts, Special Collections, Firestone Library, Princeton University)

Princeton University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections, William H. Scheide Library, 53.8. Latin Bible in double columns of 49 lines, printed in Strasbourg by Johann Mentelin, not after 1460 CE.

Princeton University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections, William H. Scheide Library, 53.8. Latin Bible (printed in Strasbourg by Johann Mentelin, not after 1460 CE.) Photograph courtesy Princeton University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections.

The Aim

In a nutshell.

2020 Spring Symposium Announcement, describing the scope of the event, listing the Sponsors, and citing the link to the registration form.

The Plan

Day 1

Friday 13 March: Classes, Workshops, Discussion, and a Reception

1) 12:00–1:00, 12:00–1:30, or 12:00–2:00pm (By Invitation)
Seminar Room of the Index of Medieval Art

“Comparing Notes about Databases: Past, Present & Futures”

An Informal Discussion

2–3) 1:00–2:45 pm or 3:00–4:45 pm
Classes on Site at Firestone Library (Registration Required and Space Limited)

For registration for these classes and the symposium, see below.

“Material Evidence: A Workshop with 15th-Century Manuscripts and Incunabules”

Classes given (twice) by Eric White, Curator of Rare Books, Princeton University Library, in the Large Classroom of Floor C (Rare Books and Special Collections) at Firestone Library

Please gather in the Lobby at the entrance to Firestone Library, for special escorted access to Floor C, where there are lockable lockers (free) for your coats and cases, before entry to Special Collections.

2) Class 1: Meet at 1:00 for 1:15–2:45 pm

3) Class 2 (repeated): Meet at 3:00 for 3:15–4:45 pm

4) Session 3:00–5:00 pm
106 McCormick Hall

“Materials, Processes & Products: A Workshop”

This workshop offers presentations by Bernard Maisner on “The Materials and Methods of Medieval & Renaissance Manuscript Gold-Illumination Techniques” and by David W. Sorenson on “An Introduction to Indian Manuscripts for the Non-Specialist”, along with curated displays of original materials in private collections and demonstrations of results from their close study.

5) Reception

5:00–7:00 pm
Lobby outside 106 McCormick Hall

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Anonymous, Still Life, German school of the XVI century, circa 1510, oil on wood, 70.2 × 65 cm. Opened book with fanned leaves showing pages of text and music set out in double columns and adorned with decorated initials and illustrations. Image via Wikimedia, public domain.

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Anonymous, Still Life of an Illuminated Book, German school of the XVI century, circa 1510. Opened book with fanned leaves. Image via Wikimedia, public domain.

Day 2

Saturday 14 March: Sessions, Refreshments, and Reception

106 McCormick Hall and its Lobby

6) 10:00 am – 5:30 pm

Sessions, Coffee Breaks, Lunch, and Discussion

7) Reception (5:30–7:00 pm)

2020 Symposium "From Cover to Cover" Poster 2

2020 Symposium Poster 2

*****

The Schedule

The Schedule is available here.

*****

Registration

Please register for the Symposium. We offer the Registration form as a downloadable pdf .

*****

Maps and Directions

Here.

*****

Please Contact us with questions and suggestions.

Watch this space and visit our FaceBook Page for updates.

Floral Motif as Lower Border in a Book of Hours. Photography Mildred Budny.

We invite you to donate to our nonprofit educational mission. Donations may be tax-deductible. We welcome donations in funds and in kind: Contributions and Donations .

Please join us at the symposium, open to all. You can register here .

*****

Tags: Early Printing, manuscript fragments, Manuscript Illumination, Manuscript studies, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Medieval Studies, Medieval Writing Materials, Spring Symposium
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2020 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program Announced

January 18, 2020 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Announcements, Bembino, Conference, Conference Announcement, Index of Christian Art, Index of Medieval Art, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Societas Magica

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies
7–10 May 2020

Program Announced
[NOW CANCELLED OR POSTPONED]

[Update on 12 July 2020: Now see 2021 International Congress on Medieval Studies Call for Papers]

[Published on 18 January 2020, with updates.

Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Update on 17 March. The 55th Congress has been Cancelled.

According to the website for the International Congress on Medieval Studies:

The health and safety of our attendees and our community are our first priority. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the most recent recommendations of the CDC and the WHO regarding social distancing and public gatherings, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 7-10, 2020).

As for the future, according to the Congress organizers:

We invite the organizers of sponsored and special sessions approved for the 2020 Congress to re-propose them for the 2021 congress. If proposed, they will be approved automatically.

Meanwhile, with the preparations for the Congress set aside, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence continues to advance with posting the Abstracts of the intended Papers for our 2020 ICMS Sessions, to stand alongside their Statements of Purpose as designed for the Call for Papers and announced in this post.

Our tradition regularly has been to post on our website the Abstracts before our Sessions in a given Congress, as a foretaste of the Menu. Years ago, as a sign of appreciation, we adopted the custom of posting the Abstract of one or other contributor who became unable to attend to present in person (as with the 2016 Congress and the 2014 Congress ). Thus we honor the intentions of our participants to present the results (or interim results) of their research and reflections, even when they could not do so at the event.

Before March 2020, only once before, in more than 30 years of activities in many centers in the United States and elsewhere (see our Events and Congress Activities), has the Research Group had to cancel an event itself. That case was only 1 Session among 7 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies in May 2013.

This March, in stark contrast, 2 of our major events for 2020 have had to be cancelled as a whole. This change pertains both at the Congress and elsewhere. First, our 2020 Spring Symposium, From Cover to Cover, intended for 13–14 March at Princeton University, has been Cancelled or Postponed. Now, the 55th ICMS intended for May at Kalamazoo.

For the former, we aim to complete the Symposium Booklet, with the Program, Abstracts, and Illustrations, as planned,and distribute it to contributors, registrants, and others, as a souvenir of the collective aims for the gathering. Here we similarly honor our participants’ intentions by recording their Abstracts.]

*****

What We Planned

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Dutch Book of Hours made for a female patron in the mid 15th century. Opening page of the Hours of the Virgin: "Here du salste opdoen mine lippen". Image via Creative Commons. At the bottom of the bordered page, an elegantly dressed woman sits before a shiny bowl- or mirror-like object, in order, perhaps, to perform skrying or to lure a unicorn.

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Image via Creative Commons.

With the achievement of our Activities at the 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), described in our 2019 Congress Report, we prepare for the 2020 Congress. With the conclusion of the Call for Papers on 15 September 2019 for our sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions, we have assigned their Programs and reported them to the Congress Committee.

Now, as the new year begins, we announce the programs as well as our other activities at the 2020 Congress. As the Congress announces its Sneak Preview of the 2020 Congress Program, we report the times and room assignments. Soon, as is our custom, we will publish the Abstracts for their Papers and Responses.

*****

Our events at the Congress, as always, are designed to represent, to explore, to promote, to celebrate, and to advance aspects of our shared range of interests, fields of study, subject matter, and collaboration between younger and established scholars, teachers, and others, in multiple centers.

This year, the response to the Call for Papers for our Session on Seals received so strong a response that we have been granted 2 sessions in the place of the one as accepted. Again this year we co-sponsor Sessions with the Societas Magica (2 Sessions this year). It will be the 16th year of this co-sponsorship.

Also, like the 2015–2019 Congresses, we plan for

an Open Business Meeting and
a co-sponsored Reception.

Again, like the 2016–2018 Congresses, we co-sponsor a Reception with the Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University (formerly the Index of Christian Art).

Abstracts for previous Congresses appear in our Congress Abstracts, Indexed both by Year and by Author. The Abstracts for this year’s Congress will join their company.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Toulouse deformity', Bibliomancy, Divination, History of Documents, History of Magic, Manuscript studies, Medieval Seals, Scrying, Seals and Signatures, Sortilège
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2020 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program

September 18, 2019 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Announcements, Business Meeting, Conference, Conference Announcement, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Manuscript Studies, Reception, Societas Magica

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies
7–10 May 2020

[Published on 18 September 2019, with updates.]

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Image via Creative Commons.

With the achievement of our Activities at the 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), described in our 2019 Congress Report, we prepare for the 2020 Congress. With the conclusion of the Call for Papers on 15 September 2019 for our sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions, we assign the Programs for our 5 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions. Meanwhile, we describe their aims.

Soon, when appropriate, we will announce the Programs for the Sessions and publish the Abstracts for their Papers and Responses.

*****

Also, like the 2015–2019 Congresses, we plan for

an Open Business Meeting and
a co-sponsored Reception.

Again, like the 2016–2018 Congresses, we co-sponsor a Reception with the Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University (formerly the Index of Christian Art).

As usual, we publish the Program for the accepted Papers, once the Call For Papers has completed its specified span. We will publish the Abstracts for these Papers as the preparations for the Congress advance and as their Authors permit. Abstracts for previous Congresses appear in our Congress Abstracts, Indexed both by Year and by Author.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Bibliomancy, Divination, History of Documents, History of Magic, Manuscript studies, Medieval Seals, Prologues in Medieval Texts, Scrying, Seals & Signatures, Sortilège
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The Plot Thickens

June 7, 2019 in Manuscript Studies, Reports

A New Leaf Found at the University of Pennsylvania
from the
“Kurdian/Chicago New Testament Praxapostolos[?]
in Old Armenian”

The “Find-Place” of this Fragment
is a Surprise
also for Our Research on “Otto Ege Manuscripts”

[In our series of blogposts on Manuscript Studies, Mildred Budny (see Her Page) reports the unexpected discovery of another leaf from the same dismembered manuscript with portions of the New Testament in Old Armenian featured in an earlier blogpost, published on 28 September 2015, with an illustrated Report available for download. Now we prepare for an updated, downloadable Report by describing the New Find and its location.]

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 23:12

Cover for “Two Detached Manuscript Leaves containing New Testament Texts in Old Armenian” (2015).

First the Report So Far. As part of the process of exhibiting images from manuscripts, documents, and other written materials — for example in our Galleries of Scripts on Parade and Texts on Parade, and in our Reports on Manuscript Studies — we offered a Report on ‘Two Detached Manuscript Leaves containing New Testament Texts in Old Armenian’ by our Associate, Leslie J. French. The Report focuses upon the evidence of some New Leaves (as they came into our view), considering their materials, layout, text, apparatus, and language, with reference to the knowable features of other remnants of the manuscript, particularly the Chicago Leaf, and some relatives among other representatives of New Testament texts in Old Armenian written in bolorgir script and accompanied in the margins by the Euthalian apparatus.

The Report booklet is available for download in 2 versions. They respect options for printing which might be available to you.

ArmenianPages set out in individual letter-sized (or quarto) pages

ArmenianBooklet laid out on 11″ × 17″ sheets for folding into a 20-page booklet in consecutive reading order

Specifically for that Report, Armenian characters in both lower case and upper case were added to the multi-lingual digital font Bembino of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence. For information about the font and its current version, free for download and use, see Bembino. A booklet demonstrates specimens in multiple languages, Armenian included, of the appearance on the page of Multi-Lingual Bembino.

Booklet ‘On Demand’

Old Armenian "New Leaf I", Verso. Fragment with part of the Acts of the Apostles (to Acts 23:19)

Folio Ir of Armenian New Testament fragment. Acts of the Apostles

This Report is available below for download as PDF. In the form of a booklet, it presents its materials laid out in the official font of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, Bembino, a multilingual digital font (which you see on this website), and in accordance with the principles of our Style Manifesto. Such an approach resembles the presentation of our Newsletter ShelfMarks in booklet form, likewise available freely for download — as are the Style Manifesto and the descriptive booklet, with specimens, for Bembino. The font itself is also FREE for download here (now in Version 1.3).

The Report examines and illustrates two detached leaves in Old Armenian which came to our attention when preparing their presentation among other specimens in various languages in our Gallery of Scripts on Parade. Then, identifying the passages of text and the elements of textual apparatus on the leaves proceeded hand in hand with an exploration of the available evidence, or records, for other parts of the same manuscript dispersed in several collections. Designing Armenian characters, lowercase and uppercase, for Bembino (in its next version, still in progress, responding to requests) allowed for the collation of the texts in full, as an aid to decipherment for readers who may be unfamiliar with the language or the medieval script forms. And so the booklet took shape.

The Manuscript in Question

These leaves, now in several collections, both private and institutional, preserve parts of dismembered manuscript in Old Armenian written in bolorgir minuscule script of the 15th or 16th century CE. The remnants contain parts of the New Testament (some observers say a Lectionary), plus a Prayer (or its opening line) and a Scribal Colophon (of unknown contents), now dispersed in parts among several collections worldwide.

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Tags: Bembino Digital Font, Dawson's Bookshop, Goodspeed Manuscript Collection, Manuscript studies, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, New Testament Manuscripts, Old Armenian, University of Pennsylvania Libraries
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Revisiting Anglo-Saxon Symposia 2002/2018

May 1, 2019 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, British Museum, Conference, Manuscript Studies, The British Library, Uncategorized

Revisiting Beloved Ground

[Published on May 1, 2019] A personal post by our Director.

A New Look

© The British Library Board, Royal MS 1 E vi, folio 4r. Reproduced by permission

We have returned from a trip to London for multiple views of the exhibition of Anglo-Saxon and related manuscripts at The British Library, and for a visit to its companion set of conferences to showcase work by selected elder and younger scholars.

My review does not have the purpose of providing a purview as such of the exhibition or the conferences. Other venues have provided more-and-less expert evaluations of the exhibition and its scholarly events.

It was lovely to see the manuscripts — in most cases, again, for I have seen them in person in their current collections. It took decades of travel, decades of dedication, and worth the view.

#turnedthepages

Suffice it to say that I, for one, can state accurately as well as precisely that, with determination, time, travel funding, part-time work, and perseverence, topped by a deep and abiding love of the subject, along with permission by the custodians, I have been able to examine closely and directly, and to turn the pages of almost all the manuscripts (and many of the documents) on display. A labour of love.

Having the opportunity to view the gathered manuscripts of course demands praise for the organisers of the exhibition and the enlightened donors for its accomplishment. Having the opportunity to attend the conference and to view the exhibition of course commands recognition that I have myself had to pay for that privilege, in travel, housing, conference dues, exhibition entrance, and the like. It is important to record, with thanks, the generous donation of 2 tickets for attendance by a Research Group Associate, which made it possible to continue to view the exhibition in company.

I talk about logistics because these matters, also, matter.

You all who talk, and with reason, about the need to have funding in order to persist and persevere with this and or that field of study, I hear you. Funding applications, part-time jobs, free-lance work, supposedly ignominious independent scholarly endeavors all must hold their place. Sometimes hard work.

Center Stage

For me, it was important to see, in person, again, some manuscripts which I love deeply. That comes from close and appreciative knowledge. Did I mention my favorite hashtag. #turnedthepages. Here, aplenty, in this exhibition, it applies. And then some.

Plus, the exhibition is nontrivial. See here: Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts.

It was a special delight to see as the first images for the concluding plenary lecture such a view, from “my thesis manuscript”, and from such an excellent speaker.

The Thesis is available without charge via British Library Manuscript Royal 1 E.vi: The Anatomy of an Anglo-Saxon Bible Fragment (1985) or ethos.bl.uk (order no. thesis00342356)

Julia Smith introduces The Royal Bible of Saint Augustine's Anbbey Canterbury in her Plenary Lecture December 2018. Photograph by Mildred Budny

Julia Smith introduces The Royal Bible of Saint Augustine’s Abbey Canterbury in her Plenary Lecture December 2018.

Revisiting the Territory

Interesting, isn’t it, that there remain on the scene in this new “international conference” at The British Library so many Anglo-Saxonists that participated in the 2002 British Museum Symposium of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence?

The 2002 BM Symposium:

Form and Order in the Anglo-Saxon World

Its Program:

2002 BM Program

Its Program Booklet, with Abstracts of Papers:

British Museum Colloquium Booklet

Reception at the 2002 British Museum Colloquium.

Instructive, don’t you think, that the speakers and presiders from that Colloquium in 2002 are mostly represented among the speakers, presiders, and attendees of the 2018 British Library International Conference? Here, in the order in which they appeared on our 2002 Program, they are:

Dáibhí Ó Cróinin
Richard Gameson
Rosamond McKitterick
Andy Orchard
Simon Keynes
Helen Gittos
Alan Thacker
Carol Neuman de Vegvar
Michael Ryan
Susan Youngs
James Graham-Campbell
Jane Hawkes
Carol Farr
Nancy Netzer
Mildred Budny
Michael Wood
Elizabeth M. Tyler
Leslie E. Webster

Coffee Break at the 2002 British Museum Colloquium.

Coffee Break at our 2002 British Museum Colloquium.

Some others on our 2002 Program could not be present in 2018 because they had died. We remember them with esteem.

A few others on our 2002 Program did not, alas, feel included sufficiently in 2018 to attend the British Library event.

We remember both events with appreciation for the conversations, presentations, and collegiality.

At our 2002 Colloquium.

Reception at the 2002 British Museum Colloquium.

At our 2002 Colloquium Reception: Sue Youngs and Joyce Hill. Photograph by Mildred Budny.

Tags: 2002 British Museum Colloquium, 2018 British Library Symposium, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, British Library MS Royal 1 E. vi, Manuscript Illumination, Manuscript studies, Research Group Symposia
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2019 Anniversary Symposium: The Roads Taken

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

The Roads Taken, Or, The Obstacle Course

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

2019 Anniversary Symposium
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University
Friday 26 and Saturday 27 April 2019

Co-Sponsored by The Bibliographical Society of America

Rejoined Pieces of a Leaf from a Book of Hours. Private Collection.

The Plan

In 2019 the Research Group on Manuscript [and Other] Evidence celebrates 20 years as a nonprofit educational corporation based in Princeton, and 30 years as an international scholarly society founded at the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Across the years, we have engaged in multiple events in many places, over multiple manuscripts and other original sources, and on a broad range of subjects. We celebrate our friends, colleagues, hosts, donors, volunteers, and subjects of study.

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

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Tags: Book of Hours, Early Printing, History of Paper, manuscript fragments, Manuscript Fragments Reused in Bindings, Manuscript studies, Medieval Writing Materials
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2019 M-MLA Call for Papers

March 3, 2019 in Announcements, Conference, Conference Announcement, Events, M-MLA, Manuscript Studies, Midwest Modern Language Association

Call for Papers

“Duality and Manuscript Evidence”

2019 Theme for the

Permanent Panels sponsored by the
Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the
Midwest Modern Language Association (M-MLA)

2019 Convention
Chicago, Illinois
November 14–17, 2019

[Posted on 2 March 2019]

Poster announcing the Call for Papers for the Permanent Panels sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, to be held at the 2019 MMLA Convention in Chicago in November. Poster set in RGME Bembino and designed by Justin Hastings.

Poster designed by Justin Hastings

The Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, in keeping with the MMLA conference’s theme of “Duality, Doubles, and Doppelgängers” for the 2019 Convention in Chicago, is sponsoring panels on duality in manuscripts broadly conceived.

Information about the conference appears on the MMLA website: MMLA Convention.

For our panels, possible senses of duality include, strictly by way of example, textual variants, recensions, and copies. It also includes more figurative senses of duality, like the dialectic between text and marginal glosses.

We invite all approaches — including hermeneutical, textual, art historical, codicological, and paleographical — as well as all time periods. Despite the RGME’s traditional medieval focus, which has expanded, not least through these panels at the MMLA, we declare that all proposals considering the material evidence contained in handwritten documents are warmly welcomed.

Interested panelists should send brief abstracts of no more than 300 words to

jhastings@luc.edu by Monday, 01 April 2019.

*****

Thanks to the expert initiatives by our Associate Justin Hastings, this will be the 4th year that the Research Group sponsors Permanent Panels at the Annual Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association.

It is a special pleasure that our panels at the 2019 Convention form part of our anniversary celebrations. 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of our nonprofit educational corporation based in Princeton, New Jersey, and the 30th anniversary of our international scholarly society founded at the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

2018 M-MLA Panel on “Consuming Cultures and Manuscript Evidence”
2017 M-MLA Panel on “Artists, Activists, and Manuscript Evidence”
2017 M-MLA Panel Report
“Marginalia in Manuscripts and Books” for the 2018 M-MLA
2016 M-MLA Report

As customary for our Sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, we publish the Abstracts of the Papers for our Panels at the M-MLA Convention in our Panel Announcements and Reports.

*****

The continuation of the tradition of Permanent Panels at the M-MLA Convention is most welcome, and we thank our organizer, Justin Hastings, and the Midwest Modern Language Association. We congratulate Justin for his expert organizational skills and outstanding collegiality, and we applaud his willingness to continue to organize the panels for the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence.

*****

Further information about the Convention and the Call for Papers for Permanent Panels can be found on the M-MLA website:

Please Contact Us with your questions and suggestions. See you there!

*****

Tags: Manuscript studies, Medieval manuscripts, Midwest Modern Language Association
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2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program Details

January 31, 2019 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Anniversary, Announcements, Bembino, Business Meeting, Conference, Conference Announcement, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Societas Magica

Events
Sponsored and Co-Sponsored
by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies
9–12 May 2019

[Published on 24 September 2019, with updates. With the achievement of our Activities at the 2018 Congress, we offered the 2018 Congress Report, and advance with preparations for the 2019 Congress. Now we announce the 2019 Congress Program, also with information about time-and-room assignments, as well as Abstracts for the Papers and Responses. For updates, please watch this space and our Facebook Page.

Update: Now see our 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies Report]

In 2019, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence celebrates its 20th year as a nonprofit educational corporation and its 30th year as an international scholarly organization. Accordingly, we aim to hold both customary and extra-special events, both at the Congress and elsewhere.

We have a tradition of celebrating landmark Anniversaries, both for our organization, with organizations which which we share anniversaries, and for other events. As described, for example, in our 2014 Anniversary Reflections. For 2019, our events aim to represent, to explore, to promote, to celebrate, and to advance aspects of our shared range of interests, fields of study, subject matter, and collaboration between younger and established scholars, teachers, and others, in multiple centers.

Now we announce the Programs for our Sessions, as well as our other Events planned for the Congress. Soon, as is our custom, we will publish the Abstracts for the Papers. We look forward to seeing you at the Congress and our other Anniversary Year events.

Who, What, Why Not

As in recent years, we co-sponsor Sessions with the Societas Magica (2 Sessions). It will be the 14th year of this co-sponsorship. It will be the first year of co-sponsorship with the newly-founded organization Polytheism-Oriented Medievalists of North America (POMONA).

Also, like the 2015–2018 Congresses, we plan for

an Open Business Meeting and
a Reception.

As usual, we aim to publish the Program for the accepted Papers, as their Authors permit. Abstracts for previous Congresses appear in our Congress Abstracts, conveniently Indexed both by Year and by Author.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Anniversary, Dionysos, Extasy Defence, Grettisfærsla, Hêliand, History of Magic, Lapidaries, manuscript fragments, Manuscript Lacunae, Manuscript studies, Mary Moody Emerson, Medieval manuscripts, P.-O.M.o.N.A., Societas Magica, Takamiya MS 23
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More Discoveries for ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 41’

November 27, 2018 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

Otto Ege’s
Dismembered Manuscript 41

A Latin copy of the
Dialogues of Gregory the Great,
Epistles and Homilies of John Chrysostom,
Meditations of Anselm,
And Maybe More

Double columns of 40 lines with some embellishment

Produced probably in Flanders, perhaps circa 1450

Plundered in World War I
From the Library of the Van der Cruisse de Waziers, near Lille in France

Sold circa 1925 through the Bookseller Thorpe in Surrey, England

Brought to the United States Intact, Then Dismembered and Distributed in Pieces

Continuing our series on Manuscript Studies, Mildred Budny (see Her Page) adds new evidence to her earlier reports of some leaves from medieval manuscripts dispersed by Otto F. Ege (1888–1951). Further research and newly revealed materials augment our knowledge of these manuscripts (and others).

This report updates our earlier blogpost on parts of Otto Ege Manuscript 41. See also the posts for Ege Manuscripts 8, 14, 51, and 61, plus updates (More Discoveries for Ege Manuscript 61), as well as the Report for our 2016 Symposium on ‘Words & Deeds’, with an illustrated Program Booklet.

This report, drafted following a first visit in 2017 to view examples in the Otto Ege Collection now at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection, benefits from updates following a new visit in October 2018, with my thanks for permission to examine and to photograph the materials, especially while they remain mostly uncatalogued.

Picking Up The Piecework

As more pieces of the manuscript come to light, and/or become recognized for what they are, the process of virtually picking up their pieces toward a reasonable reconstruction of their original contents can or must proceed piecemeal. More discoveries advance that process considerably. Here we report new stages. Some of them, naturally enough, may revise the received understanding about the manuscript.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Dialogues of Gregory the Great, Epistles of John Chrysostom, Homilies of John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Hebrews, library of the Van Der Cruisse de Waziers family, Manuscript studies, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Meditations of Saint Anselm, Otto Ege Manuscript 41, Otto Ege Manuscripts
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“Consuming Cultures & Manuscript Evidence” – 2018

August 30, 2018 in Conference, Conference Announcement, M-MLA, Midwest Modern Language Association, Uncategorized

“Consuming Cultures and Manuscript Evidence”

2018 Permanent Panel
sponsored by the
Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the
Midwest Modern Language Association (M-MLA)

2018 Convention
Kansas City, Missouri
November 15–18, 2018

[Posted on 30 August 2018, with updates, now with a change to the Program. Now see a newer version of this post: 2018 M-MLA Panel.]

The Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, in keeping with the M-MLA’s theme of “Consuming Cultures” for its 2018 Convention, sponsors a panel on the “Consumption of Manuscripts”. After the completion of the Call for Papers, we now announce the Program for the Panel, which will take place on 15 November. The Program for the Convention in full is now available in preview through the M-MLA website: 2018 Program Booklet.

Food for Thought

In our design for the Panel, both in its proposal (as circulated in the Call for Papers) and in the selected design for its Program, we recognize that consideration of “consumption” can be literal, metaphorical, or both. For example, the process and product could mean the destruction wrought by bookworms, fires, and biblioclasts, and/or the consumption effected by textual transmission and reception more broadly.

Accordingly, we have invited all approaches, including textual, art historical, codicological, and paleographical. Also invite subjects from all periods. Nice.

© The British Library Board. Harley MS 628, folio 160 verso. Psalms 101 begin.

Year 3 of Our Panels at the M-MLA

Thanks to the expert initiatives by our Associate Justin Hastings, this will be the 3rd year that the Research Group sponsors Permanent Panels at the Annual Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association.

The plan to sponsor the 2018 Panels draws inspiration from the success of our Panels at the M-MLA in the past 2 years. Details here:

2017

2017 M-MLA Panel on “Artists, Activists, and Manuscript Evidence”
2017 M-MLA Panel Report

2016

“Marginalia in Manuscripts and Books” for the 2016 M-MLA
2016 M-MLA Report

Chandelier and Ceiling Murals at the Netherland Plaza Hotel. Photography by Mildred Budny.

“Seeing the Light”. Chandelier and Ceiling Murals at the Netherland Plaza Hotel.

As customary for our Sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, we publish the Abstracts of the Papers for our Panels at the M-MLA Convention in our Panel Announcements and Reports.

*****

© The British Library Board. Harley MS 628, folio 160 verso. the initial 'd' for 'Domini'.

*****

Program

Session 21. Friday 8:30–9:45 a.m.

“Consuming Cultures and Manuscript Evidence”

Panel Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the Midwest Modern Language Association Convention
15 November 2018

Panel Chair: Justin Hastings, Loyola University Chicago

[Note the recent change in Program, as the paper by Jessie McDowell will be replaced by Justin’s]

Chikako D. Kumamoto, College of DuPage, Addison, Illinois
“ ‘The Press and the Fire’ and ‘Discretion’:
Distributing Cognition and Its Reception through Paratextual Apparatus in Print and Manuscript Culture”

Abstract of Paper

[Jessie McDowell, Loyola University Chicago
“Medieval Manuscripts and Interoperability:
Scholarly Editing, Collaboration, and the Digital Artisan”]

Justin Hastings, Loyola University Chicago
“Hic Littera Patet: Medieval Commentaries on Horace’s Satires and Patterns of Textual Consumption”

*****

Further information about the Convention can be found on its website. See also M-MLA Convention Permanent Section Call for Papers .

Please Contact Us with your questions and suggestions. See you there!

*****

Tags: M-MLA, Manuscript studies
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Featured Posts

“From Cover to Cover”

Activities Devoted to Manuscripts, Early Printed Books & Beyond From Collecting & Cataloguing to Deciphering & Beholding

2020 Spring Symposium of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University Friday & Saturday 13–14 March 2020

What We Planned

Sponsors

On the Road

Cover Story

Speakers and Moderators (in alphabetical order)

The Aim

The Plan

Day 1

Friday 13 March: Classes, Workshops, Discussion, and a Reception

1) 12:00–1:00, 12:00–1:30, or 12:00–2:00pm (By Invitation) Seminar Room of the Index of Medieval Art

2–3) 1:00–2:45 pm or 3:00–4:45 pm Classes on Site at Firestone Library (Registration Required and Space Limited)

4) Session 3:00–5:00 pm 106 McCormick Hall

5) Reception

Day 2

Saturday 14 March: Sessions, Refreshments, and Reception

106 McCormick Hall and its Lobby

6) 10:00 am – 5:30 pm

7) Reception (5:30–7:00 pm)

The Schedule

Registration

Maps and Directions

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies 7–10 May 2020

Program Announced [NOW CANCELLED OR POSTPONED]

What We Planned

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies 7–10 May 2020

A New Leaf Found at the University of Pennsylvania from the “Kurdian/Chicago New Testament Praxapostolos[?] in Old Armenian”

Booklet ‘On Demand’

The Manuscript in Question

Revisiting Beloved Ground

A New Look

#turnedthepages

Center Stage

Revisiting the Territory

The Roads Taken, Or, The Obstacle Course

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

2019 Anniversary Symposium of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University Friday 26 and Saturday 27 April 2019

Co-Sponsored by The Bibliographical Society of America

Sponsors

The Plan

Call for Papers

“Duality and Manuscript Evidence”

2019 Theme for the

Permanent Panels sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence at the Midwest Modern Language Association (M-MLA)

2019 Convention Chicago, Illinois November 14–17, 2019

Events Sponsored and Co-Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence at the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies 9–12 May 2019

Who, What, Why Not

Otto Ege’s Dismembered Manuscript 41

A Latin copy of the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, Epistles and Homilies of John Chrysostom, Meditations of Anselm, And Maybe More

Double columns of 40 lines with some embellishment

Picking Up The Piecework

“Consuming Cultures and Manuscript Evidence”

2018 Permanent Panel sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence at the Midwest Modern Language Association (M-MLA)

2018 Convention Kansas City, Missouri November 15–18, 2018

Food for Thought

Year 3 of Our Panels at the M-MLA

2017

2016

Program

“Consuming Cultures and Manuscript Evidence”

Activities Devoted to Manuscripts, Early Printed Books & Beyond
From Collecting & Cataloguing to Deciphering & Beholding

2020 Spring Symposium
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University
Friday & Saturday 13–14 March 2020

1) 12:00–1:00, 12:00–1:30, or 12:00–2:00pm (By Invitation)
Seminar Room of the Index of Medieval Art

2–3) 1:00–2:45 pm or 3:00–4:45 pm
Classes on Site at Firestone Library (Registration Required and Space Limited)

4) Session 3:00–5:00 pm
106 McCormick Hall

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies
7–10 May 2020

Program Announced
[NOW CANCELLED OR POSTPONED]

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies
7–10 May 2020

A New Leaf Found at the University of Pennsylvania
from the
“Kurdian/Chicago New Testament Praxapostolos[?]
in Old Armenian”

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

2019 Anniversary Symposium
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University
Friday 26 and Saturday 27 April 2019

Permanent Panels sponsored by the
Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the
Midwest Modern Language Association (M-MLA)

2019 Convention
Chicago, Illinois
November 14–17, 2019

Events
Sponsored and Co-Sponsored
by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies
9–12 May 2019

Otto Ege’s
Dismembered Manuscript 41

A Latin copy of the
Dialogues of Gregory the Great,
Epistles and Homilies of John Chrysostom,
Meditations of Anselm,
And Maybe More

2018 Permanent Panel
sponsored by the
Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the
Midwest Modern Language Association (M-MLA)

2018 Convention
Kansas City, Missouri
November 15–18, 2018