Exploring the world of books at Oxford
by Thomas Godfrey (MSt. Modern Languages 2021) As part of my MSt. in Modern Languages, I was fortunate enough to take Henrike Lähnemann’s method option, entitled Palaeography, History of the Book and Digital Humanities. This particular method option provides training in dealing with manuscripts and books, and the final assessment requires students to come up …
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, …
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 Ksenia Dugaeva In our ‘Structures of the manuscript book’ seminar last week, we continued our foray into understanding how manuscripts come together – focusing in this session on the journey from sheet to codex to bound book. All of us browse, read, and generally handle books in our daily and academic lives, and a …
By Thomas Godfrey Understanding materiality can teach us a lot about a manuscript. Seeing as we will be looking at many manuscripts over the course of the year, we were granted the opportunity to get to grips with the fundamentals of how they are made. Through attending a workshop led by Andrew Honey, Robert Minte, …
A short report about my first time meeting Bodleian Library MS. Germ. e. 5 by Marlene Schilling To be honest, I had nearly forgotten about Bodleian Library Ms. Germ. e. 5 in the 18 month since handing in, in March 2021, my MSt. in Modern Languages Method Option essay that focused on this particular 14th century manuscript. I had spent …
the Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures (CMTC) at The Queen’s College (Oxford) is hosting the termly “Work in progress” colloquium on Tuesday 8th November (3,30–5,00pm UK time) and the Michaelmas Term Lecture on Wednesday 23rd November (5,15–6,45pm). For further information please consult the programme below. Vittorio Danovi, Dirk Meyer, Gabriele Rota *** CMTC presents — research talks (Michaelmas Term 2022) (1) “Work in Progress” colloquium Tuesday 8th …
In the first week of the History of the Book methods option, students and researchers gathered in the Taylor Institute Library to explore items from the special collections that challenge the very notion of the ‘book’. From the curious collection of printed and handwritten manuscript pages rebound in Arch.Fol.It.1478(1) where Petrarch’s ‘sonetti et cançone’ are …
The videocast series Parchment and Paper is dedicated to the treasures of the college library at Queen’s. In episode 3 of series 3, Dr Conor O’Brien (Associate Professor in the Early Mediaeval History of the British Isles and North Atlantic World, and Tutorial Fellow in History at Queen’s: https://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-conor-o%E2%80%99brien) joins Matthew Shaw (College Librarian at Queen’s: https://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-gabriele-rota) …
In celebration of the first three years of the Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures (CMTC) and the launch of the centre’s open-access journal with its inaugural issue, Monumentalization, there will be a CMTC festival in Trinity Term 2022. Public events include the formal launch of the journal Manuscript and Text Cultures (Wednesday 11th May), …