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Author Archives: rarebooks

Rare Books Goes to Warsaw!

11 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Journal Articles, Publication

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Analecta Papyrologica, Arabic, Arabic Papyrus, bilingualism, Cairo Geniza, Classical Studies, contracts, Coptic, Egypt, estate manager, European Research Council, Fatamid, Free Universtiy of Brussels, Greek, Heroninus, Johannes Gutenberg University, Journal of Juristic Papyrology, legal documents, Mainz, Marina Rustow, Modern Languages and Literatures - Arabic Language and Literature, multilingualism, Naïm Vanthieghem, Near Easter Studies, paper fragments, papyrus, Princeton University, Ramadan, Rare Books Department, slaves, Special Collections, The Cairo Geniza as a Source for the History of Institutions and Documentary Practices in the Medieval Middle East, University of Zurich, Utah

#60-Front
P. Utah inv. 6o
end of ninth century
papyrus

“J’ai pu y decouvrir une trentaine de documents juridiques arabes inedits de toutes epoques, parmi lesquels quelques beaux specimens de contrat de vente d’esclaves.” (I have discovered thirty legal documents in Arabic…, including some fine specimens of contracts for the sale of slaves.) — Naïm Vanthieghem

Five pieces from the Arabic Papyrus, Parchment, and Paper Collection were published by Naïm Vanthieghem in The Journal of Juristic Papyrology, vol. XLIV (2014), pp. 163-187 (Warsaw). The article is titled “Quelques Contrats de vente d’Esclaves.” Unfortunately, the J. Willard Marriott Library does not hold this journal. Mr. Vanthieghem graciously sent us a pdf of his article, which we have had cataloged. It may be found under the call number HT1317 V36 2014 when requested at the Special Collections Reference Desk, Level 4. The papyrus and paper are also available for review.

Naïm Vanthieghem obtained his MA in Classical Studies (2009) and in Modern Languages and Literatures – Arabic Language and Literature (2010) at the Free University of Brussels (ULB). He then specialised in the field of Arabic papyrology at the University of Zurich (2010–11) and at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz (2011–12). He received his PhD at the Free University of Brussels with a dissertation devoted to the archive of an estate manager called Heroninus, who was in charge of a large estate in mid-third-century Egypt (2015).

Naïm Vanthieghem has written several articles and reviews in the fields of Greek, Coptic and Arabic papyrology. He has a special interest in the study of multilingualism in medieval Egypt, and in several contributions he highlighted the existence of an Arabic-Coptic bilingualism that emerged in Egypt in the ninth century and disappeared in the late Fatimid period (twelfth century). He has also worked for several years on Arabic legal documents, for the project “Islamic Law Materialized” funded by the European Research Council. In the framework of the project “The Cairo Geniza as a Source for the History of Institutions and Documentary Practices in the Medieval Middle East” led by Prof. Marina Rustow, he is studying Fatimid Arabic documents of the Cairo Geniza. He is currently a post-doctoral research associate with the department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University.

Among his publications is “Les archives d’un maquignon d’Égypte médiévale ?” Analecta papyrologica 26 (2014), for which he also used pieces from the Rare Books Department Arabic Papyrus, Parchment and Paper collection.

Below are the papyrus and paper fragments of legal contracts for the sale of slaves in Egypt dating from end of the third century to the 16th century, as identified by Mr. Vanthieghem.

#427-Front
P. Utah inv. 427 recto
end of third century
papyrus

#1356-Front
P. Utah inv. 1356 recto
paper
26 ramadan 325 (tenth century)

#949-Front
P. Utah inv. 949 recto
paper
1 ramadan 326

#949-Back
P. Utah inv. 949 verso
paper
1 ramadan 326

#839-Front
P. Utah inv. 839 recto
paper
6 Dec 1497
Cairo?

 

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Book of the Week — تاريخ راشد افندي

10 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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America, Arabic, Austria, Celebizade, dictionary, European, France, grammar, historian, historiographer, Holland, Hungarian, Ibrahim Muteferrika, Islam, Istanbul, Latin, Muslim, Muteferrika Press, Ottoman, Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Turkish, poet, Rasit Efendi, Turkish, typeface, woodcut

DR531-R36-1741-v.1-firstimage
تاريخ راشد افندي
تاريخ راشد
قسطنطنية : ابراهيم من متفرقه كان

The first Turkish printing house was established in Istanbul on December 14, 1727. The director of the press was Ibrahim Muteferrika (1674-1745), a Hungarian convert to Islam. In 1726 Muteferrika sent a report on the efficiency of the printing press to Vizier Damat Ibrahim Pasha, the Grand Mufti. After he submitted another report to Sultan Ahmed, he recieved permission to publish non-religious books, over the objections of calligraphers and religious leaders.

Muteferrika Press published sixteen books between 1729 and 1742. Each edition consisted of between five hundred and one thousand copies. The presses themselves came from France, the typefaces were designed and cut by Muteferrika. The printers were from Austria. The press’s first title, a dictionary, contained maps and drawings from the Islamic world. A grammar (1730) was the first printed Ottoman work in Latin. In 1732, the press published a history of the discovery of America. This was the first book by a Muslim author about the Americas and included thirteen woodcut illustrations.

The work presented here is Rasit Efendi’s Tarih-i Rashid Afandi, published in 1741 by the Muteferrika Press. This was the sixteenth book to be published by the press. The work covers the period 1071-1134AH (1660-1772) of the official Ottoman history.  Rashid’s work is added to with Celebizade Isma’il Asim’s Tarih-i Celebizade Efendi, a history by Celebizade (d 1173 [1760]. Both Rashid and Celebizade held the post of official historiographer for the Ottoman Empire. This publication, printed in four volumes, here bound as one, is considered the prime source for the period.

The text, printed in Arabic script, is in Ottoman Turkish. Rare Books copy has evidence of at least one hand underlining and marking in faded brown ink. Bound in Ottoman style with blind-stamped European leather, lined with patterned paper.

DR531-R36-1741-v.1-pattern

DR531-R36-1741-v.1-colophon

DR531-R36-1741-v.1-secondimage

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Rare Books Goes to Geneva!

06 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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American, Americas, aquatints, Elizabeth Daley, English, fairy tale, Fort McKenzie, French, frontier, German, indigenous, July, Karl Bodmer, Montana, Patek Philippe, Prince Maximilian zu Wied, rare books, Romantic, Scott Beadles, Special Collections Reading Room, watercolors

Tableau_41
“A seemingly idyllic, rarely seen American past comes to life like a fairy tale — some land before time, before film, before death.”

Patek Philippe: The International Magazine used images from the Karl Bodmer aquatints held in the rare book collections for an article in its July 2017 issue. The digital reproductions, especially crafted by Rare Books assistant Scott Beadles for this issue, illustrate “Home of the Braves,” by Elizabeth Daley.

“In the 1830s, when the American West was on the verge of momentous change, a German prince set off to explore the country and its people. He took with him a Swiss artist, whose intricate depictions are the last record [before photography] of a disappearing world.” Swiss-born artist Karl Bodmer accompanied Prince Maximilian zu Wied on his two-year journey across the American frontier, reaching as far west as Fort McKenzie, Montana.

Tableau_5edited

The Rare Books Department holds a set of the eighty-one aquatints produced after watercolors by Bodmer for zu Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, first published in German in 1839 and later translated into English and French. Rare Books holds first editions of the German and of the English translation.

You can look at the digitized collection here:

Karl Bodmer Aquatints

In this digital format, you can also look at the first German and English editions of zu Wied’s Travels. Better than that, however, you can visit the Special Collections Reading Room and browse the lush, exquisitely detailed aquatints in their original state.

Hardly a romantic fairy tale, the history of indigenous peoples in the Americas is often tragic (they were not saved by a Prince) but always rich in its antiquity and its currency. Bodmer’s aquatints and zu Wied’s Travels are only part of a story worth exploring to your heart’s content in Special Collections.

Patek-Philippe-Cover

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We Recommend — One for the Books

05 Wednesday Jul 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Recommended Lecture

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"graphic designer", Alabama, assisted living, book artist, book arts, Book Arts Program, bottles, cotton rag handmade paper, dolls, farm implements, fossils, Glenn House, Gordo, J. Willard Marriott Library, Jessica Peterson, lecture, letterpress printer, Ma'Cille House, memento, miscellanea, museum, New Orleans, newspaper archives, Northport, Paper Souvenir, Prince Edward County, Prince Edward School Foundation, public education, pull-outs, Rare Books Classroom, Rare Books Department, stab binding, t-shirts, taxidermy, The School of Art Institute of Chicago, The Southern Letterpress, University of Alabama, Virginia, workshop

N7433.4-P475-M33-2011-Digging

Jessica Peterson, book artist, letterpress printer, and graphic designer is the owner of The Southern Letterpress in New Orleans. She holds an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Alabama and a BFA from The School of Art Institute of Chicago.

While visiting the J. Willard Marriott Library to teach a workshop for the Book Arts Program, she will also give a lecture on non-traditional letterpress techniques.

Thursday
July 13
6PM
Rare Books Classroom
Level 4
J. Willard Marriott Library
The University of Utah

Free and open to the public

The Rare Books Department is pleased to support the Book Arts Program with its collections and services.


N7433.4-P475-M33-2011-cover

Ma’Cille’s Museum of Miscellanea
Jessica Peterson (b. 1976), compilar
Gordo, AL: J. Peterson, 2011
N7433.4 P475 M33 2011

This book is an attempt to catalog Ma’Cille’s Museum of Miscellanea ten years after it closed, based on memories of people who visited the museum and newspaper archives. Ma’Cille House (d. 1999), whose formal education ended in 7th grade, began collecting miscellanea in the 1950s, including such things as dug-up bottles, dolls, farm implements, taxidermy, and fossils. After she had raised seven children, she established her museum, in the early 1960s, on a rural back road near Gordo, Alabama. By the time the museum closed forty years later, it was world famous – a multi-building institution visited by thousands of people. In 1998, the Ma’Cille’s family, facing the costs of assisted living care for her, and other financial burdens, auctioned off the museum’s contents. The story of the museum was preserved through stories that circulated about Gordo. Drawings by Glenn House, Sr. Letterpress printed on textblock cotton rag handmade paper from Alabama clay-colored t-shirts. Book contains pull-outs, including one printed memento from Ma’Cille’s. Paper covered boards with exposed stab binding. Laid in a printed four-flap paper folder. Issued in paper slipcase. Edition of thirty copies. Rare Books copy is number 6, signed by the compilar, who also researched, wrote and designed it.

N7433.4-P475-M33-2011-Finale

 


N7433.4-P475-U53-2014-PrinceEdward

Unbound
Jessica Peterson (b. 1976)
Northport, AL: Paper Souvenir, 2014
N7433.4 P475 U53 2014

From the introduction: “In the fall of 1959, the public schools of Prince Edward County, Virginia were closed in response to a court order to desegregate. The schools remained closed for five years. Many white children began attending a system of private schools established by the Prince Edward School Foundation. As permitted by state law, tuition for these schools was almost completely subsidized by the government. No one elected to attend the private academy for black students organized by the same group of white leaders…lawsuits about the intersection of public education and race circulated through the state and federal courts. Edition of one hundred copies. Rare Books copy is no. 81.

N7433.4-P475-M33-2011-Children

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The Risk of Being Less Free

04 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

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Alexander Hamilton, Articles of Confederation, Benjamin Warner, Charleston, Chief Justice of the United States, Constitution of the United States, Constitutional Convention, engravings, James Madison, John Jay, New York, New-York Packet, Philadelphia, portraits, President of the United States, Publius, Richmond, Ronald Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury, South Carolina, The Daily Advertiser, The Federalist, The Independent Journal, The New-York Journal, Virginia, war

JK154-1788-title
“The violent destruction of life and property incident to war, the continual effort and alarm attendant on a state of continual danger, will compel nations the most attached to liberty to resort for repose and security to institutions which have a tendency to destroy their civil and political rights. To be more safe, they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.”
― Alexander Hamilton

The Federalist: A Collection of Essays…
Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), James Madison (1751-1836), and John Jay (1745-1829)
New-York: Printed and sold by J. and A. M’Lean, no.41, Hanover-square, M,DCC,LXXXVIII (1788)
First edition
JK154 1788

Although written for the purpose of supporting New York state’s ratification of the Constitution of the United States, these essays were eventually published together as The Federalist and were soon recognized for their brilliant commentary on the new republican charter. The use of The Federalist as a tool for interpreting the Constitution began before it was officially ratified and has continued to the present day. The Federalist is the fundamental document left by the framers of the Constitution as a guide to their philosophy and intentions.

Alexander Hamilton was the principal force behind the pro-ratification pamphlets, enlisting fellow New Yorker John Jay and Virginian James Madison as coauthors of the essays. The individual responsible for each essay is not clear. The first essay by “Publius” (the pen name for all three authors) appeared in the 27 October 1787 issue of The Independent Journal, and all or some of the subsequent numbers were also printed in the New-York Packet, The Daily Advertiser, and The New-York Journal. The first thirty-six Federalist essays were collected and published by the M’Lean brothers in March 1788 and the final forty-nine, along with the text of the Constitution, followed in a second volume in May. The last eight essays were printed in book form before they appeared in newspapers. In all, the essays represent one of the most important American contributions to political theory.

The first edition of the collection was of five hundred copies, fifty of which were purchased by Hamilton and sent to Virginia. The sale of the others was poor. The publisher complained in October 1788, long after New York had ratified the Constitution, that they still had several hundred copies unsold.


The Federalist, On the New Constitution, Written in 1778, by Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Madison
Philadelphia: Published by Benjamin Warner, No. 147, Market street, and sold at his stores, Richmond, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina, 1818
Fifth Edition
KF4515 F4 1818

Despite the poor sales of the first edition, The Federalist was published again and nearly continuously to the present day. The fifth edition of The Federalist contains an appendix of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States with Amendments, not found in the fourth edition. The Philadelphia imprint contains revisions by Madison, along with his claims of authorship of some of the essays previously attributed to Hamilton. This is the second single-volume edition printed, complete with full-page engraved portraits of Hamilton, Madison and Jay. It was published the same year as a Washington, D.C. imprint.

Federalist1818-JamesMadison

James Madison became the fourth President of the United States.

Federalist1818-AlexanderHamilton

Alexander Hamilton, who had represented New York at the Constitutional Convention, became the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury, holding the post until he resigned in 1795.

Federalist1818-JohnJay

John Jay became the first Chief Justice of the United States in 1789, stepping down in 1795 to become governor of New York, a post he held for two terms, until retiring in 1801.

Rare Books copy of fifth edition is gift of Dr. Ronald Rubin.

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Book of the Week — Prelude to Eden

03 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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"graphic designer", acetate, advertising, aluminum, American, binding, book designer, Caledonia, calligrapher, Chiswick Bookshop, Dorothy Vernard Abbe, Electra, Fabriano, Frederic Goudy, Herman Cohen, Hingham, marionettes, Mergenthaler Linotype Company, photography, puppet, Püterschein Academy, silk-screen, theater, typeface, typographer, United States, William Addison Dwiggins, woodcarving, World War II

PN1980-D85-1956-Bow
“But I know, I know that they’ve got me in the wrong place! I know it! I know it! I know it!”

PRELUDE TO EDEN: A DRAMA FOR MARIONETTES
William Addison Dwiggins (1880-1956)
Hingham, MA: Püterschein-Hingham Press, 1956

William Addison Dwiggins is one of the best known American book designers and typographers of the twentieth century. He studied under Frederic Goudy. He is credited with coining the term “graphic designer,” a term he used in reference to himself in 1922. His best known typefaces, still in use today, are Electra and Caledonia, created for the Mergentahler Linotype Company, for whom Addison worked from 1929 until after World War II. He was also a calligrapher and was legendary for his work in advertising. Dwiggins loved woodcarving, a passion that led to the creation of his marionette theater. He began a puppet group he called the Püterschein Academy, through which he produced several shows, including Prelude to Eden.

This “drama” is set in “A Wilderness Northwest of Eden” and features four marionette characters: Drace, the District Warden (who became The Serpent); Dijul, a kindly Antediluvian; Lillith, a young woman; and Azrael, an Archangel and Bailiff of Eden.

PN1980-D85-1956-PreludePN1980-D58-1956-Draco

Illustrated throughout using what is referred to in the colophon as a “tone-line” process, which involved photographing and then silk-screening images of Dwiggins’ marionettes. Typography, composition, printing, silkscreens by Dorothy Vernard Abbe. Dorothy Venard Abbe is the author of The Dwiggins Marionettes, 1970. She worked as a book designer at several university presses. Bound in aluminum sheet boards, attached with green Fabriano paper at the spine, also by Abbe. This is the first time that metal covers were used as a binding design in the United States.

PN1980-D85-1956-cover

Rare Books copy in original acetate dust jacket. It is a presentation copy, inscribed by Abbe to Herman Cohen, owner of the Chiswick Bookshop, and his wife, Viv. The original mailing box survives, split at the seams, and addressed to Cohen. Laid in are two letters from Dorothy Abbe written in black ink, one with the original mailing envelope. Edition of one hundred and seventy-five copies.

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Book of the Week — The Song of Roland

26 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Battle of Roncevaux, Bruce Rogers, Cambridge, Cathedral de Chartres, chanson de geste, Charlemagne, chivalry, English, EPIC, French, gilt, Isabel Butler, medieval, Old French, printer's device, Roland, roundels, Song of Roland, stained glass, The Riverside Press, Turoldus, vignette

PQ1521-E5-B8-1906-XXX
“Mult ad apris ki bien conuist ahan.” (He has learned much who knows the pain of struggle.) — stanza CLXXXIV, line 2425, Song of Roland

The Song of Roland
Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1906
PQ1521 E5 B8 1906

The Song of Roland is a French epic dating from about 1040 to 1115CE. It recounts the chivalric and heroic deeds of Charlemagne, based on the historical but minor eighth century battle of Roncevaux. Roland was a nephew of Charlemagne. The author of the legend is unknown, although his name may have been Turoldus. The epic is considered the first masterpiece of literature in the French vernacular, written as a medieval chanson de geste (song of deeds) in four thousand lines. In spite of, or perhaps because of, its status in French literature, it was not translated into English until the late 19th century.

This edition was translated from Old French by Isabel Butler.

This edition was designed by Bruce Rogers, one of the great book designers of the twentieth century.  Seven illustrations derived from the compartments of the window of Charlemagne in the Cathedral de Chartres depict events in the legend of Roland. These have been drawn and printed and then colored by hand in  blues, reds, greens and yellows after the stained glass of the window. Five roundels are placed throughout the text. A large arched head-piece vignette tops the opening text as if a dome. The text is printed in double columns with marginal notes in brown and rubricated in gilt as page headings. The title-page is printed in red and black with a printer’s device in color.

PQ1521-E5-B8-1906-i

PQ1521-E5-B8-1906-XX-XXI

Typefaces are French bâtarde and civilité. Bâtarde was a blackletter script used in France, the Burgundian Netherlands and Germany in the 14th and 15th centuries. The script was a decorative chancery or legal hand dating from the 13th century. Civilité is a type designed by Robert Granjon as a response to the Italian italic. Granjon based the font on a cursive Gothic script. The typeface was first used in 1559 for a book on manners written for children by Desiderius Erasmus.

PQ1521-E5-B8-1906-XXXIV

Printed on American handmade paper. Bound in quarter vellum over printed boards in a fleurs-de-lys pattern taken from paintings in the crypt at Chartres. To achieve an antiqued effect, Rogers rubbed a red paste wash over the printed paper.

PQ1521-E5-B8-1906-Cover

Bruce Rogers (1870-1957) was born in Indiana. As a young man, he moved to Boston, where, in 1895, he began working at the Riverside Press, a printing department of the Houghton, Mifflin publishing company. Rogers began designing trade books. In 1900, a Department of Special Bookmaking was created for the production of fine press editions, with Rogers in charge. He designed more than four hundred books during his career. Of those, he chose thirty (Roger’s Thirty), at the request of an interviewer,  that he considered successful book works. The Song of Roland was one of his choices.

George Mifflin, the head of Houghton, Mifflin was so proud of Roland that he sent a copy to then-President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt was so impressed he visited the press to look at other of Rogers’ works. He wrote, “…it seemed to me far ahead, and almost like some of the very beautiful printing[s]…at the end of the Fifteenth Century.”

Edition of two hundred and twenty copies.

 

 

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A Noble Genealogy — Happy Birthday, Philip the Fair

22 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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angel, Bernard of Clairvaux, Bruges, Burgundy, Carthusian, Charles the Bold, Chlothar, Christian, Dijon, Dole, Duchy of Burgundy, Duke of Merania, Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, facsimile, Flanders, Flemish, Flemish Chronicles, France, German, Ghent, Girart de Roussillon, Holy Roman Empire, House of Burgundy, Hungary, illuminators, John the Fearless, King Boson, Louis XI, manuscript illumination, Margaret of York, Mary Magdalene, Master of Edward IV, Maximilian of Austria, Mechelen, miniatures, Montereau-Fault-Yonne, Oise, Olivier de la Marche, Philip the Bold, Philip the Fair, Poligny, rare books, Saint-Stephen of Besancon, Seine, spite, sword, Theodoric, Turks, tutor, workshop

DC611-B776-F5-2015-spread1
“Here follow some chronicles excerpted from some ancient registers and other teachings of certain ancient kings, princes and several holy persons from the very noble and ancient house of Burgundy.”

THE FLEMISH CHRONICLES OF PHILIP THE FAIR
Quaternio verlag Luzern, 2015
DC611 HB776 F5 2015

Facsimile. The Flemish Chronicles was produced in 1485/86 in Bruges for Philip, the heir to the House of Burgundy, who was just seven years old at the time. The Chronicles is a history of Burgundy illustrated with eleven large miniatures depicting historical events, idyllic nature scenes and scenes at court. The text is minimal, as would befit the beginning reading capacity of a child.

DC611-B776-F5-2015-spread2
“Theodoric, King of Burgundy, defeated Chlothar, second King of this name of France, in battle in the year 605 after the resurrection of Our Lord. 30,000 men were then killed. During this battle an angel was seen holding a naked sword above the people. And at that time the said Theoderic conquered all the land situated between the rivers Seine and Oise, as it is written in detail in the chronicles of France.”

Like any children’s book, the images were intended to overtake the text. In this case, the images announce the importance of the dynasty Philip was to inherit. The Duchy of Burgundy ended with the death of Charles the Bold in 1477. Louis XI of France pounced on the Burgundian lands, but the economically powerful Flanders rebelled. Charles’ daughter Mary, in an effort to avoid catastrophe, married the son of the Holy Roman Empire, Maximilian of Austria, three months after her father’s death.

DC611-B776-F5-2015-spread3
“Frederick, who since that time was Emperor, and who was a brother of the said King Boson, despite his young age recovered all the land of Burgundy and a part of the German lands.
Otto, by grace of God palatine count of Burgundy, was a son of the said Frederick, and he died in the year 1191, on the 26th day of June.
Jeanne, daughter of the said Otto, whose body lies in the church of Saint-Stephen of Besancon, was wife of the Emperor and lady of Burgundy.
Otto, by the grace of God Duke of Merania and palatine count of Burgundy, of Macon, and of Vienne was a son of the said Jeanne, who formerly claimed the Kingdom of Burgundy, and founded the canons of Poligny, who since then were transferred to Dole. And at that time, out of spite, the Kingdom of Burgundy was turned into a Duchy.”

Their son, Philip, was born on June 22 in Bruges. Mary died in an accident in 1482.

DC611-B776-F5-2015-spread4
“From the said Philip the Bold descended John the Fearless Duke of Burgundy, most victorious and most Christian prince who fought the Turks in Hungary, and died at Montereau-Fault-Yonne in the year 1419. His tomb is in the Carthusian church at Dijon.”

The Flemish territories refused to recognize Maximilian as regent for his son. Ghent and Bruges rebelled. In 1485 Maximilian took Philip to Mechelen, where his grandmother, Margaret of York, raised him.

This chronicle, written and produced for Philip, featured a century of his Burgundian ancestors. This is an unusual book for its time, made especially for a child. The chronicler, Olivier de la Marche, was Philip’s tutor. The chronicle sets the Burgundian throne within a thousand year-old history, beginning in 14CE and ending just after the death of Philip’s mother. In this setting, the Burgundian ancestors were placed alongside Mary Magdalene (who purportedly baptized the first Burgundian king), the knight Girart de Roussillon, Bernard of Clairvaux, Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa and the Burgundian dukes from Philip the Bold on.

Flanders was a bevy of wealthy commercial cities at this time. Bruges and Ghent had a concentration of talented and well-funded illuminators. These cities became the center of European manuscript illumination in the second half of the fifteenth century. In this highly competitive atmosphere, Master of Edward IV operated a flourishing workshop. One of his assistants created the miniatures and border art for The Flemish Chronicles.

Facsimile edition of seven hundred and forty copies, sixty of which are hors de commerce. Rare Books copy is no. 134.

DC611-B776-F5-2015-spread5

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We Recommend — The Theophilus Legend in Medieval Text & Image

21 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Recommended Reading

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Abraham, angels, apostate, Associate Professor, Cambridge, Christ, Comparative Literature, Countess of Winchester, D. S. Brewer, Danish, David, demons, Department of World Languages and Culture, Devil, Earl Ferrers of Derby, embossed leather, European, facsimiles, Faustian, France, French, Gothic, illuminations, Ingeborg Psalter, Jerry Root, Jesse, Lady Eleanor de Quincy, Lambeth Apokalypse, Latin, London, manuscript illuminations, medieval, medieval manuscripts, miniatures, Moses, Muller & Schindler, New Testament, Old Testament, ornamental initials, painting, psalms, Rare Books Department, saint, salvation, St. John, Stuttgart, The University of Utah, Theophilus, Theophilus legend, Virgin, Virgin Mary, William III

Theophilus-Legend
“The legend’s popularity is a tribute to its ability to make the plight of individual salvation tangible and visible at a time when that salvation must seem highly uncertain.” — from the Introduction

The Theophilus Legend in Medieval Text & Image
Jerry Root
Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2017
PN687 Ts R66 2017

From the publisher’s website: “The legend of Theophilus stages an iconic medieval story, its widespread popularity attesting to its grip on the imagination. A pious clerk refuses a promotion, is demoted, becomes furious and makes a contract with the Devil. Later repentant, he seeks out a church and a statue of the Virgin; she appears to him, and he is transformed from apostate to saint. It is illustrated in a variety of media: texts, stained glass, sculpture, and manuscript illuminations.
Through a wide range of manuscript illuminations and a selection of French texts, the book explores visual and textual representations of the legend, setting it in its social, cultural and material contexts, and showing how it explores medieval anxieties concerning salvation and identity. The author argues that the legend is a sustained meditation on the power of images, its popularity corresponding with the rise of their role in portraying medieval identity and salvation, and in acting as portals between the limits of the material and the possibilities of the spiritual world.”

Jerry Root is Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature in the Department of World Languages and Culture at The University of Utah.

The Rare Books Department has facsimiles of two of the medieval manuscripts Prof. Root worked with for his book.

PSAUTIER D’INGEBURGE DE DANEMARK (INGEBORG PSALTER)
Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1985
ND3357 I5 D4 1985

Facsimile. Produced around 1195 in northeastern France, the Ingeborg Psalter is written in Latin with two flyleafs of inscriptions in French. The illuminations in this work represent a turning point in the history of European painting, when artists left behind abstract and highly stylized forms in favor of a more naturalistic representation of the world. The three-dimensional qualities of the figures, their proportions, and their expressive movements stand out as essential innovative elements in the emerging Gothic style of the early 1200’s. The manuscript is named after its first owner, Ingeborg, a Danish princess and spouse of King Philip II of France, who was expelled by her husband for unknown reasons shortly after their wedding. The beginnings of the psalms are rubricated with ornamental initials. Some of the psalms are illuminated with ornate figural initials depicting scenes from the life of David. A large number of elaborate miniatures of a decisively new style and design greatly influenced the art of illumination in the Gothic period. The illuminations depict episodes from the lives of Abraham and Moses, followed by the root of Jesse marking the transition between the Old and New Testaments. Further illuminations are based on themes taken from the life of Christ. Finally, scenes from the legend of Theophilus are depicted. In this popular medieval epic, the sinner Theophilus devotes himself to the Devil and is saved by the Virgin Mary, thus introducing the Faustian motif for the very first time. Bound in embossed leather. Edition of five hundred copies. University of Utah copy is no. 396.

ND3357-J5-D4-1985-pg36spread
Homage to the Devil, Prayer to the Vigin, Retrieval and Return of Contract

DIE LAMBETH APOKALYPSE
Stuttgart: Muller & Schindler, 1990
BS2822.5 L35 M67 1990

Facsimile. This manuscript was likely commissioned by Lady Eleanor de Quincy, Countess of Winchester (ca. 1230-74), daughter of William III, Earl Ferrers of Derby (1200-1254). It was produced circa 1252-67, probably in London. Eleanor is depicted in one of the illuminations that serve as a visual appendix to the book. St. John’s revelatory vision of the end of the world was a popular subject for medieval illustration, given the emotionally powerful images of clashing armies of angels and demons and terrestrial and celestial upheaval evoked by the text. Seventy-eight miniatures include the Dragon being cast into Hell (Rev. 20:9-10) and Christ sitting in Final Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). The text, in Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, includes extracts from an eleventh century theological commentary on the Book of Revelations. Illuminated Apocalypses were fashionable in England when this manuscript was produced. The commentary was added to ensure that the reader was correctly guided through an understanding of the biblical symbolism. Illuminations helped with this guidance, but they also served as a statement on the owner’s social position. The more lavish the production, the more prominent the owner, or, at least, the more wealthy. The book was intended to educate, but also to entertain.

BS2822.5-L35-M67-1990-pg46recto
Theophilus goes to the Jewish intermediary: pays homage to the Devil

BS2822.5-L35-M67-1990-pg47spread(curves)
Virgin takes back contract, hellmouth; Return of contract

BS2822.5-L35-M67-1990-pg46Verso
Prayer to the Virgin; Virgin consults Christ

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Rare Books Goes to Detroit!

20 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on Rare Books Goes to Detroit!

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artists' books, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, Book Arts Program, Detroit, Emily Tipps, fire, Lin Charlston, Michigan, peat bog, Scott Beadles, Tate Shaw, Welsh

N7433.4-C435-F7-2011-Sky
“That which is not said aloud often speaks louder (and, in instances, clearer) than that which is.” — from The Cave Protection Act of 2013

Emily Tipps, Program Manager and Instructor for the Book Arts Program is presenting a paper at the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment biennual conference, June 20-24, in Detroit, Michigan. The paper examines three artists’ books from the Rare Books Department.

Emily writes:
“The artists’ book is uniquely positioned to articulate narratives of environmental devastation. The power of this diverse medium stems from its rich permutation of form, image, text, texture, scale, and materiality. I examine artists’ books that address particular instances of traumatic environmental change.

Lin Charlston’s Fragment by Fragment: Signs of the Peat Bog Disperse into the Wind is a meditation on a fire that irreversibly damaged a Welsh peat bog. Charlston employs color, a landscapte format, and an attentive typeface derived from fragments of peat exposed by the fire and dispersed by wind — phenomena which scarred the landscape and the ecosystem.

N7433.4-S5416-G76-2013-cover

The Ground by Tate Shaw positions a personal essay detailing the author’s practice of burying and recovering a book — an act of experiment and catharsis — in the ground in rural Pennsylvania, the site of former coal mines and a current center for hydrofracking. The book’s ink jet-printed plates are treated with water to wash out certain areas — a process echoing the erosion of the landscape.

N7433.4-R395-C38-2013-ExteriorN7433.4-R395-C38-2013-Inside

The Cave Protection Act of 2013 by Michelle Ray, concerns the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, where underground fires (a result of mining) opened sink holes into which the town disappeared. The book examines the sense of identity this disappearance gave the community. The book’s visual language is derived from the dryness of a government document, while its structure deals in negative space, holes opening in the pages, and the oulines of houses overlapping like ghosts or the framing of a new subdivision.

Using slides and physical books, I’ll take a closer look at these and other books, which are so effective in conveying tangible and intangible effects environmental destruction can have on individuals, communities, and ecosystems.”

For more about this conference see Rust/Resistance: Works of Recovery.

To read these books go to the Special Collections Reference Room, L4, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah and ask for:

Charlston, Lin. Fragment by Fragment: Signs of the Peat Bog Disperse into the Wind. Shropshire: Charlston Books, 2011 N7433.4 C435 F7 2011
Shaw, Tate.
The Ground.
Rochester, NY: Preacher’s Biscuite Books, 2013 N7433.4 S5416 G76 2013
Ray, Michelle. The Cave Protection Act of 2013. Small Craft Advisory Press and formLab, 2013 N7433.4 R395 C38 2013

Photographs by Scott Beadles

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