We are frequently asked why we don’t wear gloves in our manuscript videos. In today's #ManuscriptBasics, curator Dot Porter @leoba will do her best to explain. If you have a question, ask, and maybe we'll make a video to answer!
Right now, in this blue and breathing hour that shines inside us all, those chickens are fine.
-K. T. Landon
A defaced fox in priest's robes preaches to a hen in the bottom margin of f. 247v, Ms. Codex 724, a 13th century Bible. #drollerydonnerstag
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Back in October for #CoffeeWithACodex we looked at 13th century geometrical treatise LJS 194. Here's a highlight reel, focusing on the initials and diagrams.
Watch the full 30 minute recording here:
This little fellow is Ms. Codex 302, a codex listing offices of the Republic of Venice in Italy, Dalmatia and the Levant, with salaries. It's minimally decorated with rubricated headings and initials, and was written in Venice between 1575 and 1650.
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Where are their gloves?? 😬
@thebitchinthewoods I was wondering the same thing!
We don't wear gloves, they aren't best practice for handling rare books and manuscripts. There are more details in our pinned post, or you can read this article from the New York Times (gift link).
This little fellow is Ms. Codex 302, a codex listing offices of the Republic of Venice in Italy, Dalmatia and the Levant, with salaries. It's minimally decorated with rubricated headings and initials, and was written in Venice between 1575 and 1650.
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Where are their gloves?? 😬
We don't wear gloves, they aren't best practice for handling rare books and manuscripts. There are more details in our pinned post, or you can read this article from the New York Times (gift link).
draconcopes (trachenkopf)
in a copy of konrad von megenberg's "buch der natur", illustrated by the workshop of diebold lauber, alsace, c. 1440
source: Frankfurt, UB, Ms. Carm. 1, fol. 191v
Manuscript Monday: LJS 434 - [Jadāvil-i ikhtiyārāt]. = [جداول اختيارات]. (Video Orientation)
Dot Porter, SIMS Curator of Digital Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, presents a Video Orientation to the University of Pennsylvania Library’s LJS 434, which contains tables used in an astrological technique for determining auspicious times for carrying out various activities. Also includes geographical illustrations and diagrams and half of a horoscope diagram for a…
Coffee With A Codex: Humanist History of Rome
#CoffeeWithACodex is an informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of one of our curators. Everyone is welcome to attend. We meet on Zoom, every Thursday at 12pm Noon EST / 5pm BST.
On May 9, curator Dot Porter will bring out LJS 381, a humanist copy of Sallust's works on the history of Rome, with contemporary and later annotations, including alternate readings, some of which were incorporated into the text as corrections. Written in Italy between 1455 and 1465.
Meet our friend the bat, on page 11 of Ms. Codex 3, three volumes of paintings or hand-colored sketches depicting mainly insects, fish and other marine life, birds and flowers. We don't know much about these books except that they were made in Japan, probably in the 19th century. If you know more, let us know!
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The Founding Director of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, Dr Will Noel, passed away earlier this week. His vision for SIMS and his efforts to make our work possible can't be overstated. He will be dearly missed.
Highlight reel from LJS 24, a mid-13th century copy of the standard 13th-century medical curriculum (including text written in the 10th-13th c.), made in Paris and containing inhabited initials showing medical scenes. We know it was made for a community of Dominican friars, because the doctors in the initials are wearing the garb of the Dominicans. It was featured on #CoffeeWithACodex in January, 2023, you can watch the full 30-minute recording at the link.
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#CoffeeWithACodex is an informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of one of our curators. Everyone is welcome to attend.
On May 2, curator Dot Porter will bring out Ms. Codex 1071, The names and armes of all the nobilitie who were in England at the tyme of King William the Conqueror. This book contains coats of arms, some painted and some drawn in ink, for the monarchs and nobles of England from Edward the Confessor to Elizabeth I. Written in England, 1597.
Register here:
Manuscript Monday: LJS 431 - Manuscript list of manuscript and printed books (Video Orientation)
Dot Porter, SIMS Curator for Digital Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania Library, presents a video Orientation to the University of Pennsylvania Library’s LJS 431, a list of 33 works; at least 13 entries include publication information such as city of publication, printer, or date of publication; publishers include Robert Estienne of Paris and Joannes Oporinus and Robert Winter of Basel;…
Ms. Coll. 390, Item 3020, contains the legend of Kālaka, important to the Śvetāmbara Jains and read during the first night of the Paryuṣaṇā, telling of this figure's conversion and initiation to Śvetāmbara Jainism, his overthrow of the wicked king Gardabhilla of Ujjain, as well as his career as guru and renunciant. It contains seven other paintings from events in the monk's life. Written in Sanskrit, circa 1700-1850.
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Eerie the eel’s head.
This full, plum-sleeked fruit of evolution.
- Ted Hughes
An eel is wielded in the bottom margin of f. 242r, Ms. Codex 724, a 13th century Bible. #drollerydonnerstag
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A #CoffeeWithACodex highlight reel from February featuring Ms. Codex 723, a 12th century collection of canon law texts with colored initials and some interesting terrain. For the full 30-minute version, go to YouTube:
Manuscript Monday: LJS 430 - [De urinarum judiciis]. (Video Orientation)
Dot Porter, SIMS Curator for Digital Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania Library, presents a video Orientation to the University of Pennsylvania Library’s LJS 430, a manuscript copy of a printed edition of Montagnana’s work on the analysis of urine in diagnosing disease; text includes variants not in the first edition of 1487 but found in an edition published ca. 1500. A few marginal…