Charlie is working on original editions of Athanasius Kircher dotted around the various Oxford libraries. He previously worked on this German 17th-century humanist in last term’s Early Modern Inventions course. Unfortunately, however, Charlie admits that he is still hopelessly unable to master the German pronunciation of Kircher’s name, and has thus resolved to henceforth refer to him by his first name to avoid any further embarrassment with his German pronunciation. 

Two original copies of this book exist in Oxford: one in Magdalen College’s Old Library and another in the Weston. Last term, Charlie worked on the Magdalen edition, however, after realising the challenge of photographing one of its beautifully elaborate, yet unfortunately rather torn, foldout maps, he has chosen to work on the more intact edition in the Weston for his Taylor Digital Editions project.

Edie is transcribing and digitising a French prose apocalypse from the late thirteenth century (MS. Douce 180), possibly intended for presentation to Edward I of England and his wife Eleanor of Castile, hence the illuminated initial bearing their likenesses. This work is bound with a much-studied, highly-illustrated Latin apocalypse with Berengaudus commentary that has perhaps led the lower-quality French prose apocalypse to be overlooked. It is intriguing, however, that this relatively low-grade manuscript would be commissioned for the future King of England, potentially signalling its use as an exemplar for a higher quality reproduction. Another point of interest is the use of ‘!’, as seen on folio 3r. Given that the exclamation mark was not used as punctuation in the thirteenth century, this rare symbol may indicate either a medial caesura or a line filler – Edie currently favours the latter, although it is not used consistently, as the scribe leaves multiple blank spaces. Her project thus provides the opportunity not only to consider the methodology of manuscript digitisation, but also to engage with the manuscript itself as she demystifies the questions raised above, among others, and shed light on this often-disregarded text.

Erin: 1771 Dialogue between a mother and daughter

I have chosen to work on an uncatalogued manuscript, written by an anonymous author in the late eighteenth century. It is an (apparently fictional) series of dialogues between a mother and daughter on physical and cultural geography, in the form of fourteen entretiens. Thanks to its discussions of contemporary events and ethical questions, the work is richly detailed and its content is reflective of contemporary debates over women’s education in the eighteenth century. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the entretien was a popular structure to present an intimate dialogue, and was used often in pedagogical literature: for example, in Fontenelle’s Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes (1686), and Louise d’Épinay’s Les Conversations d’Émilie (1774). Given that the subject matter of Fontenelle’s Entretiens is strikingly similar to that of the first few entretiens written in the manuscript, and that Épinay’s Conversations also features a dialogue between a mother and her daughter, I would like to investigate to what extent this manuscript adds to and fits into the trend of (female) pedagogical writing at the time.

I’ll be working on a partial digital edition of MS Digby 164, an alchemical miscellany. The manuscript is hitherto unedited, and with its annotations and diagrams that span the fascinating line between alchemy and magic, it promises to be a challenge to encode.

For Molly’s History of the Book project, she shared two distinct but equally compelling options between which she shall (soon!) decide. The first project focuses on a comparative analysis of two late medieval book cushions housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Both cushions prominently feature depictions of the Virgin Mary, and her aim would be to explore how these accessories reflect practices of readership and book usage. Framing reading as a performative act, she plans to assess the materiality and iconography of the cushions while situating them within their liturgical contexts. Additionally, she intends to examine Mary’s dual role as a reader-weaver at the Annunciation, with its eucharistic implications tied to the pillow as a symbolic object. This analysis would engage with the cushions’ function in underscoring the efficacy of the book-as-object. As a practical component, she envisions creating a digital ‘exhibition’ of related items.

The second project proposes a more conventional methodology, centring on Cod. Guelf. 57 from the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel. This early 16th-century manuscript, written by a nun at the Convent of St. Clare in Nuremberg, features a diagrammatic instruction manual for tablet weaving alongside a pastedown depicting the Christ Child (with infant-sized stigmata!). The essay would examine the interconnectedness of textile production and book production within the convent, interpreting each as devotional strategies. Molly is particularly intrigued by the inclusion of the wounded Christ Child and its resonance with discourses on textiles in caring for Christ on the one hand (e.g. St. Clare’s woven swaddling bands as a paradigm for upstanding piety), and their metaphorical connection to his suffering on the other (e.g. e.g. the contemporary sermons wherein nuns are told to ‘spin in the wounds of Christ,’ thereby both experiencing and inflicting). Molly’s proposed research would also involve transcribing the manuscript and, if feasible, encoding it using the Text Encoding Initiative’s guidelines.

For Nina and Viviane’s joint History of the Book project, they are working on the reformation pamphlet “An die Versamlung gemayner Pawerschafft, so in Hochteutscher Nation und vil anderer Ort mit empörung unn aufffrur enstanden etc.” – a key text from the German Peasants’ War, published in Nuremberg in 1525. The text formulates the peasants’ right of resistance and criticises the ruling authorities. Initiated by Lyndal Roper, holder of the Regius Chair in History, the aims of the project include the transcription (with the help of the digitalised version held by the Bayrische Staatsbibliothek München), text encoding and verification of bible verses for the Taylor Editions. The part they are most excited about is the organisation and curation of an exhibition in the Taylorian showing further Reformation pamphlets from the Peasants’ War, held by the library. Interestingly, the Peasants’ War was also central for the GDR’s culture of memory. This perspective offers a more recent perception of the Peasants’ War, which they hope to include in the exhibition.