ART 383/BKS 383: The Art and History of the Book
Monday, 20 September 2021
Introduction to Medieval Manuscript Leaves and Terms and Methods for their Study

0)  A reminder about basic conventions of rare book and manuscript study: SLOW DOWN!; wash your hands; use pencils only--never even show a curator/librarian a pen (they  may confiscate them before letting you in); point at but don't touch objects using a pencil eraser end; use absolutely minimal touch, only on non-text and non-pigmented portions of leaf edges; use book snakes and foam supports carefully; ask permission before photographing; return objects as they were delivered to you; if in doubt, ask the curator/librarian.

Types of Medieval Books: Treat the MS and early printed book leaves in the Sanders 341 box as relics recovered from an exploded Medieval library.  Leaves removed from their original bindings and "sibling" leaves present important evidence about the past, packaged in puzzling artifacts.  Before you try to guess where a leaf came from and what it can tell you, it helps to know what kinds of books typically would be found in Medieval libraries.  Apart from rare exceptions, Medieval books tend to be religious in content, and tend to be more like "anthologies" or "collections" of works by many authors (cf. The Norton Anthology of English Literature) than like modern publications of a single work by a single author in one cover.  See, for instance, the contents of Walters W.175, which they call "the St. Francis Missal."

1)  What can we learn from the ink/pigments, and "substrate/support" (parchment, paper, wood panel, etc.)?  How are these materials typically described?

2)  What can we learn from the mise-en-page (page layout) and how are these properties typically described?

3)  What can we learn from MS paleography (ancient writing) and how are manuscript scripts (writing styles) and hands (individual scribes' habits) typically described?

4)  What can we learn from MS textual and iconographic analysis, and how is that typically described and used?


Some ways we can group the leaves for comparison:

By possible region of origin: 1, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, and 14 (see Wieck 28-30 for a clue about why so many are probably from this one region); 11, 12 (possibly a little picky vs. membership in the first group, but there is a reason for that, too); 2, 3, 6, 8 (see Wieck 31-2 and compare types of books represented here); 15 (what, only 1?  think about population and geographic size--this is the earliest MS I have from this place).

By possible era: 4, 8, 11, 12; 3, 6; 2, 13; 1, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15 (again, why so many?  what historical and economic circumstances have changed from the first three groups--esp. think about what things happened in 1348-9 and following century).

By MS genre (cross-compare between types b/c I have few duplicates except in one category--why?): 2; 3 (but compare with print leaf 8); 13 (but compare with the large numerous  parchment lab leaves in the envelope; 4; 6; 8, 15;  11, 12 (and compare print leaf 9);  5, 7, 9, 10, 14 (and compare printed leaves 3, 4--again, why so many?  Ask Wieck.)

If we have time: Walters MS W.102 leaf 70r, illuminating a scribal error and its correction. (click here for the text, translation, and explanation); the Duschne/Ege/Weiss Breviary Leaf (Gwara MS 38; Goucher Special Collections and Archives, ND3416 .F37 1440 ) and its orphaned siblings; the Ege/Sanders Pseudo-Prosper Aquitanus MS Leaf (MS 2) and its orphaned siblings.

Some useful Web sites if you want to continue your exploration of early MSS--

The Digital Walters--perhaps the second or third most important medieaval manuscript collection in the nation, extremely well-digitized and with copious curators' notes on whole MSS and individual leaves.  Henry Walters (1848-1931) loved fine bindings and beautiful illluminated manuscripts, especially, but also could be induced by his Anglo-European agents to purchase objects of extraordinary historical value, even if they were not "pristine" and "deluxe."  Since Walters' death and donation of his much of his art and book collection to the people of Baltimore, the Walters Art Museum has continued to use its endowment, private donations, and its first-in-the-nation professional conservation facilities to expand the collection (notably the relatively recent acquisition of Ethiopian Coptic Orthdox Christian manuscripts and Asian antiquities from several cultures).

The Morgan Library and Museum Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts--Henry Walters and J. P. Morgan (1837-1913) both belonged to the exclusive New York "Zodiac Club" (only 12 members, of course), but they also competed with each other at C19-20 Anglo-European auction sales of extraordinary manuscripts and early printed books.  They also had networks of agents who sought to broker private sales of individual works and whole collections, or even entire palaces.  Like the Walters, the Morgan Library in New York also retains the original Morgan townhouse-mansion as well as a massive moderen exhibit space and rare book conservation and curation offices.  Unlike the Walters, you can still see much of Morgan's library in its original rooms, including Morgan's private office and that of his famous book-scout and librarian, Bella DaCosta Greene.

The J. Paul Getty Museum Manuscripts--like Walters and Morgan, J. Paul Getty used his commercial fortune to acquire an enormous art collection, including some famous manuscripts.  Unlike his two older competitors in this global game of status and connoiseurship, his estate left the museum an extraordinarily large endowment with which it has continued to acquire major art and mansucript treasures.  At times, the modern curators were somewhat too aggressive in their efforts, leading to international campaigns which resulted in repatriation of works deemed to have been plundered from their culutures of origin.

The Huntington Library Manuscript Collection--Henry Huntington (1850-1927) also competed with Walters and Morgan in the international battle for antiquities at C19-20 auction sales, and in the private acquisition marketplace.  He was almost Walters' exact contemporary and represented "West Coast Money" vs. Walters' "East Coast" background, so the rivalry was especially fierce.  Among the Huntington's prizes is the "Ellesmere Chaucer," a nearly complete, gorgeously illuminated  manscript copied (in ca. 1400-1410) of the Canterbury Tales and other works by Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1340-1400).  In keeping with C19-20 practice, the MS isknown by the name of its most recent owner before Huntington, Sir Thomas Egerton , later made Lord Edgerton.  If you have seen illuminations of the Canterbury pilgrims, they come from that manuscript.

HMML (Hill Museum and Manuscript Library) School--historical survey and instruction to identify Medieval Anglo-European manuscript scripts.  Well designed, apparently stable, at least in Internet Web terms, and well illustrated.  Teach yourself Latin Paleography!  (Or Syriac or Arabic!)  HMML is a secular public-facing unit of St. John's University and Abbey, a functioning university and Christian monastery in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Rare Book School Youtube Site: contains links to their often-used videos about construction of Renaissance printed books and other bibliographic topics.    Rare Book School Lectures on Soundcloud gives you access to experts' discussions of specific topics on a wide range of bibliographic issus.  RBS Online holds links to upcoming and past pre-recorded Zoom classes.  If you are ambitious, survey their course offerings and take some.  Funding may be available.

Peter Kidd's Medieval Manuscripts Provenance Blog--Since 2010, Peter Kidd has been actively publishing his ongoing research to identify the scribes and illuminators, patrons, owners, sellers, and sometimes destroyers of Medieval manuscript and fragments or cuttings of them.  It's not a "book" you can read, but just dipping into the flow of his analysis of evidence will train you in codicological and paleographic methods in practice.

Lisa Fagin Davis's Manuscript Road Trip--Lisa Fagin Davis specializes in a field she has named "digital fragmentology," the imaginative recovery of whole manuscripts or whole leaves from the fragments resulting from their destruction, from natural causes or human perfide (esp. Otto Ege).  Since 2013, Dr. Davis has traveled North America visiting library collections to study the widely dispersed "disjecta membra" of the Medieval manuscript universe.  Frequently in touch with Peter Kidd (above).

Brief Bibliography (cheapest to most expensive, also probably most immediately useful to most expert)--

Michelle Brown, Elizabeth C. Teviotdale, and Nancy K. Turner, Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: a Guide to Technical Terms.  Revised ed.  Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1994, 2018.
        A dictionary of terms used to describe illuminated MSS, mostly Anglo-European.  Short (118 pages incl. bib.) and profusely illustrated with frequent cross-referencing of related terms.  Pays attention to French and Italian terms less often used by Anglo-American codicologists and paleographers.

Marc Drogin, Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Techniques.  NY: Dover, 1980. 
     First published for calligraphy hobbyists, but valuable to MS students for brief, well-illustred descriptions of how scripts evolved and clear demonstrations of how each script formed the letters of its alphabet, stroke by stroke of the pen.  Knowing how the characters were made sharpens our understanding of what we are seeing in the leaves.

Raymond Clemens and Timothy Grahamm, Introduction to Medieval Manuscript Studies.  Ithaka & London: Cornell UP, 2007.
     Close to a "Bible" for MS study, covering manufacturing methods and materials, how to read scripts (including punctuation and abbreviations) with clues to origin/provenance, a selection of commonly encountered MS types including maps, rolls, and scrolls, and Anders Winroth's Appendix on sources for studying Medieval Latin.  Also has a glossary containing terms not in Brown (above).

Albert Derolez, The Paleography of Gothic Manuscript Books from the Twelfth to the Early Sixteenth Century.   Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003.
     Derolez has been the Rare Book School's  master of  paleographic instruction for many years, and his rules for naming and desccribing historical scripts are usually deferred to by other scholars, though not without occasional complaints.  Habitually a "divider," finding more points of difference among similar scripts than others, rather than a "chunker," grouping similar scripts together.  After comparing your scribe's script with the HMML School's Latin examples and Drogin which are free/cheap, go to the more expensive Derolez to test your conclusions.

Ross King, The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts that Illuminated the Renaissance.  NY: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 2021.
     King writes for the popular audience but endnotes scrupulously.  His chosen subject, Florentine manuscript dealer Vespasiano da Bisticci, ties together explorations of how medieval manuscripts were made (for whom and why), how moveable type printing was invented and its relationship with the manuscript market, the political and economic circumstances of scholars and book makers of Florence, and a host of other topics.  For the student wishing a relatively painless but reliable introduction to the transition between Medieval manuscript and Renaissance print culture, King offers a very good starting point.