Exploring the world of books at Oxford
Rebecca Schleuss, MSt Modern Langauges This sunny afternoon the History of the Book seminar met in the Weston Library’s lecture theatre to explore another important aspect of medieval manuscripts: their materiality. When you mostly work with editions of texts, it is easy to detach them from their physical containers and forget about their materiality. Andrew …
By Tianyi Liu (MSt in Modern Languages) On 8 November 2023, as a prelude to the launch of the e-ilustrace database of early printed Czech books (https://e-ilustrace.cz/en/), Dr Giles Bergel treated the History of the Book class to a fascinating session on image matching technology. Giles Bergel trained as book historian and now works in …
A Presentation by Veronika Sladká One hundred years before Martin Luther’s arrival, the Reformation had already established itself in One hundred years before Martin Luther’s arrival, the Reformation had already established itself in Bohemia, resulting in a significant aversion towards sacred images. Nevertheless, bibliographical records suggest that around 6,000 printed images had been disseminated through …
by Imogen Lewis (MSt. Modern Languages) Palaeography. Now halfway through Michaelmas term, History of the Book students may just about be able to spell the term – but do we really know what it means? Having stroked many a book, discovered the secrets contained within their binding, and even learned to painstakingly typeset our own, …
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 Henrike Lähnemann For the Digital Community of Practice organised by Emma Huber biweekly in the Taylorian Library, I had promised to speak on Transkribus on Thursday 2 November 2023 but have got a date clash; hence this short report which is meant to be supplemented by two practical demonstrations: by Karen Wenzel on transcribing …
The Taylor Institution’s collection of Georges de Peyrebrune’s Works, a unique collection in the UK. by Marie Martine, DPhil in Modern Languages (German and French) I came across Georges de Peyrebrune during the first year of my DPhil as I was looking for women writers in contact with naturalist literary circles in end-of-nineteenth-century France. I …
by Jed Surio (MSt in Modern Languages) Evanghélia Stead ‘Goethe’s Faust I outlined. Moritz Retzsch’s prints in circulation’ (open access available via Brill). The seminar consisted of two sessions with Evanghelia Stead: on 25 October 2023 a lecture followed by a show-and-tell session making use of the vast material on ‘Faust’ and ‘Werther’ brought together …
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 …
by Clara Busch (MSt. Modern Languages) Once more it is the first week of Michaelmas in Oxford and a new cohort of graduate students embark on their journey through the Modern Languages and, most importantly, the History of the Book(s). On this first Wednesday of term students, scholars, librarians, and fellow Bibliophiles gathered in the …