Skip to content

Blog

Manuscript Collages from the Schoenberg Institute

Well, a week later the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies uploaded 5 new videos to their YouTube channel. In one of these there is something I have never seen before:  manuscript collages. Yes, you read it right: a manuscript collage. It appears that in the 18th century, or slightly earlier, someone had the idea of getting a book of hours (use of Rome?), tear it to pieces and make something completely different out of it: two squares composed of the miniatures from the manuscript in the middle (Jesus blessing and teaching his followers, but also show the annunciation, the second coming of Christ, possibly the calling of Peter and Andrew, a figure wearing a mitre praying to an angel, and possibly the moneylenders in the temple, as mentioned in the video description); the marginal decoration on the sides of these, and in the middle of the four borders, parts of texts from the manuscript: excerpts from the New Testament gospels, a calendar of feast days, and homilies of Pope Gregory I. The result is, in my opinion, beautiful.

The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies on YouTube

The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies has recently uploaded a series of videos in which some of their manuscripts are presented. I believe this is a fantastic initiative for many reasons. First of all, it is a great way to promote their manuscripts and their treasures; I never had the pleasure to visit their website and their digitized manuscripts, but when their videos popped-out on the Sexy Codicology YouTube feed I discovered a wealth of digitized books. OK, the videos aren't the most refined, and maybe the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies' YouTube channel could use some stylistic retouches here and there, but they are informative; they do exactly what they are meant to do: orientate the viewer (a researcher, an enthusiast) by describing the book. Some information about the binding, the history, the quality of the manuscript; the miniatures and illuminations if there are any. Plus an invitation to visit their website where the digitized version of the manuscript just described is (a good "marketing" move, according to me.) No protesting because in the Schoenberg Institute videos they are not using gloves, please! Manuscripts were build to last. They are rarely taken out of the box nowadays;  if you have washed your hands, dried them well, and are very careful with what you handle, they will last thousands of years more. I truly hope that many more institutions start making similar videos. There are only good things to come from them: more visits to the digitized collections, possible extra income from the monetizing of the videos, giving the impression of  being able to bridge an ancient medium (a manuscript) with contemporary media. Well done Schoenberg Institute!

Digital Library of Spain and the Biblioteca Nacional de España

Yesterday we wrote about a beautiful manuscript on the Sexy Codicology blog. Today, we give a look at the repository where we found that pearl: the Digital Library of Spain (access it here). As understandable, the Digital Library of Spain is the digital library of the Biblioteca Nacional de España. It aims to give free access to thousands of digitized documents: books from the 15th to the 19th century, manuscripts, drawings, engravings, pamphlets, posters, photographs, maps, atlases, music scores, historic newspapers and magazines and audio recordings. It was created in 2008 and back then the Digital Library of Spain had around 10,000 works which were selected by experts in different subjects as a cross-section of the bibliographic and documentary heritage of the Biblioteca Nacional de España. Today it comprises more than 134,000 works on all topics in all documentary forms, freely accessible from anywhere in the world.

The Holy Week in Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts

It has been a busy Easter here at Sexy Codicology. You have certainly seen our posts on our Facebook page (almost 4'000 Likes! Wohoo!), we also wanted to create a short video with miniatures from various books of hours representing the death and resurrection of Christ but, alas, time was to short and we didn't manage. Nonetheless, we saw fantastic illuminated manuscripts this week, especially from the Getty Museum's website (we reviewed it here). So, as a late Easter present, we have made a selection of the most beautiful scenes from the Getty Museum's digitized medieval manuscripts. All the images in this post are from the Devotional Books collection and cover most of the events celebrated during the Holy Week. As you may notice, most of the miniatures below come from Book of Hours from the 15th / 16th century. I truly recommend looking at Ms. Ludwig IX 19. The miniatures in this manuscript are particularly evocative and present all the events that are narrated in the Bible.

Trinity College, Cambridge

A couple of days ago I received an email from Cambridge Trinity College. I was kindly asked if it was possible to update the link to their digitized medieval manuscripts on the DMMmaps. The email mentioned that they have "been hard at work updating and making it look prettier". Moved by curiosity, I went to give a look and updated the link.

The J. Paul Getty Museum

One of our favourite institutions that shares digitized medieval manuscripts online is the J. Paul Getty Museum. The reasons are many, and we will explore them in this post. This is just a small fraction of all the objects available on the website. There are at least 107 digitized medieval manuscripts, and each one is stunning.

The DMMmaps Project so far

There is something genuinely thrilling in discovering a digitized medieval manuscript! The DMMmaps Project is our small attempt to help everyone find these incredible books, by bringing together the libraries that make them available online.