Exploring the world of books at Oxford
by Charlie Burrows (MSt. Modern Languages) Over the holidays, this year’s History of the Book class was set the simple but daunting task of choosing a book to present to the class during their first session of Michaelmas Term. Students might have been lured into thinking this to be an easy task when compared to …
By Molly Bray (MSt in Medieval Studies) For our first session as book-historians-in-training, we asked the question, ‘what is a book?’ Is it the form, the function? Now, for our second session, we get to see and, indeed, operate the mechanics that make one. Held behind a large wooden door and the once-accurate waymarker of …
Are you interested in the study of Modern Languages on an advanced degree level? Would you like to be part of a large research community spanning seven languages, with research interests ranging from Medieval Studies all the way to Contemporary Literature Studies? Would you like to spend 9 months at one of the oldest universities …
The Presentation of Holy Texts Wilfried Kuugauraq Zibell, MSt. Yiddish Studies In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – John 1:1 (KJV) The relationship between the written word and religion is, for the Abrahamic faiths and the regions where they have historically predominated, inextricable. The …
By Giovanna Truong (MSt Yiddish Studies) Oxford’s former Schola Musicae stands tucked in a corner of the Bodleian Old Library quadrangle. In modern times, neither harmonized voices nor metred strums resonate from behind that wooden door; rather, a different rhythm altogether emerges. The clack of type, the punch of the press, the busy murmurs of …
“One hundred and fifty years after the first news on the manuscript, Thea Gomelauri’s The Lailashi Codex presents the first and long-awaited study of one of the most ancient Hebrew Pentateuch.”
This publication brings the fascinating history and content of the Lailashi Codex to the public domain, for the first time, tracing its turbulent journey replete with mysteries, imprisonments, executions, inaccurate references, conflicting records, unsubstantiated claims, possessions and re-possessions, controversies, and miracles, and ending with a most surprising discovery and the hope of addressing issues related to the cultural memory of this exquisite artefact.
Preparatory reading matter for the Method Option ‘Palaeography, History of the Book, Digital Humanities’ focussing on general introductions to book history which are easily available via SOLO. Updated version of a commented list compiled by Nigel F. Palmer; in chronological order of first publication. For Oxford students: This is available as a hyperlinked list on …
Exploring Taylor Institution Library ARCH.8°.G.1523(8) by Katarina Ristic As part of my MSt. during the 2022/23 academic year, I was offered the opportunity to do my History of the Book project on the Taylorian’s copy of Martin Luther’s 1523 pamphlet Deuttung der grewlichen figur des Munchkalbs tzu Freyberg in Meyssen gfunden. This project allowed me …
Last week, we had the opportunity to have our session on ‘Caring for Collections’ and ‘Library Management’ at the charming Old Library at St Edmund Hall, an apt location given the date coinciding with the feast day of St Edmund. James Howarth, the librarian, first gave us an introduction on the early history of the …
By Charlotte Copeman Having spent the last five weeks building up our knowledge of manuscripts from paper, to ink, to assembly, to binding, last week’s Latin palaeography session finally brought us to the styling and construction of the letters and words themselves. Our crash-course began with Dr Laure Miolo introducing us to the three principal …