Rare Books and Manuscripts

"Besides numerous significant works concerning the fields of both natural and humanistic disciplines written by the famous Renaissance scholar Faustus Vrančić, there is also a less well-known manuscript, Illyrica historia, fragmenta ex variis Historicis, cum Latinis, tum Graecis, hinc inde collecta a Fausto Verancio Siceno, Episcopo Chanadiensi. This article deals with precisely that unfinished compilation of fragments from the works of Greek and Roman authors. A detailed analysis of quotations included in this manuscript shows Vrančić’s good knowledge of the Greek and Roman literary corpus, and places him among the supremely learned persons of his times. The Illyrica historia presents Faustus Vrančić as an versatile Renaissance scholar and thinker. This work of his fully meets the criteria of quality of the contemporary historiography of his age, but today does not have a great scholarly value. However, the sources quoted in this compilation of fragments testify not only to the level of preservation and accessibility of particular works, but also to the interest of Vrančić himself, who by this work represented himself as a versatile Renaissance scholar. Besides the all mention above, this manuscript is valuable also because it contains quotations from some today less well-known and less often used works.
 
Keywords
historiography, Dalmatia, Šibenik, cultural history, humanism
"

In the middle of the 20th century the texts of two waqf documents, drawn up in the 11th century in Arabic in Samarḳand, were discovered, which are of great significance for studying the history and culture of Central Asia of the Ḳarakhanid period. One of them was drawn up for madrasa, and the second for the hospital in Samarḳand, which were donated for public use as a charitable donation by the Ḳarakhanid ruler of Samarḳand Ṭamghādj Bughrā Khān (ruled in 444-460/1052-1068) in the month of Radjab 458/June 1066. The originals of these two documents have not reached us, but their text was included in some works on jurisprudence by medieval jurists. Many manuscripts of these works, containing copies of these two documents, are kept in various manuscript collections of the world. In the Shāh-i Zinda complex at the Afrāsiyāb settlement in Samarḳand, the remains of a monumental building were excavated, which were identified with the madrasa of Ṭamghādj Bughrā Khān. The present book consists of a critical edition of two waqf documents of Ṭamghādj Bughrā Khān, a Russian translation and a detailed historical-geographical and archaeological-topographic commentary with the involvement of data from archaeological and toponymical studies.

A group of medical historians and paleographers has teamed up informally to create a "Medicine in the Long 12th Century Working Group."  More than 500 extant manuscripts from this period have been identified as containing Latin medical texts.  Adding in citations from 12th-century catalogs, we have at least 650 witnesses to the “common library” that made up learned medical knowledge throughout Europe in the long 12th century:  around 150 different texts in circulation, in some cases found in a single copy but in others in several dozens.  A revolution in medicine did indeed happen in this period.  But it was not a “revolution” based on wholesale absorption of new work made suddenly available in Latin from Arabic.  Nor was it a "revolution" based entirely at the southern Italian city of Salerno, which has long been centrally featured in narratives about medicine in this period.  This project aims to use the collected expertise of the contributors, and the ever-growing availability of digitized manuscripts (many made freely available on the Internet by their holding libraries), to create a comprehensive picture of medicine in this crucial period of change.  Our hope is that many subsidiary projects will emerge out of this, whether they be studies of individual texts, centers for copying manuscripts or studying medicine, or larger questions about the modes or impacts of programs of medical and scientific translations.

This is the catalog for the exhibition, "To Know Wisdom and Instruction: The Armenian Literary Tradition at the Library of Congress," which ran from April 18-September 26, 2012, at the Library of Congress. The exhibition was  mounted to celebrated the 500th anniversary of the first Armenian printed book.

Monday 11 January 2021, 19:00 Israel Time

Sword and Buckler in Hebrew Letters: Traces of Early Illuminated German Fight Books in Jewish Manuscripts
Prof. Sara Offenberg
Department of the Arts, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Two manuscripts produced in early fourteenth-century German lands reflect similar iconography of fighting with Sword and Buckler (small round shield); one is the well-known fencing manual, Leeds, Royal Armouries, MS I. 33, produced ca. 1320, and the other is a Hebrew manuscript of the Bible, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France héb. 9, made in 1304, that will be the focus of this paper. I wish to demonstrate that the iconography of the masorah figurata was adapted from German Fechtbücher (fencing manuals), which are books of instructions, usually with illustrations, detailing the fencing arts. First, I relate to the realia of Jews bearing arms and Jewish fencing masters. Afterward I discuss the iconography of the fighting figures; subsequently, after examining the texts that make up the micrography, I reach a broader conclusion regarding the reason the patron commissioned this work and the meaning of the scene. This lecture intends to demonstrate how Hebrew illuminated manuscripts can shed more light on the study of fight books iconography.

Umfangreiche Freskenzyklen, überdimensionierte Flügelaltäre und reich illustrierte Manuskripte: Insbesondere im Mittelalter konnten Bilder komplexe Geschichten erzählen. Die Vorlesung stellt unterschiedliche Strategien bildlicher Narration vor und fragt nicht nur, wie Bilder Geschichten erzählen, sondern auch, wie wir diese Geschichten heute neu erfahren und interpretieren können.

The Syriac Clementine Recognitions and Homilies is the first ever complete translation into a modern language of this important historical document relating to the origins of Judaism and Christianity. Found within the pages of the world’s oldest-dated manuscript, in any language, The Syriac Clementine Recognitions and Homilies tells the first-century story of a young Roman philosopher, Clement. Leaving his native land, Clement travels to the Middle East to meet the Apostles and records details of the original teachings of Jesus’ earliest followers. Clement also relays the travels of the Apostle Peter in his attempt to stop a false version of Christianity from being spread throughout the Roman Empire by an insidious deceiver. The narrative concludes with an amazing life story retold by the author. This astonishing document, having been suppressed for nearly two millennia, contains revelations about the formative years leading up to the split between Jews and Christians, and has the potential to revolutionize modern understandings of religion and philosophy. The text is written in Syriac, a dialect of the Aramaic language spoken by Jesus and his Apostles. The Clementine Recognitions and Homilies has previously only been available through altered Greek and Latin recensions and has become a topic of great controversy among Biblical scholars for the past five centuries. Now, for the first time, the oldest form of the text is made accessible to the public in a complete English translation.

GEBHARDT, JOSEPH GLEN (2014). The Syriac Clementine Recognitions and Homilies: The First Complete Translation of the Text. Nashville, TN: Grave Distractions Publications. 174 pp. ISBN 978-0-9908685-3-8.

Hillel Zeitlin (1871-1942) was the leading figure of what may be called philosophical neo-Hasidism among Eastern European Jews in the pre-Holocaust era. A tireless author, journalist, and polemicist, he published constantly in both the Yiddish and Hebrew press, offering a bold new vision of contemporary spiritual life grounded in his reading of Hasidic sources. But Zeitlin sought to become an activist as well as a literary figure. He was especially concerned with the situation of the rootless Jewish youth. Throughout his career as a public figure, beginning shortly after World War I, he issued calls for a new organization of Jewish life. In a series of articles published in the 1920s he sought to form an elite Jewish spiritual fraternity to be called Yavneh, the most fully elaborated of his attempts at intentional community. The present study collects together Zeitlin’s Yiddish writings on the Yavneh fellowship, which are here re-printed and translated for the first time. Alongside these we present a newly discovered manuscript signed by Zeitlin, a single-sheet four-sided signed text in which he describes more succinctly and clearly the nature of the group and its intended function.

This detailed entry provides descriptive information for the manuscript Itinerarium of Jakub Římař (1682–1755) and its significance for the history of Christian-Muslim relations. It was published in the series Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History, vol. 14 (Leiden: Brill, 2020), pp. 159–164.
The full Latin title of Římař’s Itinerarium is Itinerarium missionum apostolicarum orientalium Aegypti, Aethiopiae, seu Abyssiniae, aliarumque regionum adjacentium, manu propria conscriptum a R(everendo) P(atre) Jacobo Ržimarž de Cremsirio, which translates as "The travels undertaken on behalf of the Oriental apostolic missions in Egypt, Ethiopia or Abyssinia, and other neighbouring countries, written down by the Reverend Father Jakub Římař of Kroměříž"

DIRETRIZES DA ALA PARA A SELEÇÃO E TRANSFERÊNCIA DE MATERIAIS DE COLEÇÕES GERAIS PARA COLEÇÕES ESPECIAIS (Guidelines on the Selection and Transfer of Materials from General Collections to Special Collections), 4ª edição, aprovada pelo Conselho de Administração da ACRL, 25 de junho de 2016. Tradução livre realizada por Marcia Carvalho Rodrigues. Original em inglês disponível em: http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/selctransfer.

"[This original manuscript (Ref. No. qms-0255) is presented here with the permission of  the Alexander Turnbull Library, personal communication Jocelyn Chalmers, Manuscripts Research Librarian,  19 Jul 2013. The digital facsimile was transcribed during 2007-09 with corrections being made with the help of ATL staff in Oct 2008. Some minor corrections were made to the facsimile following the re-discovery of THJR report.]

"This report (54pp) contains three items related to a single piece of work by John Hugh Boscawen (1851-1937) titled ‘Little Barrier Island’. The ‘account’ was produced 8 January 1893 at the time Hugh was Chief Clerk in the Auckland office of the Lands & Survey Department. These items are: (1) the original hand-written ‘account’ with attached ‘sketches’ that was compiled during the summer holidays of 1892-93, following a visit in September to the Island with Gerhard Mueller, the Auckland Chief Surveyor and Commissioner of Crown Lands; (2) a digital facsimile of the same account (created by Ian Lawlor 25 Sep 2009); and (3) the Journals of the House of Representatives (1895 Session I, C-01) copy of the same report, together with a map and montage of the sketches. (The latter is the ‘Department of Lands and Survey Annual Report’ and pp.95-97 within Appendix No. 8, entitled ‘Little Barrier and Resolution Island…’, cover the Hugh’s report proper, and a montage of some of the original illustrations is located after p.104.)

From copies of Lands and Survey Department correspondence records, held in National Archives (Gerhard Mueller to the Surveyor General Wellington 10 Nov 1892), it is apparent that Hugh was involved with the work to assist with recording conservations with ‘the natives’ and to sketch and record places and features of the Island.

Hugh mailed the original hand-written account to Stephenson Percy Smith, the then Surveyor General Wellington, with a covering letter where he states:
"I have taken the liberty of forwarding an account of Little Barrier Island. All New Year holidays were lost and as I had numerous notes of the Island, I thought I could not do better that occupy my time by writing them out, attaching the sketches, and sending them to you. I have not sent them through Mr. Mueller as he is away, and on thinking the matter over as it was all done at home it is unofficial."

At this time the Government was working to obtain Little Barrier Island as a natural flora and fauna reserve.

Ian Lawlor
21 Jul 2013""

Documento elaborado por el Grupo de Trabajo Estratégico de Valoración del Patrimonio Bibliográfico, creado por el Consejo de Cooperación Bibliotecaria, en el marco del II Plan Estratégico 2016-2018.
Manuela Concepción Carmona García (coordinadora), Margarita Becedas González, Soledad Carnicer Arribas, María Jesús Cruzado Casas, María José Fe Trillo, Eulalia Iglesias Matas, Elena Laguna del Cojo, María Eugenia López Varea, Carmen Morales Mateo.

The study is based on the application of a physico-chemical non-destructive method on ancient inks. The PIXE, Proton-Induced X-ray Emission, allow us to know the composition and differencies between medieval inks. The experimental results (surface density of element in micrograms/square cm) are corrected by the content of the same element in the parchment. The results show a clear difference between the compositions of inks used in greek and latin manuscripts of the same area and age.

A través de la documentación conservada el artículo analiza cómo las fronteras entre las diferentes tareas relacionadas con el libro se flexibilizan en función de las necesidades de mandantes y artífices. A excepción de ejemplares muy notables que se encomiendan a profesionales de reconocido prestigio en las diferentes disciplinas, en general en la creación del libro medieval se aprecia una gran versatilidad y carácter práctico.

Исследуется вятская оброчная книга, содержащая уникальные сведения за 7101–7124 (1592/93–1615/16) гг. Данные этой книги ранее не привлекались исследователями в их работах по вопросам оброчного землевладения в России. Для второй части книги применяется статистический метод исследования, на основе которого делаются выводы об особенностях раздачи угодий на оброк на Вятской земле в Смутное время. Подтверждается сделанное предположение о зависимости дачи на оброк от социально-политических событий, уменьшение количества оброчных записей в книге за отдельные годы коррелирует с периодами социальных возмущений в регионе. Фактические данные оброчной книги предоставляют разнообразные и часто уникальные сведения для изучения истории Вятской земли указанного периода.

One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. This article is an excerpt of pages 98-99 from the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson with a numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depicting the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Mural photograph: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

Die Buchstabenquadrate setzen sich aus den Polygrammfolgen des vierten Teiles von »Des Abraham von Worms Buch der wahren Praktik von der alten Magie« zusammen, wie sie der älteste und zuverlässigste vollständige Zeuge des Magietextes überliefert. Berücksichtigt wurden die wenigen vorsichtigen Konjekturen, die ich in der Edition (»Des Abraham von Worms Buch der wahren Praktik von der alten Magie. Band 1 – Edition. Hamburg 2021) vornehme; nach der Überlieferungslage lassen sich leider nicht alle Symmetriefehler beheben. Zur Zuordnung der Buchstabenquadrate zu den magischen Zwecken des vierten Teiles und zu den Geisternamen des dritten Teiles von »Des Abraham von Worms Buch der wahren Praktik von der alten Magie« verweise ich auf die Edition.

In this piece, I explore the portraits of Ottoman Sultans found in the British Library's manuscript Or 9505. I contextualize the work within the broader tradition of Ottoman historiography, and then compare the illustrations - which are unique in their aesthetics - with those found in other British Library manuscripts.

Авторы книги хотят показать всем интресующимся языками и филологией, как исследование диалектных черт и стиля нидерландского оригинала XVIII в. может помочь восстановить некоторые факты знаменитого криминального происшествия. Переведенный с нидерландского языка подлинный судовой журнал фрегата Ост-Индской компании «Нейенбург” содержит подробную хронику похищения судна взбунтовавшейся командой и его угона в Бразилию в 1763 г. За расправой над мятежниками и казнью главарей на о. Тессел в Голландии жадно следила пресса, а в Амстердаме вышли сразу две публикации, претендовавшие на первенство и на подлинность изданного источника. Московские студенты-нидерландисты пытаются в этом разобраться, предприняв анализ языка и пристально изучив страницы старой книги из университетской библиотеки. Читатель становится свидетелем настоящей пиратской истории и получает возможность увидеть, как развивается язык и как, распутав узлы грамматики и синтаксиса, можно приблизиться к разгадке книжного пиратства.   

Ключевые слова: история нидерландского языка, диалекты и литературный язык, грамматика, синтаксис, орфография, Голландская Ост-Индская компания, пираты

Catherine Squires (ed.), The Logbook of the East-India Company Frigate “Nijenburg”, 1763. Text translation and studies. ― M.: MAKS Press, 2018. ― 113 p.

A study of the 18th century Dutch dialect and style attempts to reconstruct some facts of a famous criminal incident. A day-by-day account of the ‘Nijenburg’ mutiny in 1763 in the original logbook of the East-India trading frigate is translated from Dutch into Russian. The hijacking of the ship to Brazil and the execution of the chief mutineers on Texel (Holland) received attention in news reports and caused two Amsterdam book publications, each claiming priority and authenticity of their source. Moscow students of Dutch try to find out the truth by analyzing the language and taking a closer look at the rare book in the university library. The reader does not only witness a true pirate story but is also invited to learn how a language grows and how, by unraveling the secrets of grammar and syntax, a story of literary piracy can be uncovered.

Keywords: history of the Dutch language, dialects and standard, grammar, syntax, spelling, Dutch East-India Company, pirates

Les moines du Bec s'étaient constitués une bibliothèque médiévale remarquable. Peu de manuscrits ont néanmoins survécus aux vicissitudes du temps : dans son ouvrage de référence sur les bibliothèques des abbayes bénédictines de Normandie, Geneviève Nortier signale moins d'une vingtaine de témoins rescapés. Comment dès lors expliquer la disparition des 220 manuscrits médiévaux encore attestés dans les catalogues de 1693 et de 1791 ? La tradition la plus répandue veut que les imprimés et les manuscrits aient été séparés après la fermeture de l'abbaye en 1792 : les premiers auraient été envoyés au dépôt littéraire du district de Bernay, tandis que les seconds auraient pris la direction d'Évreux, où l'on perd définitivement leur trace. La présence à Laon de plusieurs livres provenant de l'abbaye du Bec permet de rejeter cette théorie et éclaire d'un jour nouveau les dernières heures de cette prestigieuse bibliothèque monastique.

Сборник посвящен памяти выдающегося ученого-археографа, доктора исторических наук, ведущего научного сотрудника Отдела рукописей БАН Александра Александровича Амосова. В сборник
вошли материалы прошедших в 2018 г. научных Чтений, приуроченных к 70-летию А.А. Амосова. Среди статей – воспоминания о научной и общественной деятельности ученого, организованных им археографических экспедициях и региональных проектах по описанию памятников письменности. В сборнике содержатся новые исследования рукописно-книжных фондов БАН и других российских архивов, посвященных вопросам источниковедения, палеографии, кодикологии, текстологии, а также публикации вновь найденных
памятников. Издание предназначено для историков, филологов, искусствоведов, музыковедов-медиевистов, этнографов, книговедов и всех интересующихся культурным наследием России.

陳澧(1810-1882、字は蘭甫、広東番禺人)は経学と小学の研究で名高いが、氏の遺稿の整理には不備な所が感じられている。整理の成果として『陳澧集』(六冊)が二〇〇八年に出版されているものの、整理者自身、遺稿の収集につき「或訪問無従、或不易一見」と実感を述べている。その中でも、所謂集部の文献は最も整理の必要性がある。例えば、陳澧が陶淵明の詩に加えた評点は一九七四年に『陶淵明集札記』という書名で香港龍門書店により上梓されているが、『陳澧集』は全く収録していない。また、姜夔(号は白石道人)の詞をめぐる評点も『白石詞評』として一九七〇年に同書店から出版されている。『陳澧集』では龍門書店本を参照した上で『白石詞評』を全部収録しているが、一次資料の調査を行っておらず、陳澧が姜夔の詩にも評点を加えたことにも気がついていない。本文は、この詩の評点を校勘し、『白石詞評』の例に準じて『白石詩評』と命名する。


陳澧(1810-1882，字蘭甫，廣東番禺人)以經學及小學馳名，然而對於陳澧遺稿的整理並未完善。2008年《陳澧集》整理出版，編者仍有感於陳澧遺稿「或訪問無從，或不易一見」，仍然不乏遺珠之憾。當中以陳澧的集部著作整理問題最為嚴重，如陳澧手批陶淵明詩，已以《陶淵明集札記》之名於1974年由香港龍門書店出版，但《陳澧集》竟完全失收。至於手批姜夔(號白石道人)詞作的批語，亦已以《白石詞評》之名於1970年由龍門書店出版，《陳澧集》雖據龍門書店本全部收錄，但並無對原本作文獻調查，以致未能發現陳澧尚有姜夔詩作的評點。本文將此組評點整理校勘，並依照「白石詞評」一名體例，命名為《白石詩評》。

Чепіга І. П. Пересопницьке Євангеліє – унікальна пам'ятка української мови. С. 13–54; Гнатенко Л. А. Письмо Пересопницького Євангелія та графіко-орфографічні особливості пам’ятки. С. 55–73; Дубровіна Л. А., Гнатенко Л. А. Археографічний та кодикологічний опис Пересопницького Євангелія. С. 74–104.

A cesspit was dug up in Tiel, The Netherlands, in 1983. Finds from this cesspit can be attributed to the former Agnite monastery but also to the rector Van Aelhuysen. Among the finds are a pipe earth statue and a slate on which the inventory of the dormitorum is described. All this from the time of the medieval Agnite monastery. From the time of Van Aelhuijsen comes, among other things, his footwear, inkwell but also various books. Worth mentioning are fragments of a 17th century glass wedding cup.

Pour le paléographe, il est plus commode de travailler avec des classifications nettes et des périodisations distinctes qu’en suivant une tradition confuse. Les styles d’écriture arménienne ne sont pas clairement définis, et il est commun de mélanger un type avec un autre. Une véritable catégorisation universelle n’est véritablement apparue qu’avec l’imprimerie, où l’idiosyncrasie du scribe laisse la place à une implacable logique des formes de lettres.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, in Washington, DC, is an institute of Harvard University dedicated to supporting scholarship internationally in Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and Garden and Landscape Studies through fellowships, meetings, exhibitions, and publications. Located in Georgetown and bequeathed by Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss, Dumbarton Oaks welcomes scholars to consult its books, images, and objects, and the public to visit its garden, museum, and historic house for lectures and concerts.

O "Naufrágio do galeão grande São João" é o primeiro relato da História Trágico-Marítima, publicada em 1735, e do desastre ocorrido em 1552. O relato conhecido como "Naufrágio de Sepúlveda" é o mais famoso entre todos os relatos de naufrágios. Contudo, devido à existência de um manuscrito e de diversas edições, o que conhecemos é resultado de várias alterações ao longo do tempo. Neste trabalho, através da análise comparativa do manuscrito e de sete versões publicadas, tenciona-se esclarecer como a narrativa foi modificada ao longo das edições.