{"id":13190,"date":"2020-05-02T00:28:15","date_gmt":"2020-05-02T00:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?page_id=13190"},"modified":"2022-03-11T04:40:23","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T04:40:23","slug":"otto-ege-manuscripts-reflections-on-methodologies-of-discovery","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/abstracts\/otto-ege-manuscripts-reflections-on-methodologies-of-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Otto Ege Manuscripts’: Reflections on Methodologies of Discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mildred Budny<\/strong>
\n(Research Group on Manuscript Evidence<\/em>)<\/h2>\n

“<\/strong>The \u2018Diaspora\u2019 and Retrievals of Otto Ege Manuscripts:
\nReflections on Methodologies of Discovery<\/strong>“<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Abstract of Paper
\nIntended<\/em> To be presented at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies
\n(Kalamazoo, 2020)<\/h3>\n

[CONGRESS CANCELLED]<\/h3>\n

Session on
\n\u201cThe Legacy of Otto Ege\u201d<\/h4>\n

Sponsored by the Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscript Library
\nOrganized by Elizabeth K. Hebbard
\n2020 Congress Program Archived<\/a> \/ 2020 Congress Program<\/a><\/h4>\n

[Update<\/em>:
\nPresented at the 56th Congress
\n(Kalamazoo, 2021), with further updates.
\n2021 Congress Program<\/a>, Session 79 (page 29)]<\/h3>\n

[Published on 1 May 2020, with updates<\/em>]<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Abstract (Updated)<\/h4>\n
\"Beinecke

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Otto Ege Collection. The Ege Family Portfolio, Leaves 41 and 42 and the box. Photograph by Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n

Admiring the opportunities presented by the Otto Ege Manuscript Collection<\/a> at The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and the advances in knowledge about the nature and impact of this collection, I propose to offer reflections drawing upon my ongoing research on a varied group of manuscripts dispersed by Otto Ege.\u00a0 They first came to my attention over a series of years, as individual subjects of conservation, photography, and research, in the form of one, two, or a few leaves in private and institutional collections.\u00a0 Results\u00a0\u2014 or preliminary or interim results \u2014 of this research are presented in the RGME blog on Manuscript Studies<\/a> (see its Contents List<\/a>).<\/p>\n

So far, my work has focused upon Ege Manuscripts 8, 14, 19, 41, 51, 56, 61, and 214, with publications and updates as more discoveries emerge.\u00a0 In Latin, Dutch, or Armenian, the manuscripts comprise respectively the Wilton Processional, a magnificent Lectern Bible, a portable Bible from Italy, a copy of the Dialogues<\/em> of Gregory the Great and others\u2019 texts, a Pocket Vulgate Bible, an Armenian Biblical manuscript, Aristotle\u2019s Nichomachian Ethics<\/em> with Commentary, and a Dutch prayerbook.\u00a0 In recent years, for example with Alison Altstatt\u2019s exemplary work on Ege MS 8<\/a> as a whole, it has been easy to concentrate on others in this group.<\/p>\n

The quest to identify the leaves, their former manuscripts, other leaves from those manuscripts, and their patterns of dispersal has opened an invigorating voyage of discovery:\u00a0 dedicated, sometimes serendipitous, occasionally frustrating, and richly cumulative.\u00a0 Important components for that voyage include the generous access allowed by many collections, both private and public, and the exchange of information fostered by many researchers of this rapidly growing field of Ege Manuscript Studies.<\/p>\n

My own work has progressed through detailed examination not only of these manuscripts, insofar as they can be reconstructed, but also of their various forms of dispersal, given their \u2018find-places\u2019.\u00a0 Those forms range from separate leaves, mounted or unmounted, to no less than three of Ege\u2019s Portfolios, in their several significant \u2018flavors\u2019. \u00a0Now dispersed in multiple collections, these Portfolios or their remnants present<\/p>\n

Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts, Western Europe<\/em>:\u00a0 MSS 8, 14, 19, and 41<\/p>\n

Original Leaves from Famous Bibles, Nine Centuries<\/em>
\nin 2 Series (\u201cA\u201d with 37 Leaves and \u201cB\u201d with 60 Leaves):\u00a0 MSS 56 and 61<\/p>\n

Original Leaves from Famous Books<\/em>
\nin 2 Series (\u201cEight Centuries\u201d with 25 Leaves and \u201cNine Centuries\u201d with 40 Leaves):\u00a0\u00a0 MS 51<\/p>\n

\"Three

Three Ege Portfolios. From the Collection of The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Photograph by Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n

Examining each individual copy of these Portfolios, as I might have the chance to encounter them directly, reveals a growing body of evidence regarding their changing methods of assembly, the presentation of individual leaves within (not infrequently) varied approaches to the mounts, and other features.\u00a0 Those elements, beyond the manuscript leaves themselves, can sometimes provide clues otherwise unrecorded, extant, or unavailable, concerning the context and transmission of the originals.<\/p>\n

Direct experience with a varied group of dispersed Ege manuscripts and their shared or idiosyncratic challenges gives rise to observations and reflections about some methodological challenges and opportunities inherent in Ege Manuscript Studies.\u00a0 I survey selected cases involving the material evidence of the manuscripts, their former and current settings, testimony from their library history, and contextual studies relating to the manuscripts themselves and to Ege Manuscripts overall.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Addendum<\/em> (1 May 2020)<\/p>\n

Although the cancellation of the Congress prevented the opportunity to present this paper in person at the session sponsored by The Beinecke, I have been able to publish a detailed report of some of the results which the paper was intended to survey and newly to reveal.\u00a0 This report centers upon a new leaf from Ege Manuscript 19, with observations on some of Ege’s “workshop practices” in mounting and distributing his manuscript leaves, both in Portfolios and in other forms.<\/p>\n