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  • News
    • News & Views
    • Reviews
    • Highlights
  • Blogs
    • Manuscript Studies
      • Manuscript Studies: Contents List
    • International Congress on Medieval Studies
      • Abstracts of Congress Papers
        • Abstracts of Papers Listed by Author
        • Abstracts of Papers Listed by Year
  • About
    • Mission
    • People
      • Mildred Budny — Her Page
      • Adelaide Bennett Hagens
    • Activities
      • Events
      • Congress Activities
        • Sponsored Conference Sessions (1993‒)
          • Panels at the M-MLA Convention
        • Co-sponsored Conference Sessions (2006‒)
    • History
      • Seals, Matrices & Documents
      • Genealogies & Archives
  • Bembino
    • Multi-Lingual Bembino
  • Congress
    • Sponsored Conference Sessions (1993‒)
    • Co-sponsored Conference Sessions (2006‒)
    • Abstracts of Congress Papers
      • Abstracts Listed by Author
      • Abstracts Listed by Year
    • Kalamazoo Archive
    • Panels at the M-MLA Convention
      • Abstracts of Papers for the M-MLA Convention
  • Events
    • The Research Group Speaks: The Series
    • Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia & Symposia (1989–)
      • 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
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Registration Open
    • Abstracts of Papers for Events
      • Abstracts of Papers for Seminars on ‘The Evidence of Manuscripts’
      • Abstracts of Papers for Symposia, Workshops & Colloquia
    • Receptions & Parties
    • Business Meetings
    • Photographic Exhibitions & Master Classes
    • Events Archive
  • ShelfLife
    • Journal Description
    • ShelfMarks: The RGME-Newsletter
    • Publications
      • “Insular, Anglo-Saxon, and Early Anglo-Norman Manuscript Art at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge” (1997)
        • Mildred Budny, ‘Catalogue’
        • The Illustrated Catalogue (1997)
      • The Illustrated Handlist
      • Semi-Official Counterfeiting in France 1380-1422
      • No Snap Decisions: Challenges of Manuscript Photography
    • History and Design of Our Website
  • Galleries
    • Watermarks & the History of Paper
    • Galleries: Contents List
    • Scripts on Parade
    • Texts on Parade
      • Latin Documents & Cartularies
      • New Testament Leaves in Old Armenian
    • Posters on Display
    • Layout Designs
  • Donations and Contributions
    • 2019 Anniversary Appeal
    • Orders
  • Contact Us
  • Links
    • Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases: A Handlist of Links
    • Manuscripts & Rare Books
    • Maps, Plans & Drawings
    • Seals, Seal-Matrices & Documents

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2023 Pre-Symposium Call for Papers: Intrepid Borders Lightning Talks
Barbara Heritage on Charlotte Brontë’s Fair Copy of “Shirley”
ShelfMarks Issue 2 (Volume 2, Number 1 for Winter 2022–2023)
Two Pages from a Roman Breviary in Gothic Script
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 on the Making of “The Book of Kells”
2022 Autumn Symposium Program Booklet
2022 Autumn Symposium on “Supports for Knowledge”
How to Be Tarzan in the Catalog, Or, Tarzan-Moves of the Mind
Verso of Leaf from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, Book III, chapter 7. Photography by Mildred Budny
2023 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Preparations
The Weber Leaf from “The Warburg Missal” (Otto Ege Manuscript 22)
Folio 4 with Latin Blessings for Holy Water and an Exorcism for Salt
Portfolio 93 of Ege’s “Famous Books in Eight Centuries” in the Collection of Richard Weber
A Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 214’ in the Collection of Richard Weber
Two Ege Leaves and Two Ege Labels in the Collection of Birgitt G. Lopez
2022 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Program
2022 Spring Symposium on “Structures of Knowledge”
Two Old Testament Leaves from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’ at Smith College
Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases (Part I)
I Was Here . . .
Lead the People Forward (by Zoey Kambour)
The Curious Printing History of ‘La Science de l’Arpenteur’
A Leaf in Dallas from “Otto Ege Manuscript 14” (Lectern Bible)
How to Be Indiana Jones in the Catalog
Southern Italian Cuisine Before Columbus
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.
Barbara Williams Ellertson and the BASIRA Project, with a Timeline
An Illustrated Leaf from the Shahnameh with a Russian Watermark
2021 International Congress on Medieval Studies Report
J. S. Wagner Collection, Leaf from Ege Manuscript 22, verso, bottom right: Ege's inscription in pencil.
Another Leaf from the Warburg Missal (‘Ege Manuscript 22’)
More Leaves from a Deconstructed Sinhalese Palm-Leaf Manuscript
Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Otto Ege Collection, FOL Set 3, MS 40, Specimen 1: folio '1'r, Top Left. Photography Mildred Budny.
Specimens of Ege Manuscript 40 in the Ege Family Portfolio
Otto F. Ege: Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts, Leaf 40, Printed Label, Special Collections and University Archives, Stony Brook University Libraries.
Otto Ege Manuscript 40, Part II: Before and After Ege
rivate Collection, Koran Leaf in Ege's Famous Books in Nine Centuries, Front of Leaf. Reproduced by permission.
Otto Ege’s Portfolio of ‘Famous Books’ and ‘Ege Manuscript 53’ (Quran)
J. S. Wagner Collection, Early-Printed Missal Leaf, Verso. Rubric and Music for Holy Saturday. Reproduced by Permission.
Carmelite Missal Leaf of 1509
Grapes Watermark in a Selbold Cartulary Fragment.
Selbold Cartulary Fragments
Smeltzer Collection, Subermeyer (1598), Vellum Supports Strip 2 Signature Surname.
Vellum Binding Fragments in a Parisian Printed Book of 1598
Church of Saint Mary, High Ongar, Essex, with 12th-Century Nave. Photograph by John Salmon (8 May 2004), Image via Wikipedia.
A Charter of 1399 from High Ongar in Essex
Opening of the Book of Maccabees in Otto Ege MS 19. Private Collection.
A Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 19’ and Ege’s Workshop Practices
2020 Spring Symposium: Save the Date
At the Exhibition of "Gutenberg and After" at Princeton University in 2019, the Co-Curator Eric White stands before the Scheide Gutenberg Bible displayed at the opening of the Book of I Kings.
“Gutenberg and After” at Princeton University Library
J. S. Wagner Collection. Leaf from from Prime in a Latin manuscript Breviary. Folio 4 Recto, Initial C for "Confitimini" of Psalm 117 (118), with scrolling foliate decoration.
A Leaf from Prime in a Large-Format Latin Breviary
J. S. Wagner Collection. Detached Manuscript Leaf with the Opening in Latin of the Penitent Psalm 4 or Psalm 37 (38) and its Illustration of King David.
The Penitent King David from a Book of Hours
Coffee Break at our 2002 British Museum Colloquium. Our Director, Dáibhí Ó Cróinin, and Giles Constable. Photograph by our Associate, Geoffrey R. Russom.
Revisiting Anglo-Saxon Symposia 2002/2018
The red wax seal seen upright, with the male human head facing left. Document on paper issued at Grenoble and dated 13 February 1345 (Old Style). Image reproduced by permission
2020 ICMS Call for Papers: Seal the Real
Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, MS 1183. Photograph courtesy Kristen Herdman.
2019 Anniversary Symposium Report: The Roads Taken
Detail of illustration.
Sanskrit and Prakrit Manuscripts
Thomas E. Hill stands at the entrance to the Vassar College Library. Photography by Mildred Budny
Another Visit to The Library Cafe
Leaf 41, Recto, Top Right, in the Family Album (Set Number 3) of Otto Ege's Portfolio of 'Fifty Original Leaves' (FOL). Otto Ege Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Photograph by Mildred Budny.
More Discoveries for ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 41’
Slice of Brie. Photograph by Coyau via Wikipedia Commons.
Say Cheese
Verso of the Leaf and Interior of the Binding, Detail: Lower Right-Hand Corner, with the Mitered Flap Unfolde
A 12th-Century Fragment of Anselm’s ‘Cur Deus Homo’
Reused Leaf from Gregory's Dialogues Book III viewed from verso (outside of reused book cover) Detail of Spine of Cover with Volume Labels. Photograph © Mildred Budny.
A Leaf from Gregory’s Dialogues Reused for Euthymius
Detail of the top of the verso of the fragmentary leaf from a 13th-century copy of Statutes for the Cistercian Order. Reproduced by permission.
Another Witness to the Cistercian Statutes of 1257
Initial d in woodcut with winged hybrid creature as an inhabitant. Photography © Mildred Budny
The ‘Foundling Hospital’ for Manuscript Fragments
Decorated opening word 'Nuper' of the Dialogues, Book III, Chapter 13, reproduced by permission
A New Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 41’
Close-Up of The Host of 'The Library Cafe' in the Radio Studio. Photography © Mildred Budny
A Visit to The Library Café

You are browsing the Blog for Medieval Manuscript Fragments

Two Pages from a Roman Breviary in Gothic Script

November 26, 2022 in Manuscript Studies, Reports

Two Framed Pages
from a Roman Breviary
on Vellum in Latin in Gothic Script

containing
Hours for First Sunday after Easter
and
Vespers for Holy Trinity Sunday

Private Collection, Roman Breviary Leaf in Frame: Page with Part of Vespers for Holy Trinity Sunday. Photography By Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

Single-Column Pages
laid out in 27 lines of Gothic Script
with
Rubrications,
Minor Initials in Red or Blue Pigment,
and
Enlarged Initials
embellished with Pen-line Decoration

[Posted on 27 November 2022]

Two separate leaves, now in frames, in a Private Collection contain parts of a Latin Breviary for Roman Use, that is, the Church of Rome, or Breviarum Romanum. (See, for example, The Roman Breviary and Roman Breviary.)

Some earlier blogposts have considered fragments of Latin Breviaries or related liturgical books.

  • Two Vellum Leaves from a Large-Format Breviary in Gothic Script
  • The Pearly Gateway: A Scrap from a Latin Missal or Breviary
  • A Leaf from Prime in a Large-Format Breviary
  • Written in the Stars: Roman Breviary Fragment with Latin Lections on Astrology

For example, from a different Private Collection, several leaves from a Roman Breviary:

Private Collection. Breviary Fragment, Folios IIv/Ir, with Revised Title and Penultimate Page of the Lections. Photography by Mildred Budny.

Private Collection. Breviary Fragment, Folios IIv/Ir, with Revised Title and Penultimate Page of the Lections. Photography by Mildred Budny.

The Pages from Two Leaves

Private Collection, Roman Breviary Leaf in Frame: Page in the Hours for First Sunday after Easter. Photography By Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

The visible sides of the vellum leaves, on one page per leaf, contain parts of the text from the Hours for the First Sunday after Easter (see Second Sunday of Easter) and from Vespers for Holy Trinity Sunday (see Trinity Sunday).  Let us call the  Leaves 1 and 2, taking them in the sequence of their seasonal occasions in the cycle of the liturgical year, which extends from Advent to Trinity.

In the Western liturgical calendar, Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost; it is intended to celebrate the doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God, namely the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Easter (or Resurrection) Sunday commemorates Jesus’ resurrection from the dead; the event is reported in the canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and some other sources.  As the start of Eastertide, or the Paschal season, Easter Sunday is followed by seven weeks to the fiftieth day on Pentecost Sunday.

The contents of the other sides of the leaves are unknown, apart from show-through onto the visible sides.  The text establishes that the two leaves were non-continuous in their former manuscript.

The vellum material of both leaves is evident in the texture of the visible surfaces as well as undulations across the expanse of the stretched animal skins. The smooth, whitish appearance makes it appear that both pages stand on the flesh sides of their skins.

Bringing the Leaves to light, we report the contents of the Pages, with descriptions and photographs.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Breviarum Romanum, Fragmentology, House of Heydenryk, Manuscript studies, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Roman Breviary
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Program for 2022 Autumn Symposium on “Supports for Knowledge”

October 6, 2022 in Announcements, Conference Announcement, Manuscript Studies, Uncategorized

2022 RGME Spring and Autumn Symposia
on “Structured Knowledge”

© British Library Board, London, British Library, Add. MS 1546, folio 262v, detail. Opening of the Book of Sapientia (“Wisdom”).

2 of 2: 2022 Autumn Symposium
“Supports for Knowledge”
Saturday, 15 October 2022

Symposium Program
9:00 am – 5:30 pm EDT
Online via Zoom

Sessions with Presentations and Discussion (“Q&A”)
Breaks for Coffee, Lunch, and Tea
Closing Keynote Presentation and Concluding Remarks

For Registration see below

[Posted on 5 October, with updates]

On the pair of Symposia, see 2022 Spring and Autumn Symposia
On Part 1 of this pair, see 2022 Spring Symposium on “Structures of Knowledge”
On Part 2, see 2022 Autumn Symposium on “Supports for Knowledge”

Here we present the Program for Part 2 on “Supports for Knowledge”, held on Saturday 15 October 2022 by Zoom
— Registration is required, with a limited number of places (see below).

The Program Booklet (in preparation) will present the Program and Abstracts of the Presentations and Responses, with multiple Illustrations.  In accordance with our tradition of Program Booklets for our Symposia and some other events (see our Publications, it will be issued in printed form as well as digital form, with a downloadable pdf.

Timetable

Session 1.    9:00–10:30 am EDT
Brief Introduction to the Symposium and Welcome
“Teaching with (and through) Manuscripts, Part II”
Q&A

Break.          10:30–10:45 am

Session 2.   10:45 am – 12:15 pm
“Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases, Continued (Part III)”
Q&A

Lunch Break.   12:15–1:15 pm

–– During the Break.  12:30–12:50 pm

Presentation (at the time when the Speaker could attend)

David W. Sorenson (Allen Berman, Numismatist)
“A Jain Manuscript of the Seventeenth Century on Imported Watermarked Paper: An Early, Dated, Witness to Imported Paper Stocks in Indian Manuscripts”
As a contribution to our series on the “History and Uses of Paper”

Session 3.    1:15–2:45 pm
“The Living Library (Part II)”
Q&A

Break.          2:45–3:00 pm

Session 4.   3:00–4:30 pm
“Hybrid Books (Part I)”
Q&A

Break.         4:30–4:45 pm

Session 5.   4:45–5:30 pm EDT
“Books and Their Structures”
Closing Keynote Presentation and Concluding Remarks

*****

Sessions

Session 1.  “Teaching with (and through) Manuscripts, Part II”
— continuing the series begun at the Spring Symposium on “Structures of Knowledge”

Presider

David Porreca (Department of Classical Studies, University of Waterloo)

Speakers

Caley McCarthy (Research Associate and Project Manager, Environments of Change, University of Waterloo)
and
Andrew Moore (Research Fellow, Environments of Change, and Associate Director, DRAGEN Lab, University of Waterloo)
“Collaborative Pedagogy with Medieval Manuscripts in a Digital Lab”

William H. Campbell (Director, Center for the Digital Text, University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg)
Amber McAlister (Assistant Professor, History & Architecture, University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg)
and
Connor Chinoy (Student at the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg and member of the “History of the Book” class)
“Books in the Flesh: An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Class with Medieval Manuscripts”

Q&A

*****

Mid-Morning Break

*****

Session 2.  “Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases, Continued (Part III)”
— continuing our series
This is Part III in our series on these subjects, building upon Parts I and II, and leading to further Parts in 2023

  • our Roundtable in February on Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases, Part I and
  • the Session on “Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases, Part II” in the Spring Symposium

See the Links of Interest (Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases: A Handlist of Links)
— for which suggestions and additions are welcome.

Presider

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

Speakers

Jessica L. Savage
“Cataloguing Manuscript Iconography between Digital Covers at the Index of Medieval Art”

Barbara Williams Ellertson (The BASIRA Project and Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)
“A Painter, a Printer, and a Search for Shared Exemplars”

Katharine C. Chandler (Special Collections and Serials Cataloger, University of Arkansas Libraries)
“Manuscripts from Print: The Schwenkfelders and their Dangerous Books”

Respondent

David Porreca (Department of Classics, University of Waterloo)
“My $0.02 Worth”

Moderator for the Questions-and-Answers

Derek Shank (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)

Q&A

*****

Lunch Break

Perhaps — TBD — during part of the Break
Presentation (from about 12:15–12:35 pm), if the Speaker might attend, depending on short-notice work timetables:

David W. Sorenson (Allan Berman, Numismatist)
“A Jain MS of the Seventeenth Century on Imported Watermarked Paper:  An Early, Dated, Witness to Imported Paper Stocks in Indian Manuscripts”

*****

Session 3.  “The Living Library (Part II)”

— continuing the series begun at the Spring Symposium on “Structures of Knowledge”

Presider

Jaclyn Reed (Department of English and Writing Studies, University of Western Ontario)

Speakers

Christine E. Bachman (Department of Art & Art History, University of Colorado at Boulder)
“Unbound, Dispersed, Resewn:  The Flexible Codex in Eighth-Century Northwestern Europe”

Zoey Kambour (Post Graduate Fellow in European & American Art at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon)
“Textual Interaction Through Artistic Expression:  The Marginal Drawings in the Decretales Libri V of Pope Gregory IX (University of Oregon MS 027)”

David Porreca (Department of Classical Studies, University of Waterloo)
“The Warburg Institute Library:   Where Idiosyncracy Meets User-Friendliness”

Respondent

Thomas E Hill (Art Librarian, Vassar College)
“Some Early Background to Warburg’s Project in Post-Wunderkammer Systematic Catalogues of the European Baroque and Enlightenment Periods”

Le Parc Abbey, Theological Volume, Part B and added Part-Leaf between folios 103–104 (or folios "7"–"8").

Private Collection, Le Parc Abbey, Theological Volume, Part B and added Part-Leaf (or Bookmark) between folios 103–104. Photography Mildred Budny.

Q&A

*****

Mid-Afternoon Break

*****

Session 4.  “Hybrid Books (Part I)”

— beginning a series for which more sessions are planned

Presider

Justin Hastings (University of Delaware)

Speakers

Hannah Goeselt (Library and Information Science (MS): Cultural Heritage Informatics, Simmons University, Boston)
“Structures of Art and Scripture in Otto Ege’s ‘Cambridge Bible’ (Ege Manuscript 6)”

Jennifer Larson (Department of Classics, Kent State University)
“Printed and Scribed:  A Collector’s View of Hybrid Books”

Linde M. Brocato (Cataloging & Metadata Librarian, University of Miami Libraries)
“Paths of Access and Horizons of Expectation, II:  From Book-In-Hand to Catalog(ues)”

N. Kıvılcım Yavuz (Lecturer in Medieval Studies and Digital Humanities, School of History, University of Leeds)
“Bound With:  Towards a Typology of Hybrid Codices”

Q&A

*****

Tea Break

*****

Session 5. “Books and Their Structures”

Presider

Mildred Budny (Director, Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)

Closing Keynote Presentation

Linde M. Brocato (Cataloging & Metadata Librarian, University of Miami Libraries)
“Hybrid Books: Fragments and Compilatio, Structure and Heuristic in Richard Twiss’s Farrago”

Discussion & Brief Concluding Remarks

Mildred Budny
“Structured Knowledge, Structures of Knowledge, and Supports for Knowledge:  A Framework for the Year”

*****

Closing Keynote Presentation

“Hybrid Books:
Fragments and Compilatio, Structure and Heuristic in
Richard Twiss’ Farrago“

In the group of artists’ books from the Ruth and Marvin Shackner Archive of Concrete Poetry purchased by the University of Miami Special Collections, there is an extraordinary volume, sold by a vendor as late 19th century, anonymous, and an artist’s book avant la lettre.  Careful analysis for bibliographical cataloging revealed the error in all these assertions.

In this presentation, I will lay out both the process of that analysis, and its results, along with reflections on hybrid books of various kinds.  My reflections will encompass the kinds of structured information that make their way into databases, and structuring codes of cataloging and bibliography, all of which are necessary but not sufficient for our understanding and convivencia with books, which are always already hybrid.  In these reflections, I will bring together many of the strands of thinking we have all worked to weave together in the symposium.

Richard Twiss, Farrago, held in the Unversity of Miami Special Collections, Artists’ Books Collection. Sidelong View. Photograph Linde M. Brocato.

Glimpses of the volume comprising Farrago compiled by the writer, traveler, chess-player, and would-be paper manufacturer Richard Twiss (1749–1821) can be seen in our blogpost called “I Was Here”, with photographs by Linde M. Brocato.

Concluding Remarks

Mildred Budny
“Structured Knowledge, Structures of Knowledge, and Supports for Knowledge: A Framework for the Year”

© British Library Board, London, British Library, Cotton MS Cleopatra C. viii, folio 36r, top: Sapientia in her Temple. Prudentius, Psychomachia, in a Canterbury copy of the late tenth or early eleventh century.

*****

To register for the Symposium, visit 2022 Autumn Symposium Registration. Places are limited.

Questions? Contact director@manuscriptevidence.org.

*****

Suggestion Box

Do you have suggestions for subjects for our events, or offers to participate? Please let us know.

If you wish to join our events, please contact director@manuscriptevidence.org.

For updates, watch this space, and visit:

  • 2022 Spring and Autumn Symposia
  • The Research Group Speaks: The Series;
  • our FaceBook Page and
  • our Twitter Feed (@rgme_mss).

Please leave your Comments below, Contact Us, and visit our FaceBook Page and Twitter Feed (@rgme_mss).  We look forward to hearing from you

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 .

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

*****

 

Tags: Catalogs & Metadata & Databases, Decretals of Pope Gregory IX, DRAGEN Lab, Fragmentology, History of Paper, Hybrid Books, Index of Medieval Art, Jain Manuscripts, Les Enluminures, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Medieval manuscripts, Miniature Books, Otto Ege Manuscript 8, Otto Ege Manuscripts, RGME Symposia, Richard Twiss's Farrago, Schwenkfelder Books, Structured Knowledge, Teaching with and through Knowledge, Teaching with Manuscripts, The Living Library, University of Oregon MS 027, Warburg Institute Library, Watermarked Paper, Watermarks
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Portfolio 93 of Ege’s “Famous Books in Eight Centuries” in the Collection of Richard Weber

June 22, 2022 in Manuscript Studies, Uncategorized

Selected Specimens,
Manuscript and Printed,
in Portfolio 93
of Otto Ege’s Famous Books in Eight Centuries (FBEC)
in the Collection of Richard Weber

[Posted on 21 June 2022, with updates]

Richard Weber Collection, Famous Books in Eight Centuries, Portfolio Set 93, Aristotle, Folio 23 Verso. Reproduced by Permission

With thanks, we offer a preliminary view of the full, and unexpected, glimpse of the Portfolio Number 93, which had been assembled by of Otto Ege (1888–1951) from manuscripts and printed books, so as to exhibit specimens of Famous Books, religious and other, from the medieval period onwards, in the Western middle ages and beyond.

This post offers a start in exploring the treasures in this set of the Portfolio.  Earlier blogposts have begun to examine the structure and elements of the Portfolio both in general and in particular.

This post takes note of the specifics, which hold some surprises.  The post builds upon some previous investigations, which establish points of departure and advances for various of the specimens in the Portfolio, both manuscript and printed.

Earlier blogposts reflect upon such possibilities and complexities.  For example:

  • More Leaves from Otto Ege’s Portfolios of Famous Books: The Aquinas Manuscript
  • Otto Ege’s Portfolio of Famous Books and Ege Manuscript 53 (Quran)

We had intended to report more on the specimens of printed leaves, and not only the manuscripts, whilst other tasks called for attention.  The time has come to pick up those aspirations.
Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Aristotle, Ege's Portfolio of Famous Books, Ege's Portfolio of Famous Books in Eight Centuries, Erfurt, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Otto Ege Manuscript 51, Richard Weber Collection
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Folio 4 with Latin Blessings for Holy Water and an Exorcism for Salt

June 19, 2022 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

Folio 4 from an ‘Italian Missal’ in Latin

Private Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal. Folio 4r, Detail. Photography Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

Single Leaf on Vellum
Circa 222 × 158 mm
<written area circa 150 × 104 mm>

Single columns of 18 lines,
starting below the top ruled line,
with rubricated elements

Blessings of Holy Water and Salt
and the title for an Exorcism of Salt
[qui inimici ru-/]gientis seuitiam seperas . . .
Exorcisimus ad catecuminum salis faciendum. [/]

Italy?  Southern France?  circa 1400–1450

Budny Handlist 10

[Posted on 20 June 2022]

We post a report of a leaf from a Private Collection which we examined and photographed a few years ago, as part of a larger study for an Illustrated Handlist.

The leaf was recorded briefly, with a description supplied by its owner, in C. U. Faye and W. H. Bond, Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (1962), page 284, number 5.  There it is described as part of an “Italian Missal”.  The owner acquired the leaf by an unknown route, perhaps by gift already framed, before the preparation of that description for the Census.

At the owner’s request several years ago, we removed the leaf first from its plain wooden frame and then from its stained and darkened backing mat, onto which parts of the original script had offset. The leaf was photographed at several stages and examined in detail.  We show views of the leaf while still on the mat and afterward.

The Leaf Before

Here are both sides of the leaf as it was mounted to the backing mat.

The Front, or Forward-Facing, Side of the Leaf as Mounted for the Frame

For the frame, the leaf faces front with lines in script in black ink and red pigment.

"Folio

positioned as the front-facing page for the viewer. Private Collection. Folio 4v facing front on the former mat. Photography © Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

The Other Side, Partly Lifted

Turning over the leaf, we can see the pair of hinged gauze mounting tapes which attach the edge of the leaf to the mat.

Folio 4r still attached to the mat. Photograph © Mildred Budny

Private Collection. Folio 4r still attached to the mat with a pair of hinged gauze tapes. Photography Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

The Leaf apart from the Mat

The Original Recto

The recto has a modern folio number, an upright arabic 4, entered in dark brown ink at the top right.  The different expanses of the upper and lower margins imply that the short upper margin was trimmed at some stage, whilst the lower and outer margins appear to retain all or most of their original extents.  The accumulated dirt along the upper edge attests to an extended duration when the former manuscript, closed, stood upright on a shelf or in storage.

Private Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal. Folio 4v with Guide. Photography Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

This side of the leaf shows offsets or show-through of enlarged initials at the right-hand side of the column, as well as rubricated script at points within it.  The initials, in reverse, show the forms of a P and a D.

Most of these elements can be accounted for by the rubrications and the enlarged initial P on the other side of the leaf, so that they constitute show-through.  For the other, we must recognize that its offset must derive from contact with a formerly adjacent leaf.

The Original Verso

Private Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal. Folio 4r. Detail. Photography Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

On this page, an enlarged and decorated initial P, partly inset within two indented lines of text, comprises an enlarged Capital P (for Presta) rendered in blue pigment, with penline flourishes and extensions in red pigment.  In both curved and parallel straight lines, those flourishes fit between the initial and the indented letters, fill the bow and ‘footrest’ of the P, and extend in the margin above, beside, and below the initial.

A staple of the flourishing appears to be the sets of narrowly spaced parallel lines.  Characteristic, too, are the short, arrowhead-tipped elements which, separately, press into the cusps of parts of the flourishing below the right-hand side of the bow of the letter and in a whorl of three around the circular extension at the upper left of the letter.

The Text

The set of texts on the leaf provide directions for Exorcisms and Blessings of Salt and Water.  At an appropriate point, a sign of the cross (rendered within the outlines of a box-like frame, all in red) stands within the text to indicate its sign, or signing, as part of the ritual.

Specimens of such texts in medieval sources of various dates and from various places are edited, for example, in these bibliographical resources:

  • Benedictio Salis et Aquae in the Vetera Liturgia Alemannica = J. P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, Vol. 138, cols. 1039–1052 (downloadable here).
  • Missale Romanum Mediolani (1474), Vol. II = Henry Bradshaw Society, Vol. XXXIII (1907).

The text on the leaf provides snippets of the ritual for these functions.  We provide a transcription, with silently expanded abbreviations, and with indications of the rubrications in red.

Recto

[Oratio . . .  qui inimici ru-/]
gientis scuitiam superas. qui ho-
stiles nequitias potens expu-
gnas. te domine trementes et sup-
plices deprecam; ac petitumus. ut
hanc creaturam salis et aque di-
gnanter accipias. benignus il-
lustres. pietatis tue more san-
ctifices. + At ubi cumque sue-
nt aspersa per in uocationes sancti
tui nominis omis infestatio in
mundi spiritus abieiatur. terrorque . +
uenenosi serpentis procul pellatur.
et presentia sancti spiritus nobis misericordiam
tuam poscentibus ubique adesse di-
gnitur.  Per dominum nostrum in uinitate +
eiusdem spiritus sancti deus per omnia secula
seculorum.  Alia oratio
Presta domine tuum saltare reme-

Verso

dium super hand creaturam salis et
aque.  Ut ubicumque interserit. ad
anime et corporis proficiat sani-
tatem.  Per dominum.  Alia oratio qui dicitur
i[n] fine benedictionis aque.
Presta quos domine deus super hanc creatu-
ram aspersionis aque sanitatem
mentis integritatem corpus : tu-
telam saltis. securitatem spei. cor-
roborationem fidei hic et in eter-
num in secula seculorum.  Amen.  Sequitur.
Dominus vobiscum. Responsio. Et cum spiritu tuo.
kyrie. kyrie. kyrie. item.  Benedicat et exaudi-
at nos deus.  Responsio.  Amen.  iter.   Procedamus
cum pace.  Responsio.  Innomine [sic, for In nomine] christi.  item.  Bene-
dicamus domino.  Responsio.  Deo gratias.  Exorci-
simus at catecuminum salis facien-
dum.

The Former Manuscript

Parts of the text, or some texts in the sequence, can be found in other sources.  For example, comparisons for the text of the Roman Missal for the Liturgical Use of Milan (printed in 1474), show a similar version of the Presta which appears on the verso, although its version begins somewhat differently.

Presta michi domine deus per hanc creaturam aspersionis aque atque sanitatem mentis integritatem corpus : tutelam saltis : securitatem spei. corroborationem fidei : fructum charitatis nune et in futuro. Amen.

  • See Robert Lippe, Missale Romanum Mediolani (1474), Vol. II:  A Collation with other Editions Printed before 1570. Henry Bradshaw Society, Vol. XXXIII (1907), at page  385.
    The Milan Missal of 1474 was printed at Venice by Antonius Zarotis, with the date of 6 December 1474 (Incunabula Shorttitle Catalogue Number im00688450).

The long prayer on the recto belongs to the blessing of water.

  • See Traditional Rite of Blessing of Water.

It begins with an exorcism (or purification) of salt — but not the one intended for catechumens. as specified in the rubricated title at the bottom on the verso of the leaf.

Both the long prayer on the recto and the two following prayers also occur in that order in the Sacramentary portion of the composite Leofric Missal, but not followed by the exorcism of salt.

  • Frederick Edward Warren, ed., The Leofric Missal, As Used in the Cathedral of Exeter During the Episcopate of Its First Bishop, A.D. 1050-1072, Together with Some Account of the Red Book of Derby, the Missal of Robert of Jumieges, and a Few Other Early Manuscript Service Books of the English Church (Oxford:  Clarendon Press, 1883, page 250.

There is a close match for the sequence of texts on the leaf, with only a few variations, in an another source from Milan later than the printed edition of 1474.  That is:

  • the Rituale Sacramentorum ad Usum Mediolanensis Ecclesiae (“Ritual of the Sacraments for the Use of the Church of Milan“) of 1815, at pages 282–283.

The text on the Recto of the leaf starts on page 282 in the Oratio:  “[inimici ru-/]gientis saevitiam superas . . .”  The Oratio begins thus:  Deus invictae virtutis Auctor . . .  A brief section of text intervenes between this opening and the top of the extant recto.  Such an initial D, low in the column, formed the offset at the right-hand side of the column on the recto.

The “Alia Oratio Presta domine tuum salutare . . .” ends the recto and continues on the verso into the Aquam Benedictam “Presta quaesumus domine.”  Then come the Versicles and Responses extending to “Deo gratias”, but not the “Pax . . .”

Since the following text following refers to “hanc creaturam salis”, it may be the exorcism for which we have only the title.

The correspondences with texts in Missals associated with Milan, in northern Italy, might strengthen, but not confirm, the suggested origin of the leaf as part of an “Italian Missal” — or some similar liturgical handbook — in Latin from such a region.

For now, pending further information (such as the discovery of more parts of the same manuscript), let us continue to refer to it as containing (or, by virtue of the title, implying) a set of Ordines which address 1) the Blessing for the preparation of Holy Water and Salt, and 2) the Exorcism (or Purification) of Salt for Catechumens.  The former has a place in the Sacramentary portion of a Missal, whereas the latter would pertain, insofar as we have been able to discover, to a different form of book instead — such as a Collectar.

The folio number 4 indicates that the leaf occupied an early position within its book, whether or not that modern numeration took into account leaves (such as endleaves) which a modern observer might deem extraneous.  As companion materials, the texts to which this leaf belonged could have formed prefatory matter for a book of one or other genre designed to guide instruction and performance of liturgical practices at whatever stages required for the place of its production.

Perhaps other leaves from the same book as well as further research will resolve the mystery.  This lone leaf joins the company of all too many single, dispersed, leaves which have lost track or trace (apart from, say, an offset from an adjacent leaf) of their former siblings.  By close inspection of their material and textual evidence, it can partly become possible to retrieve some elements of their former connections and contexts.

Welcome to the ‘Foundling Hospital for Manuscript Fragments’, as invited in one of the early posts for our blog.

  • The ‘Foundling Hospital’ for Manuscript Fragments.

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Do you know of more leaves from this manuscript? Do you recognize the hand of the scribe, scribal artist, and rubricator in other parts of this book or in other manuscripts?

You might reach us via Contact Us or our Facebook Page. Comments here are welcome too. We look forward to hearing from you.

Watch our blog on Manuscript Studies for more discoveries. Please visit its Contents List.

*****

Private Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal. Folio 4r, Detail. Reproduced by permission.

*****

Tags: 'Foundling Hospital' for Manuscript Fragments, Blessings for Holy Water and Salt, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Collectar, Exorcism for Salt for Catechumens, Exorcisms and Blessings, Italian Missal, latin Missal, manuscript fragments, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Offsets and Show-Through, Sacramentary
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A Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 214’ in the Collection of Richard Weber

June 14, 2022 in Manuscript Studies

Another Leaf from “Otto Ege Manuscript 214”
(A Dutch Prayerbook)

Richard Weber Collection. Single Leaf from “Otto Ege Manuscript 214”? Verso, Top Left. Image reproduced with permission.

Collection of Richard Weber

Single leaf from a small-format Prayerbook in Dutch
Circa 168 × 119 mm <written area circa 129 × 88 mm>
([. . . /]-te sprekene na die sentencie . . .
heest maer puerlijck am die [/ . . .])

Single column of 22 lines in Gothic Bookhand
with embellishments in red pigment
and a painted, framed, decorated initial in ‘rustic’ style

Flanders, circa 1330

Formerly part of ‘Ege Manuscript 214′
(Gwara, Handlist 214)

[Posted on 13 June 2022, with updates]

Another leaf from a medieval devotional manuscript in Dutch dispersed by Otto F. Ege (1888–1951) has come to light. It belongs to the Collection of Richard Weber. Sharing information and images, Richard Weber reports that he purchased it on its own from an online vendor (eBay – oldworldwonders).

Earlier blogposts have begun to report materials from his collection; more are in preparation. For example, so far:

  • More Leaves from an Old Armenian Praxapostolos.

An earlier blogpost considered portions of Ege’s dispersed Dutch manuscript in other collections.

  • A New Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 214?”.

That blogpost focused upon one of the remnants, a single leaf now in a Private Collection. As seen below, the recto stands at the left, with the verso at the right. With the text set out continuously, as paragraphs run together, the script presents seemingly solid blocks of text in successive columns. The initials marking the beginning of phrases or sections are enhanced with vertical strokes of red pigment.

"Verso, owned and dismembered by Otto F. Ege” width=”1024″ height=”671″ /> Private Collection. Detached Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 214’ (Dutch Prayerbook), Both Sides of the Leaf

Some other leaves from the manuscript carry elements of decoration or illustration.

‘Otto Ege Manuscript 214’

In Scott Gwara’s Handlist of Manuscripts Collected or Sold by Otto F. Ege (2013), that manuscript, with some traceable remnants, is his Number 214 (Appendix X, pages 177–178). There he cites a few traceable remnants from it and their appearances in several catalogues. Our blogpost surveyed those resources. See A New Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 214?”.

An update to that same blogpost reports other remnants, as identified by Peter Kidd. It quotes his email communication of 15 July 2019 about his discoveries for various Ege manuscripts, including this one. Peter Kidd reported that, for Ege Manuscript 214, that “There are leaves with miniatures at the National Gallery of Art in D.C., the Art Museum in Indianapolis, and (recently acquired) at Oberlin” College, along with the “unilluminated leaf at BU”, that is, at Boston University, School of Theology Library — listed in Scott Gwara’s Handlist. It is:

  • Boston, Massachusetts, Boston University, School of Theology Library, MS Leaf 7.

Some of the identified remnants have some form of illumination. The style is sometimes attributed to the “style of Simon Bening”, that is, Simon Bening (circa 1483 – 1561), one of the most famous and celebrated painters of the 1500s.

A sales catalogue entry for a portion of the manuscript is informative, albeit concise and lacking an illustration.

  • Sotheby’s, Western Manuscripts and Miniatures (London, Tuesday 26th November 1985), lot 88. The entry reports:

55 leaves, some detached, others still sewn to old bands with pieces of calf spine, 22 lines, written in dark brown ink by 2 scribes in a late gothic liturgical hand, rubrics in red, capitals touched in red, many initials in red or blue, SIX LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS (3- to 4-line) in delicate rustic designs in liquid gold on coloured grounds, fine condition (166mm by 120mm).

Also:

Comprising biblical readings and prayers, including three ascribed to the Commisasrius “meester Godschalc rosemond van Eundhoven, Doctoer in der godeyt” [that is, “Eindhoven in South Holland, about 45 miles south east of Utrecht“], there are offers of indulgences ascribed to popes Alexander VI (1482–1503), Julius III (1503–1513) and Leo X (1513–1521).

The sale included “fifty-four lots of single leaves and miniatures from the collection of Otto Ege”. Various of them comprised the “Residue” of despoiled manuscripts, sometimes with bindings or bits of bindings, left over after the their dismemberment and the distribution of leaves otherwise. It is apparent that the portion from Ege Manuscript 214 was such a case.

The companion Price List of “hammer prices” for the sale indicates that lot 88 was purchased by “Williams” for £330.

The “New” Leaf

The leaf in the Collection of Richard Weber, shown here, has one embellished initial, which occupies a 3-line inset frame. Rubrics in red occur on the other side of the leaf. It is perhaps not too much to ask if this leaf has strayed from the group of fifty-five leaves sold at Sotheby’s.

Recto

This page has a line or more of rubricated text at both top and bottom. The upper rubrication names as authorities “Saint Augustine, Saint Gregory, and other teachers” or Church Fathers.

-te sprekene na die sentencie van Sente
Autustini Sente Gregorius ende ander
doctoren
. . .

Richard Weber Collection. Single Leaf from “Otto Ege Manuscript 214”, Verso. Image reproduced with permission.

Verso

This page opens with a decorated initial A, heading a full block-like column of text relieved by two enlarged minor initials (lines 13 and 18) enlivened with a vertical stroke of red pigment.

Als een mensche hem tot onsen / lieuen heere god keere wil so moet . . .
. . . om sijn schade of scande die hii daer mede / vercreghen heest maer puerlijck am die / [. . .]

Richard Weber Collection. Single Leaf from “Otto Ege Manuscript 214”? Verso. Image reproduced with permission.

Initial A (of Als)

The inset three-line initial which opens the verso occupies a squared and bordered frame filled with red pigment, which overspreads the outer contour. The background within the initial is likewise filled with red pigment, with the addition of lighter, yellowish, drops or speckles.  The red pigment resembles the pigment employed in the rubricated letters and embellishments for minor initials.  It may be that the frame for the inset initial was given its red pigment in the same state of operation in preparing the leaf, from script to finishing touches.

The Capital Letter A is rendered in mid-tone brown pigment with dark brown outlines for shading, and with speckles overall in light brown pigment.  The letter takes the form of interlocked branch-like or twig-like elements with outspread terminals.  The highlights, speckling, and shading enhance the effect of three-dimensional sticks or twigs, hollows, and bark.  A fair description of this design, whilst skillfully executed, could be “rustic”.

Richard Weber Collection. Single Leaf from “Otto Ege Manuscript 214”? Verso, Top Left. Image reproduced with permission.

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We thank Richard Weber for sharing information and images of this leaf, and for answering queries about its features, source, and other aspects.

*****

Do you know of more leaves from this manuscript? Do you recognize the hands of the scribe and scribal artist in other parts of this book or in other manuscripts?

You might reach us via Contact Us or our Facebook Page. Comments here are welcome too. We look forward to hearing from you.

Watch our blog on Manuscript Studies for more discoveries. Please visit its Contents List.

*****

Tags: Collection of Richard Weber, Dutch Prayerbook, Illuminated Initials, manuscript fragments, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Otto Ege Manuscript 214, Peter Kidd, Scott Gwara
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More Leaves from an Old Armenian Praxapostolos

May 30, 2022 in Manuscript Studies, Reports, Uncategorized

More Leaves from
an Old Armenian New Testament Manuscript:
The “Kurdian/Chicago Praxapostolos“

Separate Leaves on Vellum
from the Acts of the Apostles
in Different Collections

Double columns of 27 lines in bolorgir minuscule script,
with rubrications and Euthalian apparatus

1) Private Collection: Acts 16:24 [middle] – 17:6 [middle]

2) Richard Weber Collection: Acts 20:5 [beginning] – Acts 20:26 [end]
(Leaf size: 10.2 x 13.7 cm; Written area: 7.1 x 10.2 cm; Column width: 3.2 cm)

[Posted on 30 May 2022, with updates]

"Cover, with the opening of Acts 23:12"

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, “Two Detached Leaves” Booklet Cover, with the opening of Acts 23:12.

More leaves emerge into view from a dismembered manuscript in Old Armenian with selections from the New Testament. Apparently it comprised a copy of a Praxapostolos, that is, containing parts of the New Testament without the Gospels and certain other Books.  We have examined several leaves from this book before.

Some earlier blogposts, and an RGME Research Booklet, have introduced other leaves from the same manuscript.

  • New Testament Leaves in Old Armenian
    reporting “A Pair of Leaves [in a Private Collection] Identified, Described, Collated, and Set into the Context of its Manuscript”
  • Leslie J. French, Two Detached Manuscript Leaves containing New Testament Texts in Old Armenian: A Report prepared for the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (RGME, 2015)
  • The Plot Thickens
    reporting on “A New Leaf Found at the University of Pennsylvania
    from the “Kurdian/Chicago New Testament Praxapostolos[?]
    in Old Armenian”

For the Research Report, Armenian glyphs were designed for the Research Group’s multi-lingual digital font Bembino, freely available on our website.  (See Multi-lingual Bembino.)

As the word spreads, the story grows.

After those reports, we were contacted by Sani Eskinazi (then at Stanford University), as he worked to complete a Final Project for History 14N on “Reconstituting an Armenian Bible from the 15th Century” (2019), based upon a leaf in Special Collections with part of II Corinthians:  Stanford University Libraries, M0297, Box 1, Item 103. With Sani’s expected collaboration, we continue to prepare an updated and expanded version of the Report Booklet.

Meanwhile, it is time to show some more leaves from the same manuscript, as custodians and owners respond to our blogpost, and wish to share their materials more widely. As part of the work for the updated Report, here we present two leaves which have come to our attention this year.

First, we recall some other leaves from the manuscript.  (See below.)

Next we present the “new” leaves. Each of them was purchased online as a separate leaf, with or without an accompanying label. Each presents part of the text of the Acts of the Apostles.

1) One has come to the same Private Collection with the two leaves which prompted both our first blogpost on the manuscript and its accompanying Report Booklet. Those two leaves are considered to be Folios “I” and “II” in the collection; the new one is its Folio “III” (or “3”).

2) The other belongs to the collection of Richard Weber. While we prepare a report, or series of reports, on a group of other materials in his collection, manuscript and printed, we begin with the Old Armenian New Testament Leaf which he purchased on its own (plus label) from an online seller, who had little information about it.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Dawson's Bookshop, Kurdian/Chicago Praxapostolos, manuscript fragments, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Old Armenian, Old Armenian New Testament Praxapostolos, Otto F. Ege, Portfolio of Original Leaves from Famous Bibles, Richard Weber Collection, University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Zohrab Bible
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Two Old Testament Leaves from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’ at Smith College

March 11, 2022 in Manuscript Studies

Two Leaves
from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
at Smith College

Smith College Special Collections, MS 36-6, verso, top left, from ‘Otto Ege MS 14’. Photography by Hannah Goeselt.

Large-format Latin Vulgate Lectern Bible
made in France
late 13th- or early 14th century

Single Leaf within a matted frame
Double columns of 50 lines

Exodus 25:31 (procedentia) – 28:21 (cela-[/buntur singuli])
with Ege Label

and
Ezekiel 16:43 ([irascar amplius /] eo quod) – 17:14 (sic reg/-num humile et])

[Posted on 12 March 2022.]

We warmly thank Hannah Goeselt, responding to our blogposts, for sending information and images for parts of ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’ at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. The ‘moniker’ for the manuscript derives from the decisive impact upon it effected by Otto F. Ege (1888–1951) and the place-number which its selected specimen leaves occupied in his monumental Portfolio of Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts, Western Europe, XIII–XVI Century, issued in forty numbered sets. Ege assigned the date of “1300 A. D.” to the Bible and its specimens.

Smith College Special Collections, MS 35-14, verso, from ‘Otto Ege MS 14’. Photography by Hannah Goeselt.

Discoveries for other parts of this dismembered and dispersed manuscript, a large-format Lectern Bible in the Latin Vulgate Version in Gothic Script, with historiated and decorated elements, have been reported in our blog.

  • A New Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
  • More Discoveries for ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
  • A Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 19’ and Ege’s Workshop Practices
  • Updates for Some ‘Otto Ege Manuscripts’ (Ege MSS 8, 14, 41, and 61)
  • Some Leaves in Set 1 of ‘Ege’s FOL Portfolio’ (Ege MSS 8, 14, 19, and 41)
  • Patch Work in ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
  • A Leaf in Dallas from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’.
  • A Leaf of Deuteronomy from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’ in the Rosenbrook Collection

See also The Illustrated Handlist (Number 4).

The Smith College Leaves comprise two separate single leaves respectively from the Books of Exodus and Ezekiel. At least one retains the standard printed Ege Label, albeit displaced and rearranged.

The pair augment understanding of the original state of those Biblical Books in the manuscript, and also of habits in the transmission of leaves from it as they were prepared for distribution from Ege’s collection and accommodated in their next collection, where they remain. That their chain of transmission revolves around Mrs. Otto Ege — Louise Hedwig Lange Ege, an alumna of Smith College, and an active partner in the distribution of materials from the Ege Collection both during and after her husband’s lifetime — infuses the presence of these and other Ege leaves at her alma mater.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Book of Exekiel, Book of Exodus, Ege Family Portfolio, Ege Manuscript 40, Ege's FOL Portfolio, manuscript fragments, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Otto Ege Manuscript 14, Otto Ege Manuscript 27, Smith College
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A Leaf of Deuteronomy from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’ in the Rosenbrook Collection

February 8, 2022 in Manuscript Studies, Uncategorized

Brent Rosenbrook Collection, Leaf from Ege Manuscript 14, ‘Recto’ (original Verso), top: Running title.

An Old Testament Leaf
from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
with part of Deuteronomy
in the Rosenbrook Collection

Large-format Latin Vulgate Lectern Bible
made in France
late 13th- or early 14th century

Single Leaf within a matted frame
Double columns of 50 lines

Maximum measurements circa 16 1/8″ × 10 11/16″ <written area circa 11″ × 7 3/8″>

Deuteronomy 11:21 ([quam iuravit] /) dominus patribus)
– 14:15 (strutionem ac noc-(/tuam et larum])

With bichrome running titles and chapter numbers,
polychrome decorated initials and border ornament with geometric and foliate motifs,
and added lection marks

[Posted on 8 February 2022, with updates]

Virginia Lazenby O’Hara Fine Books Division, Dallas Public Library, Framed Leaf from Otto Ege MS 14, ‘Recto’ (original Verso).

Brent Rosenbrook Collection, Matted Leaf from Otto Ege Manuscript 14, ‘Recto’ (original Verso).

Continuing the series of posts for our blog on Manuscript Studies, Mildred Budny describes another leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’, a large-format copy on vellum of the full Latin Bible in the Vulgate Version.

A leaf from this manuscript recently reached the collection of Brent Rosenbrook, who generously sent images and information about it, in response to the blogpost reporting More Discoveries for ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’.

A similar response several months ago brought to our attention the Dallas Leaf from the same manuscript, now kept at the Virginia Lazenbury O’Hara Fine Books Division of the Dallas Public Library in the City of Dallas, Texas. A report of that leaf, which carries the end of the Book of Joshua and the beginning of Judges in the Old Testament portion of the manuscript, appears in our blog on A Leaf in Dallas from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’.

The ‘new’ leaf likewise comes from one of the early Books of the Old Testament. In the sequence, it stood one Book ahead.

Otto Ege Manuscript 14 and Manuscript Studies

Some discoveries for the manuscript have been reported in our blog.

  • A New Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
  • More Discoveries for ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
  • A Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 19’ and Ege’s Workshop Practices
  • Updates for Some ‘Otto Ege Manuscripts’ (Ege MSS 8, 14, 41, and 61)
  • Some Leaves in Set 1 of ‘Ege’s FOL Portfolio’ (Ege MSS 8, 14, 19, and 41)
  • Patch Work in ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
  • A Leaf in Dallas from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’.

See also The Illustrated Handlist (Number 4).

Brent Rosenbrook Collection, Leaf from Ege Manuscript 14, ‘Recto’ (original Verso), middle right: Deuteronomy 14 opens.

The Rosenbrook Leaf

When contacting me about the Leaf, its collector described the origins of his collecting spirit and the development of his book-collecting.

I wanted to give you a little bit of backstory and brief history. I am a layman in this field but have always been a collector of things since my childhood. I was a bibliophile long before I ever heard the term or would have understood its meaning. And although I am new to collecting illuminated manuscripts, I have always felt drawn to the beauty of them. As a teenager and young man I was especially stuck by the intricate, amazing imagery and knotwork in the Book of Kells. In 1998 I was fortunate to have visited Trinity College in Dublin and see it firsthand along with other books on display. It was a moment of wonder to finally be in the presence of that book. Although I never lost that sense of awe, for the next many years that was the extent of my experience and attention concerning manuscripts.

In December of 2016 my wife and I were visiting a friend’s home for the holidays when I noticed on the wall a large framed musical page of some sort. I could tell that it was hundreds of years old, handwritten, on animal skin. He knew little about it other than it belonged to a relative down the line and that at some point it was gifted to him. It was of course an antiphonal as I later discovered by searching online. It was (is) likely early 16th century and had one very large, but simple rubricated initial. Although it wouldn’t be considered elaborate or rare to a person knowledgeable in such things, for me the affect was basically “Wow, that’s really cool. I’ve got to figure out what that is. I want one of those”. The collector bug bit me again. . . .

Brent Rosenbrook Collection, Leaf from Ege MS 14, ‘Verso’ original Recto), bottom left.

My interest and enjoyment of looking at and learning about illuminated manuscripts (especially Bibles with historiated and zoomorphic initials) grew as I visited multiple websites over many weeks and scrolled through countless images of various western manuscripts. In March 2017 I acquired my first true illuminated leaf when I bid on and (unexpectedly) won a large Bible leaf which was from a manuscript previously owned by the famous collector Chester Beatty. As far as the Otto Ege leaf, it was a spontaneous purchase.

I received a notification . . . when this page was listed recently by Rodger Friedman Rare Book Studio. It wasn’t on my radar (or necessarily in the budget) to make a purchase but after glancing at the listing throughout the day I committed to buying it. I only knew the name Otto Ege vaguely through my reading up on manuscripts.

When I received the package and saw the leaf for the first time it evoked a lot of emotion. Although I knew its measurements when I purchased it, I still wasn’t prepared for the size and beauty of seeing it firsthand – it is stunning. It was only in the last few weeks after this acquiring this that I began reading up on and watching video postings about this famous biblioclast and the sets he sold off. . . . It was just this past Thursday night when I came across the RGME website and decided to reach out to you.

As for the Leaf itself, the collector reports that “It remains in the original matting that Ege used when he compiled these books.” Thus, this specimen qualifies for the group of survivors from the manuscript which circulated on their own, as a ‘Rogue Leaf’. Many of them traveled within one of Ege’s standard mats of a uniform size, accompanied by Ege’s printed Label giving a generic description of his Leaf 14. They resemble the presentation designed for specimen leaves from various manuscripts in Ege’s ‘FOL’ Portfolio of Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts, in which leaves from the dismembered Lectern Bible have the position of Number 14.

Now, with the collector’s permission, the Leaf might begin to assume its place within the virtual Reconstruction of the manuscript, as known from its fragments.  Brent Rosenbrook observes:

I think it’s nice for others to know that there are those who aren’t necessarily part of academic institution but still would like to contribute what they can to the advance of manuscript study.

We greatly admire this view!

A Note on the Photographs of the Leaf 

The images here show the Leaf and its details under several forms of light, taken at different times and at different angles. Their variety shows multiple aspects, including some 3-dimensional features which views at an angle can reveal of the curvature of the surface(s) of the animal skin and the furrows of the ruled lines upon it in drypoint.

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Tags: 'Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts', Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Book of Deuteronomy, Brent Rosenbrook Collection, Dallas Public Library, Ege's FOL Portfolios, FOL Portfolio Set Number 39, Latin Vulgate Bible, Lectern Bible, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Otto Ege, Otto Ege Collection, Otto Ege Manuscript 14, Reconstructing Manuscripts Virtually, Running Titles, Stony Brook University Library
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A Leaf in Dallas from “Otto Ege Manuscript 14” (Lectern Bible)

January 11, 2022 in Manuscript Studies

Virginia Lazenby O’Hara Fine Books Division, Dallas Public Library, Framed Leaf from Otto Ege Manuscript 14, ‘Recto’, top right: Initial P for ‘Post’ of Judges 1:1.

An Old Testament Leaf
from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
with the end of Joshua
and the beginning of Judges
in the
Virginia Lazenby O’Hara
Fine Books Division
of the Dallas Public Library
City of Dallas, Texas

Large-format Latin Vulgate Lectern Bible
(“the Bible of ‘Mirmelus Arnandi’ “)
made in France, late 13th- or early 14th century

Single Leaf mounted behind glass within a matted frame
Double columns of 50 lines

Visible side of the leaf (‘Recto’):
Joshua 24:18 ([igitur Dominus quia /] ipse Dominus – 24:38 (end)
and Judges 1:1 –15 (ending the verse with inriguum inferius [/ Filii autem . . . beginning 1:16])

With rubricated and polchrome elements, running titles, concluding-and-opening titles,
decorated and historiated initials, border ornament,
embellished pen-line line-fillers, and added lection marks

[Posted on 10 January 2022, with updates]

Continuing the series of posts for our blog on Manuscript Studies, Mildred Budny describes another leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’, a large-format copy on vellum of the full Latin Bible in the Vulgate Version.

The image shows the two columns of main text, its corrections, and its decoration and illustration.

Virginia Lazenby O’Hara Fine Books Division, Dallas Public Library, Framed Leaf from Otto Ege Manuscript 14, ‘Recto’ of Leaf.

With thanks to Molly Tepera of the Dallas Public Library of the City of Dallas, Texas, I can report details of a single, framed Leaf in its Virginia Lazenby O’Hara Fine Books Division from one of the celebrated manuscripts owned by Otto F. Ege (1888–1951). Now fragmented, the book has become known as ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’. The Dallas Leaf can be cited thus:

Framed Leaf from Otto Ege Manuscript 14
Virginia Lazenby O’Hara Fine Books Division
Dallas Public Library.

From the Old Testament portion of the manuscript, the Leaf carries the end of the Book of Joshua and the beginning of the Book of Judges. A principal highlight is the framed illustration within its opening initial for Judges.

Many features of the Leaf correspond closely with other leaves from the same book. They include its representation of the Vulgate Version with some textual variants, its layout in double columns of 50 lines on the page, its Gothic script for the main text and for corrections inserted in the margins, its expansive decoration with foliate and zoomorphic ornament which often extends into the margins, its illustrated (or ‘historiated’) initial with a scene relating to the text, and its supplied lection marks in the margins (for reading aloud). Some features with the Leaf are unusual in the manuscript or specific to this Leaf, as with the full-line stretches of pen-line line-fillers on the one hand, and the present frame for the object on the other.

Some discoveries for the manuscript have been reported in our blog.

  • A New Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
  • More Discoveries for ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 14’
  • A Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 19’ and Ege’s Workshop Practices
  • Updates for Some ‘Otto Ege Manuscripts’ (Ege MSS 8, 14, 41, and 61)
  • Some Leaves in Set 1 of ‘Ege’s FOL Portfolio’ (Ege MSS 8, 14, 19, and 41)

See also The Illustrated Handlist (Number 4).

As more research and discoveries continue apace for Otto Ege’s dispersed manuscripts by various scholars, curators, owners, vendors, and others, it might suffice, for this report, to mention the publication in print recently of an account by Peter Kidd of a detached New Testament leaf from this manuscript in the McCarthy Collection, along with a list of known leaves having historiated initials.

Peter Kidd, The McCarthy Collection, Volume III: French Miniatures (London: Ad Ilissum, 2021), number 60, “Historiated initial on a leaf from the Bible of Mirmelus Arnandi” (pp. 199–202).

That leaf carries the end of one of the Pauline Epistles and the beginning of the next: the Epistle to the Colossians and the beginning of that to the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, with a historiated initial on its recto. The initial shows Saint Paul, traditionally regarded as the author, sitting and holding both sword and book.

Peter Kidd’s title for the manuscript derives from the purported name of a medieval owner, “Mirmelus Arnandi” (a lawyer and judge), recorded within its pages. The attribution is, however, subject to revision, because modern views of that name may represent a misreading. See, for example:

  • MS 223: SEMI-QUADRATA BIBLE
  • The last leaf of the Psalms, from a very large Bible, in Latin [France (Paris), c.1300]
  • No. 6, From the so-called Bible of “Mirmelus Arnandi”
  • McCarthy Catalogue Vol. III (French Illuminations), note for Catalogue no. 60, with Kidd’s update for its entry.

Cornerstone of the Dallas Public Library’s original Carnegie Library in downtown Dallas, Texas. Photograph from Wikimedia via Creative Commons.

The continuing flow of publications, in print or online, of yet more leaves from Otto Ege’s dispersed manuscripts, including his ‘Manuscript 14’, bring their features into view. Images reproduced from the individual remnants, while always useful, vary greatly in degree, quality, and size of reproduction. Sometimes those publications include recognition — by images, descriptions, or mentions alone — of the frames, mats, or other accompaniments for the leaves. More often they do not.

In the case of the Leaf in the Dallas Public Library, the images supplied by Molly Tepera fortunately show and share some accompanying material evidence.

Thus, this Report might set the Leaf both into the context of the manuscript, as the dispersed book becomes better known from its remnants, and into the context of Otto Ege’s workshop practices in preparing individual leaves (or occasionally bifolia, in a pair of connected leaves) for distribution and sale. The Report builds upon, and advances, my earlier reports about parts of Ege Manuscript 14 itself (see above) and my cumulative observations recorded for

  • A Leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 19’ and Ege’s Workshop Practices.

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Tags: 'Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts', Bible of Mirmelus Arnandi, Book of Joshua, Book of Judges, Dallas Public Library, Ege Family Portfolio, Ege's FOL Portfolio, Ege's Printed Labels, Historiated Initial, Image-Enhancement, Lectern Bible, Line-Fillers, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Otto Ege Manuscript 14, Running Titles, Vulgate Bible Manuscripts
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Two Vellum Leaves from a Large-Format Latin Breviary in Gothic Script

October 2, 2021 in Manuscript Studies

Private Collection, MS 1, Fol. 1 (‘137’)r, Initial I (for Inclina). Photography Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

A Pair of Non-Consecutive Leaves
from a Large-Format
Latin Breviary
in Gothic Script on Vellum

Circa 590 mm × 447 mm
< written area circa 397 × 307 mm>
Single column of 15 lines
in Gothic Script
with rubrications, embellished initials,
and reiterated medieval and modern ‘folio’ numbers

Folio 1 (‘130’)
Vulgate Psalms (Septuagint Translation) 83:11 – 84:12 (Veri-[tas])

and

Folio 2 (‘137’)
Within Friday Matins:
Hymn Tu Trinitatis Unitas ([ . . . Ne corpus /] assit sordidum . . . Pater piissime)
Antiphon Inclina Domine, and Psalm 86 1:1–12 (Con-[fitebor])

14th or 15th Century, perhaps Italian or Spanish

Private Collection, MS 1, Fol. 130r, initials B and R. Photography Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

Continuing to examine manuscripts and fragments in our blog on Manuscript Studies (see its Contents List), we turn to a pair of large, single leaves which arrived in a Private Collection several years ago, as a gift from another Private Collection.  About this pair of leaves, we might exclaim:  What beauties!

For the current owner, with an interest in manuscript studies, especially medieval manuscripts, these leaves comprise the first in the library (mostly printed books about books).  Hence the assigned number, “MS 1”, with two detached leaves (Folios ‘1’ and ‘2’ in the set) from the same original manuscript.

The identity and origin of that manuscript remain, for now, unknown.  Perhaps this blogpost, presenting the detached leaves to wider view through their photographs and related information, might bring to light more information about them and their travels across time and place.

The pair came on their own, safely packaged with mats in a large shipping box, but without any accompanying information.  That is, apart from the former owner’s recollection relayed in conversation and email.

These two large leaves would have come as a purchase some years ago, in the late 1980s or early 1990s, at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, a repeated venue for some other purchases for the same collection.

“The two large ones are German and quite late, if I remember rightly.  I bought them from a German dealer at the NY Antiquarian Book Fair.  No, I don’t recall his name.  It was a looong [sic] time ago.  I suspect the two smaller ones [= MS 2, in another shipping] were purchased at the same venue, though different dealer.”

On their own, the two leaves must or can speak for itself.  We bring to the table the willingness to examine them closely, to admire their resonant beauty, and to see what they can say.  Their story resides not only in the text, which can be deciphered, abbreviations and all, but also in the features of layout, script, decoration, rubrications, annotations, the animal skins for the writing surfaces, the traces of a former binding, and other forms of material evidence.

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Tags: History of the Psalms, Late-Medieval Breviary, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Medieval manuscripts
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