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Tag Archives: Byzantine

Resolution

01 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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Tags

Arabic, Arianism, Athens, birds, Bishop of Nyssa, Byzantine, Caesarea, Cappadocia, Christian, commentary, Constantinople, Coptic, Coptic Cross, Council of Constantinople, courtesy, Dr. Aziz S. Atiya, Eastern Orthodox, Egyptian, friendship, Greek, illumination, kindness, law, love, Lower Armenia, lozenges, manuscript, monastery, monastic rule, monks, Mrs. Lola Atiya, naskh, Nicene, Orthodoxy, polished laid paper, Pontus, St Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa, translation

“They who sow courtesy reap friendship, and they who plant kindness gather love.” — St Basil the Great

Commentaries
St. Gregory (325?- & St. Basil (329-379)
9th c. AH/15th c. CE

This manuscript, written on polished laid paper, is an Arabic translation from a Greek or Coptic original of writings by St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa. It is written in large naskh script and contains an illumination of the Coptic Cross, surrounded by birds between the texts of the two books of commentary.

Beginning sections of text are marked with red ink for the text, framed by diamond-shaped lozenges in red and black.

Although the manuscript is undated, the motifs and painting style are typical of Egyptian illumination of the early 9th c. AH/15thc. CE.

St. Basil the Great was born in Caesarea, the metropolis of Cappadocia. After he attended school in Constantinople and at Athens he opened an oratory and law practice. Soon afterwards, he established a monastery in Pontus, which he directed for five years. He wrote a monastic rule which would become the longest lasting of those in the Byzantine East, still practiced by monks of the Eastern Orthodox church. St. Basil was one of the giants of the early church. He was responsible for the victory of Nicene orthodoxy over Arianism (which denied the divinity of Christ) and the denunciation of Arianism at the Council of Constantinople in 381/82.

St. Basil’s brother, Gregory became a Christian in his early twenties. Married, he went on to study for the priesthood. He was elected Bishop of Nyssa (in Lower Armenia) in 372.

Gift of Dr. Aziz and Mrs. Lola Atiya.

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Book of the Week — Godescalc Evangelistary

22 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Aachen, baptism, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Byzantine, Carolingian illumination, Charlemagne, Christ, Christ in Majesty, Christian, Darmstadt, divine, evangelists, Fountain of Life, Godescalc, Godescalc Evangelistary, gold, Gospel, Hildegard, Insular, Italy, lectionary, medieval, miniscule, nature, Pepin, Pope Adrian, Primus, script, scriptorium, silver, stars

ND3359-G55-C75-2011-titleND3359-G55-C75-2011-pg54spread

“Golden words are painted [here] on purple pages,
The Thunderer’s shining kingdoms of the starry heavens,
Revealed in rose-red blood, disclose the joys of heaven,
And the eloquence of God glittering with fitting brilliance
Promises the splendid rewards of martyrdom to be gained.”

GODESCALC EVANGELISTARY
Darmstadt: Primus, 2011

Facsimile. The Godescalc Evangelistary was commissioned by Charlemagne and his wife Hildegard. Written by the scribe Godescalc, it was produced in the court scriptorium at Aachen between 781 and 783. The lectionary was made to commemorate Charlemagne’s march to Italy, his meeting with Pope Adrian, and the baptism of his son Pepin. The dedication poem includes details of Charlemagne’s march and is signed by the scribe. Charlemagne and Hildegard are both mentioned at the end of the manuscript as its patrons.

The Godescalc Evangelistary is the earliest known example of Carolingian illumination, a fusion of Insular, early Christian, and Byzantine styles. The artist used elaborate shadings in light and dark to give the figures depth. The codex is decorated with four full-page miniatures of the Evangelists, all placed at the opening of the book. Two additional full-page miniatures depict Christ in Majesty and the Fountain of Life. The Gospel readings are written in gold and silver ink.

The poem compare’s the book’s gold and silver with the stars, indicating the early medieval belief that the written words directly reflect Christ’s divine nature – the word made flesh.

This was the earliest style to use miniscule script as a regular element of the script. The script is on a purple background within framed embellishments.

The Godescalc Evangelistary is now preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. Facsimile binding with debossed Charlemagne monogram. Binding is hand-sewn according to the original foliation of the manuscript and attached to the book block through a traditional bookbinding process. Facsimile edition of 98 copies in Arabic numbers and XX copies in roman numbers.

 

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Your Dissertation Here !

10 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Tags

Aldus Manutius, Basel, Bible, Byzantine, Cambridge, England, English, Erasmus, Froben, German, Greek, John Colet, Latin, Latin Vulgate, Martin Luther, New Testament, Nikolaus Gergel, Roman Catholic Church, Thomas More (1478-1535), University of Utah, Venice, Western European, William Tyndale

frontispiece

NOUUM TESTAMENTUM GRAECE
Argentorati : Apud Vuolfium Cephalaeum, 1524
BS1965 1524

First edition, first printing in octavo of the Erasmus New Testament in Greek. This edition, in its compact format, was much more affordable than Froben’s earlier editions, two facts that arguably gave Erasmus’ translation greater societal impact. The text closely follows the Nikolaus Gergel edition of 1521, the second edition of the Erasmus Greek New Testament.

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) took monastic vows at the age of twenty-five. An independent scholar, he spent time at Cambridge where he befriended John Colet (1467-1519) and Thomas More (1478-1535) during a time of great stress in the English Church. He spent three years in Venice working as an editor in the publishing house of Aldus Manutius (1449-1515). He later worked with printer Johannes Froben (1460-1527) in Basel.

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While in England, Erasmus began a systematic examination of available manuscript copies of the New Testament. His resulting Greek New Testament, with Latin in parallel column, was first published by Froben in 1516. The 1516 Greek-Latin New Testament was used as a primary source for Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament into German (1522), and for William Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament into English (1526).

Although Erasmus was criticized by later scholars for not having used all available manuscript copies of the Greek New Testament and for not using Byzantine copies, his translation is noted as the first Western European attempt to find a truer translation of the New Testament than that of the fourth century Latin Vulgate, the translation used almost exclusively by the Roman Catholic Church. The translation re-introduced the study of Greek biblical manuscripts and other Greek works on the Bible into Western Europe.

Page3 Page28

Only ten copies of this edition and printing are listed in WorldCat. University of Utah copy has extensive marginalia in multiple contemporary or just post-contemporary hands (possibly four) throughout.

 

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