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The Bamberg State Library's Digital Collection

De natura rerum - Staatsbibliothek Bamberg Msc.Nat.1 Today we are going to give a look at the Digital collection of Bamberg State Library. A fantastic collection of manuscripts, fully digitized, in high quality, and available for everyone to browse, explore, and study. Actually, we should be speaking of collections, plural, since two collections are present: The collection "Manuscripts of Henry II" is traced back to the emperor Henry II, who founded the bishopric of Bamberg in 1007; and the new digital collection. Let's see! Bamberger Apokalypse - 14r - The first horseman, Conquest on the White Horse - The text reads: Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. - Revelation 6:1-2˄

New digitized manuscripts from the Vatican Library!

Well, this is the third time here at Sexy Codicology that we are delighted to communicate that the Vatican Library has, once again, digitized and made available a few hundreds new manuscripts! Since we started the DMMmaps project, the Vatican Library has more than doubled the number of digitally available books. Plus, they have reorganized the home page: Where once you could see the endless list of manuscripts available (now 1'500+!), there is now a tidier page showing the collections and then number of digitized books you may find inside. An old problem is still present: it is impossible to know which were the most recently uploaded books; unfortunately there is no RSS, nor is there any specific announcement which tells us what is new. Too bad. I guess it is up to us users to explore!

The Unique Petau - Rothschild Hours

Last year we received a message on our Facebook page; it was a request for help finding the name and information concerning a manuscript. On a late evening we went on a quest to do just that. What we discovered during the adventure was the Petau - Rothschild Hours. An incredible manuscript we had never seen before!Dated between 1500 and 1510, the “Peteau Hours” or “Petau - Rothschild Hours” consists of 44 sheets of vellum of 230 x 140 mm, containing 33 lines per the page on two columns. It is written in humanistic script in brown ink. The headings are written in green, while capital letters are red or blue; there are also some initials which are painted on a golden background. Petau - Rothschild Hours

The Adventures of Medieval Killer Bunny: A Musical Vacation

It's Xmas time! Christmas songs and carols everywhere! In this newest instalment of The Adventures of Medieval Killer Bunny we are going to look at what the medieval bunnies are planning for theholidays! Like everyone, also they sometimes need some relaxation and fun, and most importantly, a break from their killer jobs; and since we are sure you have heard "Jingle bells" and "Joy to the World" for the past month or so, it is only appropriate that in this post we will meet the Musical Killer Bunnies.

A new e-codices experience!

Yesterday we showed you how the Utrecht Library is brilliantly promoting a manuscript of great importance in the Netherlands. Today we are bringing your attention to how Switzerland is skillfully managing the digitization of all its collections on e-codices. You are probably aware of e-codices already:

e-codices offers free online access to medieval and early modern manuscripts from public and church-owned collections as well as from numerous private collections.

The Utrecht Psalter or, "How to promote digitized manuscripts"

What do you do with a super-awesome manuscript like the Utrecht Psalter? You make a super-awesome website to go with it. Not only: you make super-awesome YouTube videos to promote it, and catchy animations so that also casual visitors will be intrigued by what is being shown; plus you make sure that you spread the word on the right social media channels to gain visibility. This is exactly what the University of Utrecht (Universiteit Utrecht) has been doing. A message appeared recently on our Facebook page:

The Utrecht Psalter, currently owned by the Utrecht University Library, has just been nominated for UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. In 2015, UNESCO will decide whether the medieval manuscript will be given a place in this documentary heritage register. Dating back to the ninth century, the Utrecht Psalter is one of the most valuable manuscripts held in a Dutch collection. Check the new website (with complete digitized version of the psalter): www.utrechtpsalter.nl

The Crusader Bible from the Morgan Library

The manuscript that we want to highlight for you today is the Morgan Library’s Crusader Bible. It is also known as the Morgan Picture Bible, the Maciejowski Bible or the Shah ‘Abbas Bible. The book is an Old Testament that was originally made with only miniatures to tell the stories. Later, inscriptions in Latin, Persian and Judeo-Persian were added. According to the Morgan Library, it is not only one of the most awesome and beautiful manuscripts they own, but also one of the highlights of French Gothic illumination. The Morgan Bible

On "Quill" - Extended edition

As you surely know, "Quill" was recently launched. Quill is a website a new website for medieval manuscript lovers put together by Dr. Erik Kwakkel, who had the idea, took care of the texts and made sure it'd be a success, and I, who had the pleasure of taking care of the photos. Erik put together a fantastic blog post about it, to which I contributed too. I ended up writing a bit too much for it, so it had to be reduced a bit in length in the end. Quill Books before print

Quill: a new website for medieval manuscript lovers!

A super-cool website about medieval manuscripts has gone online today!

"This is to alert you to a new product of the "Turning Over a New Leaf” project: a website (in English) devoted to the medieval manuscript, aimed at a non-expert audience: https://quill.leiden.edu/. Some sixty web pages take you through the different production stages of the manuscript, and highlight important facets of the book before print. Short explanatory texts are paired with beautiful photographs, produced by Giulio Menna, professional photographer and co-producer of the website.

Quill went live today and was two years in the making. It was produced with funding of De Jonge Akademie, logistical support of Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS), and with generous help of Leiden University Library, Special Collections."