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2013 RBMS Workshop: Cataloging Medieval Manuscripts: Introductory Resources

This is a guide to the resources which will be discussed at the workshop. The bibliographic notation system is not consistent, but rather reflects the systems used by the three presenters.

Some Basic Sources

Bischoff, Bernhard. (1990) Latin palaeography : antiquity and the Middle Ages.  Cambridge England ; New York : Cambridge University Press.

Boyle, Leonard.  (1984)  Medieval Latin palaeography : a bibliographical introduction.  Toronto ; Buffalo : University of Toronto Press.

Cappelli, Adriano. (2011)  Lexicon abbreviaturarum : dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane usate nelle carte e codici specialmente del Medio-Evo, riprodotte con oltre 14000 segni incisi, con l'aggiunta di uno studio sulla brachigrafia medioevale, un prontuario di sigle epigrafiche, l'antica numerazione romana ed arabica ed i segni indicanti monete, pesi, misure, etc.  Milano : U. Hoepli, 2011

Clemens, R., & Graham, T. (2007). Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Derolez, Albert. (2003) The Palaeography of Gothic Manuscript Books: From the Twelfth to the Early Sixteenth Century, Cambridge Studies in Palaeography and Codicology 9.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rouse, Mary A. and Richard H. Rouse.  (1991)  Authentic Witnesses: Approaches to Medieval Texts and Manuscripts.  Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 341-408.

Some Basic Online Resources

You may not have access to all of these materials if your library does not subscribe to them:

Abbreviationes  the first database of medieval Latin abbreviations (first publicly shown in 1992, generally available since 1993), is a great tool for deciphering and transcribing medieval Latin manuscripts. It is a standard reference work and reflects the state of contemporary scholarship. All you need is a Web browser connected to the Internet. That’s it. There is nothing to install, no settings to configure, and no usernames or passwords to remember. [description adapted from website]

Cappeli online  Online version (scanned images; not searchable) of Capelli’s Dizionario delle Abbreviature.

Catalogue of Digitized Manuscripts. This site, hosted by UCLA's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, was designed to enable users to find fully digitized manuscripts currently available on the Web.

The Evolution of the Medieval Book. © 2002, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

Hand Bookbindings: Plain and Simple to Grand and Glorious. An online exhibition of materials from Special Collections at the Princeton University Library.

In Principio Incipit index for a large number of texts.

Latin Manuscript Books before 1600: A List of Printed Catalogues and Unpublished Inventories of Extant Collections. The e-version of Paul Kristeller’s inventory, as revised by Sigrid Krämer (2003).

Making Manuscripts. Click on "Making Manuscripts" for the J. Paul Getty Museum's six-minute video on the making of medieval manuscripts.

Pigments through the Ages. A Web exhibit by WebExhibits, an interactive museum of science, humanities, and culture.

Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts:  provenance data drawn from auction and sale catalogs

Scriptorium: Medieval and Early-Modern Manuscripts Online (Cambridge)   A digital archive of manuscript miscellanies and commonplace books from the period c. 1450-1720; the website will provide unrestricted public access to these images. Scriptorium also develops and publishs a set of online pedagogical and research resources supporting late medieval and early modern manuscript studies.  Scriptorium will be working with the manuscript collections in a number of college libraries in Cambridge, as well as the Cambridge University Library, the Brotherton Library in Leeds, and other archives, such as that of Holkham Hall in Norfolk. [description adapted from website]

Vocabulaire codicologique  Online version of Denis Muzerelle, Vocabulaire codicologique: répertoire méthodique des termes français relatifs aux manuscrits (Paris: Editions CEMI, 1985).  Defines codicological terms and provides translations of terms in 
English, Spanish, and Italian, as well as hyper-linked diagrams whenever relevant.

With apologies to Elizabeth Teviotdale for using materials which she compiled for her classes at http://homepages.wmich.edu/~eteviotd/codicology2013/online.html

Other Relevant Bibliography

Christ, Karl. (1984)  Handbook of Medieval Library History.  Methuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press.

Shailor, Barbara. (1991) The Medieval Book.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.

Staikos, Konstantine Sp. (2010) The History of the Library in Western Civilization.  New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, vol. IV.