Medieval History
The book before me is huge and heavy, bound, not in paper or cardboard, but with planks of solid oak, held together by thick cords. It looks like a prop from a fantasy film. It?s actually a Latin dictionary, published in the early 1700s.
It?s normally held in a vault in the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, underground at the University of Alberta. The library has no record of when or how this book arrived in its collection. But as old as the dictionary appears, it hides a secret far older.
Inside the heavy oak cover is a parchment liner. Other pieces of the same parchment are stuffed into the spine, to bind the book block together. The parchment wrapper is far older than the dictionary: a medieval manuscript, hand-written on calfskin vellum.
Erik Kwakkel, 42, is a codicologist ? an expert on books as physical objects ? at Leiden University in the Netherlands. His particular expertise is the history of 12th and 13th century manuscripts. He?s in Edmonton this month as a distinguished guest lecturer at the University of Alberta ? and at the moment, he?s leading an enthusiastic group of students and staff on a treasure hunt.
Click here to read this article from the Edmonton Journal
- Dictionary Of Medieval Latin From British Sources Project Nears Completion
A huge number of students ranging from linguists to those studying coins and family ancestry are benefiting from a 100 year project to compile the world?s most comprehensive dictionary of Medieval Latin. Work started on the unique Dictionary of Medieval...
- Reused, Rebound, Recovered: Medieval Manuscript Fragments In Law Book Bindings: Exhibit At Yale University
Nearly 150 early printed books in the Yale Law Library have bindings that incorporate visible pieces of medieval manuscript. A number of these books are featured in the latest exhibit from the Law Library's Rare Book Collection, "Reused, Rebound,...
- 42nd Saint Louis Conference On Manuscript Studies, 16-17 October 2015
42nd Saint Louis Conference on Manuscript Studies, 16-17 October 2015 Vatican Film Library, Saint Louis University St. Louis, Missouri Organized annually since 1974 by the Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library and its journal ?Manuscripta,? this two-day...
- Manuscripts In The Netherlands Online
Medieval manuscripts in the Netherlands on the web The Hague, September 21 - Today all medieval manuscripts in the Netherlands are available on the website Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch Collections (MMDC), www.mmdc.nl. The website provides a portal to...
- Ltpsc Book Of Hours: Binding And Bonus! A Sonnet!
Copyright L. Tom Perry Special CollectionsI am not expert enough to know if this is the manuscript's original binding.* I'd be surprised if it is. Whenever it was was bound, the binding of this Book of Hours is absolutely gorgeous. Dark green,...
Medieval History
Old books hide even older secrets from Middle Ages
It?s normally held in a vault in the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, underground at the University of Alberta. The library has no record of when or how this book arrived in its collection. But as old as the dictionary appears, it hides a secret far older.
Inside the heavy oak cover is a parchment liner. Other pieces of the same parchment are stuffed into the spine, to bind the book block together. The parchment wrapper is far older than the dictionary: a medieval manuscript, hand-written on calfskin vellum.
Erik Kwakkel, 42, is a codicologist ? an expert on books as physical objects ? at Leiden University in the Netherlands. His particular expertise is the history of 12th and 13th century manuscripts. He?s in Edmonton this month as a distinguished guest lecturer at the University of Alberta ? and at the moment, he?s leading an enthusiastic group of students and staff on a treasure hunt.
Click here to read this article from the Edmonton Journal
- Dictionary Of Medieval Latin From British Sources Project Nears Completion
A huge number of students ranging from linguists to those studying coins and family ancestry are benefiting from a 100 year project to compile the world?s most comprehensive dictionary of Medieval Latin. Work started on the unique Dictionary of Medieval...
- Reused, Rebound, Recovered: Medieval Manuscript Fragments In Law Book Bindings: Exhibit At Yale University
Nearly 150 early printed books in the Yale Law Library have bindings that incorporate visible pieces of medieval manuscript. A number of these books are featured in the latest exhibit from the Law Library's Rare Book Collection, "Reused, Rebound,...
- 42nd Saint Louis Conference On Manuscript Studies, 16-17 October 2015
42nd Saint Louis Conference on Manuscript Studies, 16-17 October 2015 Vatican Film Library, Saint Louis University St. Louis, Missouri Organized annually since 1974 by the Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library and its journal ?Manuscripta,? this two-day...
- Manuscripts In The Netherlands Online
Medieval manuscripts in the Netherlands on the web The Hague, September 21 - Today all medieval manuscripts in the Netherlands are available on the website Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch Collections (MMDC), www.mmdc.nl. The website provides a portal to...
- Ltpsc Book Of Hours: Binding And Bonus! A Sonnet!
Copyright L. Tom Perry Special CollectionsI am not expert enough to know if this is the manuscript's original binding.* I'd be surprised if it is. Whenever it was was bound, the binding of this Book of Hours is absolutely gorgeous. Dark green,...