manuscripts

15d

I thought they were still on vacation, but the #Vatican added 12 #Manuscripts this week
https://www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week34.html
a c.861 Gregory's Regula leads, with another Papal diary, a theological and a medical miscellany, Priscian, Pier Paolo Vergerio, even an antipope.. and more
#Medieval #Medievodons @bookhistodons @medievodons

f.6r from Ott.lat.1337. A single column of 16th C Italian script in a brown ink that has slightly eaten into the paper. There are several paragraph numbers in the left margin and a small note in the right

f.174v of S.Maria.Magg.43. This is a copy of Gregory the great's Regula Pastorale from c. 861. There is a single column of well formed Caroline minuscule, with a sizable hole in the middle, that the text simply wraps around

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8d

A quiet 33 #Manuscripts from the #Vatican this week https://www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week35.html
including a glossed Boethius, more Ge'ez, some Epistles, some classics, a tragedy by a Cardinal, and more!
#Medieval #Medievodons @bookhistodons @medievodons

f.135r from S.Maria.Magg.92, an epistolary for Rome. There is a single column of rotunda gothic hand, with a large illuminated letter K at top left, spilling into the margin

A page of glossed Boethius from f.7v of Vat.lat.10674. There is a single column of gothic script with intralinear glosses

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1y

Ancient Library in Tibet Creating Digital Archive of Its 84,000 Scriptures.

Tibet's Sakya Monastery is home to many wonders. Founded in 1073, its collection includes some of the oldest Tibetan artwork, as well as 84,000 ancient manuscripts and books.

By Regina Sienra via @mymodernmet

Photo taken at Sakya Monastery Library.
(Richard Mortel via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

https://mymodernmet.com/sakya-monastery-library/

#books #library #manuscripts

Photo taken at Sakya Monastery Library.
(Photo: Richard Mortel via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

The bookcase shown in the picture is made of solid, hand-painted wood and consists of at least four shelves full of books stacked on top of each other and probably old manuscripts, but it is not possible to visually identify each item individually. Other unidentifiable objects also appear at the top of some of these shelves.

Edited 1y ago

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238d

See Charles Dickens' Rare Manuscripts, Teenage Love Letters and a Copy of 'David Copperfield' That Traveled to Antarctica

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Charles Dickens Museum in London is staging an exhibition of historic objects that shed light on the writer’s life and legacy

By Julia Binswanger

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-charles-dickens-rare-manuscripts-teenage-love-letters-and-a-copy-of-david-copperfield-that-traveled-to-antarctica-180985811/

Books by Charles Dickens at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/37

#books #literature #manuscripts

Dickens at his desk, 1858

By George Herbert Watkins, born 1828.

Dickens is seated at a polished wooden desk, which is adorned with neatly arranged papers, a quill pen, and an inkwell, symbolizing his literary craft.

Dickens is dressed in mid-19th-century attire, including a dark frock coat and waistcoat, reflecting the fashion of his time.
His face bears a contemplative expression, with his gaze slightly diverted from the camera, suggesting introspection or creative thought.

His distinctive facial features, such as the sharp nose, expressive eyes, and thick beard, are rendered with remarkable clarity.

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218d

What Is the Diamond Sutra? The Oldest Printed Book in the World

We explore the fascinating story behind the Diamond Sutra, thought to be the oldest printed book in the world.

By Maysara Kamal

https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-the-diamond-sutra/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Sutra

#books #manuscripts

Front line of the Chinese Diamond Sūtra, printed in the 9th year of the Xiantong era of the Tang dynasty, i.e. 868 CE, the oldest known dated printed book in the world. British Library

The colophon, at the inner end, reads: Reverently [caused to be] made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 13th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong [i.e. 11th May, CE 868 ].

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97d

Jacobite manuscripts held in archives in Edinburgh & Glasgow
19 June, Mitchell Library, Glasgow – free

These manuscripts offer insights into the motivations & experiences of those who lived through the uprisings in often surprising ways, including the methods by which this information was recorded

Ralph McLean is Manuscripts Curator for Long 18th Century Collections at the National Library of Scotland

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jacobite-manuscripts-held-in-archives-in-edinburgh-and-glasgow-tickets-1380390427929

#Scottish #literature #18thcentury #Jacobite #manuscripts

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107d

Only 11 new #Manuscripts from the #Vatican this week

https://www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week21.html

The bulk are from the archives of the Cappella Pontificia. Withs one more Diary and a 16th C Russian Evangilary completing the week's work
#Medieval #Medievodons @bookhistodons @medievodons

f.3v from Capp.Sist.670, a page of italian style script from 1537

A page of 16th C liturgical Russian from P.I.O.slav.48, f.1v. There is a large title band in red, with several lines of rubric below it. There are two columns of black acrostic filling the majority of the page

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93d

67 #Manuscripts digitized by the #Vatican last week
https://www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week23.html
Mostly Sistine Choir, including music, regulations, and more diaries. In addition three Persian works, one more Ge'ez, 2 vol. letters of Urban VIII, Alain de Lille, and a bit more
#Medieval #Medievodons @medievodons @bookhistodons

a page of music from f.1v of Capp.Sist.247. The word "Credo" is written at the top left of the page, the rest of which is covered by staves of music with lyrics below

a 15th C table of contents from Barb.lat.503. There are two columns of late gothic text, where each section begins with a pilcrow, alternating red and blue. On the right of each columns are chapter numbers in red roman numerals

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64d

only 34 #Manuscripts from the #Vatican this week
https://www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week27.html
including a ton of musical volumes, more about Barberini popes, a printed missal, an arabic christian medical miscellany and more!
#Medieval #Medievodons @bookhistodons @medievodons

f.1r from Urb.lat.109. It is two columns of printed gothic text, with many of the lines in red, with italian borders on top, bottom and right. There are large illuminated capitols in both columns, and an empty rondel at bottom for a coat of arms. The library has put their ownership stamp in the middle of this rondel

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90d

Helen Craik (1751–1825), Gothic novelist & friend of Robert Burns, died 200 years ago #OTD, 11 June. Craik published 5 novels but no poetry. In 1919, excerpts of her poems appeared in a newspaper, but the source – a notebook Craik presented to a family friend – disappeared…

1/6

#Scottish #literature #18thcentury #romanticism #poetry #Gothic #WomenWriters #manuscripts

A manuscript page, headed

Poems
by
A LADY

Underneath is a paragraph in ornate copperplate handwriting (it's from Laurence Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, by Mr Yorick, vol. II):

Dear sensibility! source inexhausted of all that’s precious in our Joys, or costly in our sorrows! thou chainest thy martyr down upon his bed of straw—and ’tis thou who lifts him up to Heaven—Eternal fountain of our feelings, ’tis here I trace thee.—

Below is a drawing of a curly-haired cherub's face, with wings made of looping pen-strokes.

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85d

38 #Manuscripts digitized from the #Vatican this week https://www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week24.html
Mostly in the Cappella Pontificia archives (music!) and the diaries of the puntatore (now >75%). Otherwise a 18th C Megillat Esther, a Glagolitic breviary, printed, Persian poetry, and more
@bookhistodons @medievodons #Medieval #Medievodons

A section of Vat.ebr.533. An architectural border, with columns and friezes at the bottom, contains 5 arcaded sections of hebrew text in a small square italian hand. There are floral elements above

f.3r from Borg.il.19. A page of a liturgical calendar from a breviary printed in glagolitic. There are columns at the left for calculating Easter, and the saints and feasts are in red and black on the right

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60d

Only 4 #Manuscripts this week from the #Vatican https://www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week28.html Contains: stuff about 16th C Ecclesiastical Hungary, the case for canonization of Philip Benizi, a musical setting of Psalm 149, and a 1705 dissertation on the Column of Antonius Pius.
#Medieval #Medievodons @medievodons @bookhistodons

A page of music in dark brown ink from f.2v of Capp.Sist.357. There are no lyrics, but 18th C musical notation covering the entire page

f.8v from Barb.lat.2066, a page of pretty but impossible to read 16th C cursive in a single column

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78d

Only a bare 13 #Manuscripts from the #Vatican this week https://www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week25.html
Includes a few more late musical volumes from the Sistine, some papal briefs, a musical about St. Boniface written by pope Clement IX, and more
@medievodons @bookhistodons #Medieval #Medievodons

A page of text from a sermon from Vat.lat.11446, f.47r. It has a single column of black text in a strange hybrid hand, and a large red L to start the second paragraph

A page of plainchant music from Capp.Sist.440, f.4v. It has five staves of square notes on red staff lines, with a block of roman text in the middle, in red and black. There are Respond symbols on the right

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37d

Only 10 #Manuscripts from the #Vatican this week https://www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week31.html
Inc. 19th C Palestrina MS copies, a Mass setting in print by Borja, 17th C papal records, a 14th c Missal, some Orations, Sonnets Madrigals, and a bit more!
@medievodons @bookhistodons #Medieval #Medievodons

a page of missal in two columns of 14th C gothic. There is a line of music at the top left, and a large crucifixion scene at the bottom left. Source S.Maria.Magg.98 f.160v

Title page from Capp.Sist.157, a book printed in 1602. It has the author Alphonsi Lobo de Borja in large roman letters at the top, and a large complex metal engraving taking up much of the page. The print location and date are at the bottom

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73d

Queerness in Scotland has always existed, hidden in medieval manuscripts, coded in Jacobite poetry, or expressed through the arts. In the first of a 3-part series, the National Galleries of Scotland explores queer artforms & artists from Scotland, past & present

#Pride #PrideDay 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKBCxUmPBho

#Scottish #literature #poetry #art #manuscripts #medieval #18thcentury #history #jacobites #queerhistory #queerness #Pride #PrideDay #InternationalPrideDay #LGBTQ

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72d

49 #Manuscripts from the #Vatican this week
https://www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week26.html
Including a ton more from the Cappella Sistina, both archival and diaries, a vol of 10th C sermons, Ausonius (including the wedding cento!), a map of the roman forum and more
#Medieval #Medievodons @bookhistodons @medievodons

A decorated page from a Missa, Chig.B.VII.210 f.12v. There is a rotunda gothic hand for two columns with red rubrications within the text and several, illuminated initials. There is a narrow border on the left with several birds and acrobats, and a interlace at hte bottom

A page of 17th C Italian cursive in a single column of brown ink. There are several corrections in the text and a small marginal note at the bottom left. From Barb.lat.2670 f.12r

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44d

another week, another 29 #Manuscripts digitized by the #vatican https://www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week30.html
Including plays by Sebastiano Baldin, Euclid, Ethiopic liturgy, dated and glossed Seneca, patristics, papal history, and Peñafort... oh my!
#Medieval #Medievodons @bookhistodons @medievodons

Ott.lat.1585 f.1r. A page of italian gothictext with an elaborate border and illuminated iniial S at left. The text has a small central block with a bracket of commentary on the top right

f.21r from Ott.lat.1551. A page of Euclids elements in a highly abbreviated gothic hand, in a single column. on the right edge are a series of geometric diagrams running vertically

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29d

A reasonably strong 75 #Manuscripts were added by the #Vatican this past week www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025/week32.html
Includes several incunabula hybrids, several Ge'ez liturgicals, Petrarch, 12th C Priscian, illuminated Ovid, legal texts, papal-adjacent docs and more!
#Medieval #Medievodons @bookhistodons @medievodons

a presentation scene. A man kneels at bottom right presenting a book to king edward IV seated on a throne under a pink canopy. f.1r from Vat.lat.3586

A page of 13th c script in two columns. Each column is interrupted by a geometric diagram related to spirals. from Ott.lat.1850, f.15r

f.1r from Ottl.at.1433. A 14th C italian gothic hand in one column with a massive illuminated initial I at top left. Floral borders at top, bottom and left

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