iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

New acquisition just in time for today: 1st ed. of the works of St. Patrick, edited by Sir James Ware (1594-1666), London: John Crook, 1656, w/ Patrick's Confessio & Epistola to the soldiers of Coroticus & the canons of the Synodis Patricia and various other synodal decrees Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

The MS was rebound for Lagerfelt by the Gothenburg bookbinder Otto Schoultz. At some point, red tabs were added to the foredge of many pages to mark textual divisions throughout the codex. So much more work to be done on this lively--and significant--manuscript! 6/6

Spine and front cover of a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

Front cover and fore edge, complete with added red tabs to mark textual divisions, of a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

The manuscript has a long & distinguished provenance, with medieval ownership by the Carthusian monastery of St. Barbara in Cologne; the 18th-century rare book dealer Johann Matthias Heberle; Leander van Ess; Sir Thomas Phillipps (his MS 661); dealer Paul Gottschalk; & Adolf Lagerfelt. 5/6

Sir Thomas Phillipps' owner inscription on the front flyleaf of a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Odd additions such as a short list of the Electors of Germany, occasional lines in Middle Low German, the Epistola Luciferi (attr. here to Nicole Oresme, but prob. by Pierre Ceffons), & von Langenstein's letter to Eberhard von Yppelbrunn, the Deacon of Mainz. 4/6

Opening of text listing the Electors of Germany in a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

A handful of lines written in Middle Low German in a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

Opening of the Epistola Luciferi, a satirical letter supposedly written by the devil that attacks secular clergy and lampoons their faults, in a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Confessional treatises by Johannes Nider & Heinrich von Langenstein, excerpts from the works of Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Augustine, Caesarius of Heisterbach, Thomas Aquinas... 3/6

Text from a pastoral treatise in a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

A confessional manual focusing on the deadly sins, with schematic trees and diagrams outlining each sin and it's offshoots and remedies 2/6

Schematic diagrams of the deadly sins in a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

Schematic diagrams of the sins and their remedies in a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

Text from a confessional manual in a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

Opening page of a confessional text in a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Excited to introduce the first of our two newest #MedievalManuscript codices at Ohio State: Fantastic mid-15th century pastoral miscellany, complete w/ a dazzling illustration of the Scarlet Beast of the Apocalypse! We're still determining the complete contents of the thick MS, but included are: 1/6

Illustration of the Scarlet Beast of the Apocalypse, complete with a man-headed tail, in a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

Schematic diagrams of the deadly sins facing an illustration of the Scarlet Beast of the Apocalypse in a mid-15th century collection of pastoral and assorted works. Ohio State University, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Cod.97.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

This was not a sign we needed when I first got to Ohio State and started figuring out how to grow our #MedievalManuscripts collection. A fun concern we now deal with...

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Superb #ManuscriptFragment at Ohio State: an 11th-century Italian Homiliary, w/ sermon on Luke 5:17-26 on Jesus's miraculous cures, w/ a lovely decorated initial "D". Previously owned by Bernard Rosenthal &, later, Martin Schøyen. #fragmentology Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.472 #MedievalManuscripts

Decorated initial "D" with white vinework elements in an 11th-century Homiliary manuscript from Italy now at the Ohio State University's Rare Books & Manuscripts Library.

Recto side of a manuscript leaf from an 11th-century Homiliary manuscript from Italy now at the Ohio State University's Rare Books & Manuscripts Library.

Verso side of a manuscript leaf from an 11th-century Homiliary manuscript from Italy now at the Ohio State University's Rare Books & Manuscripts Library.

Detail of text from an 11th-century Homiliary manuscript from Italy now at the Ohio State University's Rare Books & Manuscripts Library.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

One of my favorite #ManuscriptFragments in Ohio State's collection: bifolium once recycled as a pastedown w/ text from Adam of Aldersbach's Summula Pauperum, ca. 1300, w/ glosses in multiple hands covering topics like menstruation, wives, the status of priests and sacraments ##fragmentology

Bifolium from a ca. 1300 manuscript of Adam of Aldersbach's Summula Pauperum. Ohio State University Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.419.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Just finished teaching about Don Quixote & printing through the centuries, including great stuff from OSU's collections, from our 1605 edition, to modern children's adaptations, 19th- & 20th-century trade ephemera, and one of my favorite items: the 2005 Quechua edition set in the Andes. Fun time!

Illustrated, chromolithographed trade card produced for the Au Bon Marche department store in Paris, depicting Don Quixote tilting at windmills.

Page opening from the 2005 Quechua translation of Don Quixote, with illustrations showing Don Quixote amidst an Andean landscape.

Title page of Ohio State's copy of a 1605 printing of Don Quixote.

Illustrations from a children's adaptations of Don Quixote illustrated by H. Le Monnier, printed in 1964.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

And here's another folio from the MS, now in the Western Medieval Manuscripts Collection at Keio University in Japan: dcollections.lib.keio.ac.jp/en/western-m...

dcollections.lib.keio.ac.jp

Quatuor Libri Sententiarum, Book II | 慶應義塾大学メディアセンターデジタルコレクションDigital Collections of Keio University Libraries

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

The MS was ultimately broken and dispersed after being sold at Sotheby's, 24 June 1980, lot 59; but at least some folios were loose by 1910 when John Frederick Lewis acquired two of them, now at Philadelphia's Free Library: libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item...

libwww.freelibrary.org

Digital Collections: [Peter Lombard, Sentences, Liber II, with later marginal glosses]

[Peter Lombard, Sentences, Liber II, with later marginal glosses]

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Another new #ManuscriptFragment just acquired by Ohio State: folio from the late-13th century Peter Lombard MS I posted about earlier, this one w/ text from Bk. IV, Dist. 14-15. I love the informal beastie faces added to descenders at the bottom of the text block. #fragmentology #MedievalManuscripts

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Newest #ManuscriptFragment at Ohio State: folio, once recycled as a binding fragment, from John of Bologna's Quaestiones de Anima Humana, produced in Italy, 14th century. The leaf once belonged to the famous bibliographer, A. N. L. Munby #fragmentology #MedievalManuscript Spec.Rare.MS.MR.524

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Pop-up exhibition of travel and exploration materials at my library to correspond with today's Ohio State Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies symposium on the maritime humanities. From cartography and pilgrimage, to legal statutes, navigational aids, and pirates!

Manuscript map of the Dead Sea and environs, added to a 15th-century French book of hours.

Engraved ng of a pirate battle at see in Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin's Bucaniers of America, 1684-1685.

Page opening in a 15th-century manuscript compilation of late-antique and early-medieval geographical treatises

Snapshot of some of the many rare materials on display for the maritime humanities in the Middle Ages and Renaissance symposium at the Ohio State University.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

I love "new" acquisitions that don't cost us anything!

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Discovered this in the stacks last week; it was acquired in 1989 but never catalogued: Sebastian Münster's 16thC "Die neuwen inseln...", the first map to show the Americas in their (approximately) true continental forms (& the 1st printed map to show Japan--immediately to the left of North America).

Sebastian Münster's Die neuwen inseln, a 16th-century map depicting the Americas, Japan, and the continental edges of Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Detail of Sebastian Münster's Die neuwen inseln depicting North and Central America, with Japan off the west.

Detail of Sebastian Münster's Die neuwen inseln depicting South America.

Detail of Sebastian Münster's Die neuwen inseln depicting Magellan's flagship.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Nice! I think a (formal) reconstruction effort is needed for this vol. Calling all student-fragmentologists!

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

A sister volume to the codex Ege broke is now in Baltimore at the Walters Art Museum, MS W.805. You can see its description and select images of illuminated folios here: www.thedigitalwalters.org/Data/Walters... #IlluminatedManuscripts #MedievalManuscripts #BibleMSS

thedigitalwalters.org

Walters Ms. W.805, Bible (part)

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Yet another new #OttoEge #ManuscriptFragment find in a private Ohio collection: leaf from a lectern Bible (HL 44) produced in Germany or Bohemia, 1507; text from IV (II) Kings 11:18-13:14. Ege incorporated sister leaves as MS 44 in his famous 50 Original Leaves portfolio. #fragmentology

Detail of handwriting, with a large decorative initial in blue and rubricated text in red, from a lectern Bible manuscript produced in Bohemia or Germany in 1507.

Detail of handwriting, with a large decorative initial and rubricated text in red, from a lectern Bible manuscript produced in Bohemia or Germany in 1507.

Parchment folio from a lectern Bible manuscript produced in Bohemia or Germany in 1507, preserving text from IV (II) Kings 11:18-13:14.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Another new Otto Ege #MedievalManuscript find in a private Ohio collection: leaf from an Italian pocket Bible (HL 11), one of the MSS included in the Fifty Original Leaves portfolio. Text = Isaiah 43:13-44:19. #fragmentology #ManuscriptFragment #OttoEge

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Inspired by a research request today, here are OSU's 2 folios from the so-called Breviary of Bertrand de Chalençon, Bishop of Rodez from 1457-1495. Later owned by Louis de Rochebaron, Duke of Aumont (1709-82). #ManuscriptFragment #BookHistory #fragmentology #provenance #MedievalManuscripts

Detail of a folio from a 15th-century book of hours showing a historiated initial depicting a medieval bishop. Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.396

Illuminated folio from a 15th-century book of Hours. Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.396

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

New add to Ohio State RBML's collection: #ManuscriptFragment from a late-15th century Rouen Book of Hours w/ text from the end of Matins & opening of Lauds w/ an illumination of the marriage of Mary & Joseph. Nifty bird in the margins, too. #MedievalManuscript #fragmentology Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.509

Illuminated leaf from a late-15th century French Book of Hours with an illumination of the marriage of Mary and Joseph at the top of the page.

Illuminated leaf from a late-15th century French Book of Hours, featuring a close up of an illuminated bird in the folio's margin.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Just line fillers helping medieval scribes and readers avoid their phobia of hanging/empty space in the MS page! A nice, lovely example! This format is pretty typical in the litany portions of Psalter, Books of Hours, etc.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Abenragel's treatise, the Kitab al-bari fi ahkam an-nujum) was translated in ca. 1255 from the Arabic into Old Castilian by the Jewish scholar Yehuda Ben Moshe ha-Kohen, personal physician to Alfonso X of Castile, & then into Latin ca. 1275 by Aegidius de Tebaldis & Petrus de Regio. #fragmentology

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Nice #ManuscriptFragment find in Ohio: leaf from a ca. 1300 copy of De Judiciis Astrologiae by the 11th-century Tunisian astrologer Haly Abenragel (Abu I-Hasan Ali ibn Abi I-Rijal). The leaf was recycled as a binding support in a later, now unknown, book. #fragmentology #MedievalScience

Recto of a manuscript folio of the De Judiciis Astrologiae by the 11th-century Tunisian astrologer Haly Abenragel (Abu I-Hasan Ali ibn Abi I-Rijal).

Verso of a manuscript folio of the De Judiciis Astrologiae by the 11th-century Tunisian astrologer Haly Abenragel (Abu I-Hasan Ali ibn Abi I-Rijal).

Nifty reader-added maniculum (pointing hand) indicating an important passage of text in a manuscript folio of the De Judiciis Astrologiae by the 11th-century Tunisian astrologer Haly Abenragel (Abu I-Hasan Ali ibn Abi I-Rijal).

Detail of handwritten text in a manuscript folio of the De Judiciis Astrologiae by the 11th-century Tunisian astrologer Haly Abenragel (Abu I-Hasan Ali ibn Abi I-Rijal).

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

More info, including our newest collection item's new shelfmark, once we've finished up all the necessary paperwork!

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Yesterday's program on the Luxeuil Prophets #ManuscriptFragment attended by over 45 people--including the leaf's owner--was such a success, and our student presenter, Jessica Crabtree, did such a good job that the fragment's owner donated this early-8th century treasure to Ohio State on the spot!

An early-8th century manuscript leaf from the so-called Luxeuil Prophets, featuring text from the biblical book of Daniel, chapter 3.

Detail of script in an early-8th century manuscript leaf from the so-called Luxeuil Prophets, featuring text from the biblical book of Daniel, chapter 3.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Just arranged for the acquisition of 3 new #MedievalManuscript codices for Ohio State. Details and images to come in due course, but some key words to whet your appetites: Occitan. Diagrams. Sicily. 7-headed beast of the Apocalypse. Architecture. Classical literature. Can't wait to receive these!

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Thanks, Peter. Yes, our speaker consulted this listing & its very handy description/bibliography during her research. If memory serves, the folio on loan to OSU and the one listed at your link were once part of the same lot at an earlier Sotheby's sale, too. You'd likely remember this better than I!

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Yes, it's all so gorgeous, isn't it! I'll never forget the first time I opened the folder it was in, not knowing what awaited. It was like opening the gold shining briefcase in Pulp Fiction!

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

The event will take place at 4 pm in Thompson Library Rm. 150. The Luxeuil fragment will be on display, along with 15, or so, #MedievalManuscript codices from our collection. Come listen, learn, participate, and have some fun leafing through some of our medieval books!

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

If you're in Columbus today: Join us for a special lecture by OSU grad student Jessica Crabtree, "An 8th-Century Manuscript in Ohio: Examining the Daniel Fragment of the Luxeuil Prophets," focusing on a superb #ManuscriptFragment loaned to us last fall for use in our Manuscript Studies course.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

These are now part of Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.42 at Ohio State's Rare Books and Manuscripts Library.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

These two folios preserve text from Psalm 118:59-86 & Psalms 122:1-126:2, with short sections of musical notation, including on one leaf additional music added in the bottom margin & a pasted-on paper strip with musical notation revisions. #MedievalMusic #ManuscriptFragments #Psalms #fragmentology

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Few leaves of this MS other than those in Ege's "Fifty Original Leaves..." portfolio have so far been identified, so these are welcome additions to the known corpus. For a great account of the MS, see Scott Gwara's & Tim Bolton's recent article in Fragmentology: www.fragmentology.ms/article/view...

fragmentology.ms

The Scribe and Provenance of Otto F. Ege’s Choir Psalter from the Abbey of St. Stephen, Würzburg, Dated 1499 (Gwara, HL 42) | Fragmentology

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Exciting pair of fols. from a German Choir Psalter produced for use at St. Stephen's Abbey in Würzburg in 1499 by the scribe Mattheus Hartung, w/ 19thC ownership by Leander van Ess & Sir Thomas Phillipps, & later broken by Otto Ege (HL 42). #fragmentology #MedievalManuscripts #ManuscriptFragments

Recto sides of a pair of manuscript folios from a late-15th century German Choir Psalter.

Verso sides of a pair of manuscript folios from a late-15th century German Choir Psalter.

Detail picture of script on a late-15th century Choir Psalter produced in Würzburg, Germany, with musical notation and decorative initials in red and blue.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

First trip across the harbor and nabbed this image of the Vancouver skyline with a lovely, cloud-distorted sun overhead.

Vancouver skyline from across the harbor in North Vancouver.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Additional folios and even more info about this MS are available in Vol. 3 of Peter Kidd's @mssprovenance.bsky.social sensational 2021 catalogue of the McCarthy Collection of illuminated MSS.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

133 folios of the MS are at Ohio State's Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, including a number with historiated initials. For convenient descriptive metadata of OSU's folios, including details about the various initials, see Digital Scriptorium: search.digital-scriptorium.org/catalog/DS11...

search.digital-scriptorium.org

Ohio State University, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.76 - DS CatalogSearch

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Another recent NE Ohio #ManuscriptFragment find: leaf from an illuminated pocket Bible, Paris, ca. 1250, broken by Bruce Ferrini & associates in the early 1980s, this leaf w/ Mark 15:21-16:20 & the prologue text for Luke, w/ a pair of lovely inhabited initials. #fragmentology #MedievalManuscripts

Pair of illuminated initials in a mid-13th century Parisian pocket Bible manuscript.

Folio from a mid-13th century Parisian pocket Bible manuscript with text from the Gospel of Mark.

Folio from a mid-13th century Parisian pocket Bible manuscript with text from the Gospel of Mark and the prologue to the Gospel of Luke.

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

To see all of the Ohio State folios, go to: library.osu.edu/dc/concern/g... #ManuscriptFragments #fragmentology

library.osu.edu

Digital Collections

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

All these names were recorded at various places in the original MS. I discovered this folio in West Cleveland a few weeks ago. Ohio State owns 14 additional fols. (Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.62), all given by different donors. For full metadata, see: search.digital-scriptorium.org/catalog/DS11...

search.digital-scriptorium.org

Ohio State University, Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.62 - DS CatalogSearch

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Eric J. Johnson @ejjohnson.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

Past owners of the codex include Thomas Catis (1566), William Trench (1637), Richard Griffith, Rev T. Barnes, H. Malcolm Fraser, & Trinity College, Bristol (UK). Later sold at Sotheby's, 19 June 1979, lot 54, then broken & dispersed by Ferrini. #ProvenanceHistory sdbm.library.upenn.edu/entries/1958

sdbm.library.upenn.edu

SDBM_1958 - Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts

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