Workshop 4. “Manuscript Fragments Compared”

February 16, 2025 in Announcements, Manuscript Studies, Research Group Workshops

RGME Workshops
on
“The Evidence of Manuscripts, Etc.”
(Formerly: “Examining Original Sources”)

Workshop 4
“Manuscript Fragments Compared”

Sunday 23 February 2025
1:00- 2:30 p.m. EST (GMT-4) by Zoom

We cordially invite you to join us for our next RGME Workshop on the “Evidence of Manuscripts Etc.” The series gives the opportunity collectively to examine original sources, in manuscript and other written forms. Beginners and experts are welcome; we can learn together.

The Series

Originally this series was planned as a two-part series of workshops to consider the medieval “Farell Leaf” on loan to the RGME Library and Archives from the Collection of Jennah Farrell. After rich discussions concerning the fragment and evidence for its production and provenance, most probably as part of the Saint Albans Bible (dismembered in 1964), our workshops have turned into a series for teaching manuscripts and related studies.

Collection of Jennah Farrell, Single Leaf from the Book of Numbers in a Medieval Latin Vulgate Bible manuscript: Recto, top. Photography by Mildred Budny.

Workshop 4

Workshop 4 introduces a comparative study. The plentiful genre of medieval Latin Vulgate Bibles is a rich field in Manuscript Studies. Work on cases of deliberately disbursed manuscripts has yielded in the last two decades a selection of stand-out works. Among them is the Saint Albans Bible, known through numerous studies in print and online. Examples include

Since Workshop 3, another leaf from the medium-format Saint Albans Bible has come to our attention. It stands in the collection of our Associate, Richard Weber – from whose collection our blog on Manuscript Studies has reported other discoveries. Its portion from the Acts of the Apostles offers comparison with the Farrell Leaf from the Book of Numbers, with a view toward the presentation of both Old and New Testaments within its former single volume.

Now see:

Collection of Richard Weber, Leaf from the Saint Albans Bible, Recto: Top Right. Photograph by Richard Weber.

In our workshop, the case of that manuscript is joined by another fragmented Bible, dismembered instead by the biblioclast Otto F. Ege: namely his large-format Ege MS 14, represented by a leaf now on loan to the RGME for teaching purposes. Over the years, our blog has contributed discoveries to knowledge of that manuscript (see Manuscript Studies). For our workshop, Richard Weber reports his leaf from that manuscript as well.

Private Collection, Leaf from ‘Ege MS 14’. Part of the Book of Jeremiah, Recto, Detail. Photograph by Mildred Budny.

Resources for the Quest

The different agents of destruction for these two books provide instructive case studies for the different but overlapping resources available in print and online for the detective work of fragmentology, in the quest to trace the steps of re-distribution of leaves from these Bibles, with a view toward identifying the locations of survivors and virtually reconstructing their original books, insofar as possible.

We welcome participants to join the quest and come forward with questions, updates on any work they have been doing on the Farrell Leaf, or suggestions for potential avenues of study in future workshops.

Registration

Registration is required and free. We are grateful for Voluntary Donations accompanying your Registration to help support our nonprofit educational organization powered principally by volunteers.

Note that our Workshop series now appears on our Eventbrite Registration Portal:

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Information about the series

Workshop 5 is planned for Sunday March 2025 at 1:30-2:30 pm EST (GMT-5) by Zoom.

Please join us if your timetable allows. We look forward to welcoming you.

*****

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We look forward to seeing you at our events!

*****

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