Rare Books And Manuscripts (Library Science)

Discovering an unknown medieval library must count as one of the unexpected delights in the career of any medievalist. In the case of a group of Birgittine scholars, however, our recent joyful anticipation unfortunately all too quickly turned into anxiety and concern. In October of 2015 the Extraordinary Sensescape work group (http://sensescapes.asu.edu) toured several German monasteries, ending up at the Birgittine monastery at Altomünster, a market hamlet to the West of Munich. Our group is researching the sensorium of late medieval nuns, and we have decided to focus on the Birgittines because of the ways that Saint Birgitta of Sweden founded and fashioned her order with special architecture, art, music, texts and rituals all of which might today be characterized as a " Gesamtkunstwerk. " The Birgittine monastery at Altomünster was founded in the 1490 and was continuously inhabited by Birgittines ever since, even though it had been secularized by the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1803 and refounded as monastery in 1841. Until recently strict claustration prohibited scholars from entering the vast Baroque building complex of the nuns' monastery, which also includes a library. About one dozen manuscripts from the library at Altomünster were known to specialists of Birgittine liturgy, in addition to the books that were taken to Munich during the secularisation of 1803. The antiphoners at Altomünster were considered to be the earliest complete sources for the cantus sororum, the office liturgy of the Birgittines, the only liturgy composed especially for women during the Middle Ages. When our group visited Altomünster we asked Sister Apollonia, the prioress of Altomünster, to see these manuscripts and she gladly brought them to us to peruse. When we inquired what the situation of the library was, if there were more medieval manuscripts and books, she invited several of the colleagues to join her and see for themselves. What they found was a treasure trove of books, many medieval, that were unknown to scholarship. Several of these came from other Birgittine monasteries, including Maria Mai in Maihingen and Maria Troon in Dendermonde. Some of the tomes contained high quality illuminations. This discovery indicates that Altomünster contains the most important repository for liturgical sources of the Birgittine order. Before the members of our group left for their homes in the U.S., Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, we approached Sister Apollonia and asked if we could inventorize the library and digitize the most important manuscripts for our project. Sister Apollonia approved, and we made plans for a smaller group to return to Altomünster to work on the books. Unfortunately, however, before we could realize our plans we learned through the press that the Vatican had closed the monastery and had instituted a papal commissar, Sister Gabriele Konrad, to dissolve the institution. We immediately made contact, pointing out the importance of the library and offering our help to secure the undocumented collection through cataloging and digitization. Sister Gabriele declined our offer, has ceased to answer subsequent queries about the plans for the collection or allowing access to our project participants, and has not permitted visitors into the library – neither scholars nor journalists. The diocese of Munich and Freising, named as heir to the monastic buildings and their contents in the papal dissolution document, has likewise refused to communicate with us about the fate of the library. As informed scholars we feel an obligation that this important collection, which we consider to be our shared world cultural heritage, remains accessible to researchers and is preserved for future generations. In January 2016 our working group wrote an open letter to Sister Gabriele Konrad, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of the diocese of Munich and Freising.

Bibliotecas, arquivos e museus são guardiões de patrimônio cultural ameaçado não só pela cobiça de colecionadores particulares, como também de criminosos atraídos pelo alto retorno financeiro que podem obter, atrelado ao baixo risco enfrentado. Como as instituições podem conciliar gestão de acervo, divulgação e acesso, sem comprometer a segurança patrimonial? Como se defendem desse tipo de crime? O que devem fazer quando se percebem vítima de furto? Em 2016 aconteceu uma série de furtos em bibliotecas universitárias brasileiras, sendo um dos alvos a Biblioteca da Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo. Como reação, a instituição reviu procedimentos de trabalho, iniciou estudos para um plano de segurança e realizou o Encontro sobre Segurança de Acervos Raros e Especiais, evento que constituiu o primeiro espaço aberto para debate de temas sempre velados. Assumir-se vítima desse tipo de crime é constrangedor, mesmo assim não se deve omitir sua ocorrência. É necessário compartilhar e criar uma rede de cooperação entre as instituições, fortalecendo as estratégias de preservação do patrimônio cultural.

--

Libraries, archives and museums are guardians of cultural heritage. Due to the high financial profit and the low risk of punishment, they are threatened by the selfishness of private collectors and by the greed of criminals. How must cultural institutions coordinate collection management, disclosure and access, without risking its security? What are the strategies for preventing theft and vandalism of collections? How to respond to theft? In 2016, several thefts happened in Brazilian academic libraries and one of the targets was the Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo’s library. In response to that, the institution reviewed working procedures, initiated studies for a security policy and held the Encontro sobre Segurança de Acervos Raros e Especiais, the first open forum for debating usual veiled issues. It’s embarrassing to assume being a victim of this type of crime, nevertheless its occurrence shouldn’t be omitted. It’s important to share experiences and to create a network of cooperation between institutions to strengthen the actions to protect cultural heritage.

"Megaleh Temirin (Revealer of Secrets), ed. Jonatan Meir, Three volumes, Mosad Bialik, Jerusalem

Megaleh Temirin (Revealer of Secrets), first published in Vienna in 1819, is one of the sharpest and wittiest pieces of Jewish literature written in the first half of the nineteenth century, and is perhaps the most important piece of Hebrew prose composed before the stories of Mendele Mocher Seforim. A sly and complex story deriding Hasidism and Hasidim, it is told through the correspondence between the beadles of Hasidic courts and contemporary rabbis, and it presents a dark picture of  avaricious frauds and swindlers whose main concern was control over territory and the souls of believers, a goal achieved by beguiling the authorities and attacking all opponents. Perl lends his book a ‘Hasidic’ feel both in its physical design and in its language, presenting a Maskilic version of In Praise of the Ba’al Shem Tov that lays Hasidism bare so that no reader will ever be able to look at that, or any other Hasidic book, in the same way again. In addition to the book’s satiric sting, which would have been enough to bring its readers a dual pleasure, Perl’s hints at contemporary people and places, hidden within anagrams and numerological tricks. With the unraveling of these clues, which also include the use of actual Hasidic sources, the book is a valuable, contemporary view of historical reality. A meticulous reading of the book may therefore open a window on the hidden worlds of Hasidism and the Haskalah at the start of the nineteenth century.


The first volume (Imagined Hasidism) serves as an introduction to the complex satirical writings of Josef Perl of Tarnopol (1773-1839). At the center of the book stands an analysis of the satires, Megaleh Temirin (1819) and Bochen Tzadik (1838), including a systematic treatment of the ‘characters’ in the central works and a discussion of the dozens of manuscripts to be found in the Perl Archive in Jerusalem. Perl’s writings are analyzed here in the fuller context of Hebrew and Yiddish literature in general and Maskilic and Hasidic literature in particular, as well as other polemical writings and governmental records critical of Hasidism. The study thus presents a complex and nuanced picture of the relationship between literature and history, between the anti-Hasidic reports and the more complicated historical reality, and lays the groundwork for further research into the genre of nineteenth-century Maskilic satire.

The second and third volumes (Megaleh Temirin) present for the first time an annotated edition of Megaleh Temirin. It is based on the first edition and the scattered manuscripts and it includes a comparison to its Yiddish translation. The book is accompanied by appendices on its origins and contents, including fundamental treatments of several passages: an explication of the encoded names, the Hasidic sources used by the author, and the variants found in the manuscripts and in the only edition of the book in Yiddish.

The editor of the book, Professor Jonatan Meir, teaches in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University. He has published several articles on the Haskalah of Eastern Europe, Hasidism, and a number of varied topics in twentieth-century Kabbalah.


Contents

Volume 1  - Critical Edition

Concerning this edition
Key personalities
Sefer Megale Temirin – Critical Edition


Volume 2 - Appendixes:
1. Glossary, Abbreviations, Acronyms
2. Explanation of the Speaking Names
3. Perl’s Hasidic Sources
4. Manuscripts of Sefer Megale Temirin
5. Yiddish Introduction to Sefer Megale Temirin
Bibliographic Abbreviations

-------------------------------
Reviews:
(1) Dan Meron, 2013, ‘Megaleh Temirin’, Kivunim Hadashim 29, 55 pages (Hebrew)
(2) David Assaf, 2014, ‘Hasidim will not Read it but Tear it’, Haaretz, Tarbut ve-Sifrut, p .6 (Hebrew) http://onegshabbat.blogspot.co.il/2014/04/blog-post_18.html
(3) Eliezer Brodt, 2014, 'New book Announcement- Megale Temirin', The Seforim Blog http://seforim.blogspot.co.il/2014/01/new-book-announcement-megale-temirin.html
(4) Matan Hermoni, 2014,  הסבתא המופקרת של הספרות העבריתHaaretz, Sfarim (Hebrew) http://www.haaretz.co.il/.premium-1.2382365
(5) Shinichi Yamamoto, 2015, 山本　伸一, "ヨナタン・メイール編著『想像のハシディズム』", ユダヤ・イスラエル研究　第28号  http://www.waseda.jp/assoc-jsjs/jistudies.html
(6) David Biale and David Assaf,, 2015, 'Revealer Revealed', Jewish Review of Books, pp. 17-21  http://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/1454/revealer-revealed/
(7) Hillel Halkin, 2015, "Sex, Magic, Bigotry, Corruption- and the First Hebrew Novel', Mosaic Magazine,  http://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/2015/05/sex-magic-bigotry-corruption-and-the-first-hebrew-novel/
(8) Tomer Persico, 2015, "Interview", Lula'at haEl Blog, http://tomerpersico.com/2015/08/10/meir_perl/

Le "Poesie", dodicesimo e ultimo volume della grande "Collezione delle migliori opere scritte in dialetto milanese" curata da Francesco Cherubini, sono l'unica raccolta di testi pubblicata in vita da Porta. Il poeta allestì anche un'emissione in carta forte, intitolata "Poesie milanesi" e destinata ai suoi amici più intimi, oggi rarissima e pressoché sconosciuta.

Script for video: https://youtu.be/3a7qkEcrLdg on concept of "manuscript" from codicological point of view. It is part of the series, "Deciphering secrets: the Illuminated Manuscript of Medieval Europe", offered from 15-7-2016 in www.coursera.org.

Гнатенко Людмила. Палеографічно-орфографічна атрибуція української кириличної рукописної книги : уставні та півуставні кодекси кінця ХІІІ – початку ХVІІ ст. : монографія = Hnatenko Liudmyla. Palaeographic-Orthographic Attribution of the Ukrainian Cyrillic Handwritten Book : Uncial and Half-Uncial Codices of the Late 13th – Early 17th cc. : Monograph / відп. ред. Л. А. Дубровіна ; НАН України, Національна бібліотека України імені В. I. Вернадського, Інститут рукопису. Kиїв, 2016. 476 c. ; іл. Парал. тит. англ.=укр. ISВN 978-966-02-7489-1 (друк.); ISВN 978-966-02-7489-7490-7 (електрон.).
Мицик Ю.      Гнатенко Л. Палеографічно-орфографічна атрибуція української кириличної рукописної книги : уставні та півуставні кодекси кінця ХІІІ – початку ХVІІ ст. : [рецензія] // Український історичний журнал. Київ, 2018. № 6. С. 210–212. URL:http://resource.history.org.ua/issue/journal/2018/6

Institute of Manuscript of Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. 1918–2018 / ed.-in-chief L.A. Dubrovina. Kyiv, 2018. 472 p.
Наукове видання підготовлене з нагоди 100-річчя одного з найбільш знакових за своїми метою, завданнями та фондами структурного підрозділу Національної бібліотеки України імені В.І. Вернадського – Інституту рукопису (від 1918 до 1992 р. – відділ рукописів). Висвітлені історія фундації та соціальні функції Інституту рукопису, проаналізовано його внесок у розвиток науки та культури України. Окремими розділами представлені науковий доробок Інституту та його кадровий потенціал за 1918–2018 рр. У додатках репрезентовані матеріали про склад та зміст рукописного фонду Інституту.
Розраховане на істориків, бібліотеко- та архівознавців, культурологів, усіх, хто цікавиться минулим та дивиться в майбутнє України.

Біобібліографічна довідка: Гнатенко Людмила Анатоліївна, с. 302–309.

Este capítulo muestra las características de los impresos novohispanos a través de comparar su estructura material frente a la normativa española de impresión de la época = This chapter describes the characteristics of New Spanish books by comparing their material structure with the Spanish printing regulations of the time.

This draft examines 13 ancient manuscripts of the Qur'an (and its exegesis) emerged in the Abbasid era (750-1517). Those ancient text are in collections of well-known museums such as Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, The Khalili Collection, the Brittish Library, and Maktabah al-Markaziyya li al -Maḫṭūṭāt al-Islāmiyya Cairo.

This study explores the multifaceted Maya Deluge Myth, from its pre-Columbian origins to current fantasies about a great world-destroying flood at the 13 Baktun period ending of the Maya Long Count on 21 (or 23) December 2012. No such flood is prophesied in any Maya records for this date, and the famous scene on Dresden Codex page 74 is discussed in its context as a symbolic depiction of the annual world-renewing downpours at the onset of the rainy season in springtime in the Maya world. The presiding gods of warfare and blood sacrifice were the agents of fertility and the regeneration of nature, and not the agents for the destruction of the Maya in a world-ending deluge. The misinterpretation of Dresden page 74 has propagated, unchallenged, for over a century of Maya scholarship and found its way into “new age,” fringe, and popular culture. This research helps to set the record straight along with providing a history of the meme.

In 2021, the Italian Minister of Culture acquired Umberto Eco’s private library, whose collection of 1.200 early printed and rare books was placed in the Biblioteca Braidense in Milan. It includes 36 incunabula which
are the subject of the present study.

Abstract : Eleventh-century Umbro-Roman Giant Bibles were commissioned by varied church and lay patrons (and not only by Roman reform party adherents) and crafted by ad hoc assemblies of paid craftsmen using methods of carefully calibrated, synchronous copying to reduce production time for the single commission.

Résumé : Les Bibles géantes ombro-romaines, commanditées par différents patrons ecclésiastiques et laïcs (et non par les seuls adhérents du parti réformiste romain), furent réalisées par des équipes d’artisans salariés spécialement constituées dans ce but. Ils utilisaient des techniques de copie synchronisée soigneusement calibrées pour réduire les temps de production de chaque commande.

Eine ganze Menge der aus der Bibliotheca Corviniana bekannten Werke waren bis zum Tod Matthias’ nicht im Druck erschienen. In der Mehrzahl beinhalten die Corvinen nicht die uns heute bekannten, vollständigen Texte. Unsere Aufgabe ist es, die Qualität der Texte, welche die lateinischen Übersetzungen griechischer Autoren enthalten, zu analysieren und zu präsentieren. Diese Analyse darf aber nicht durch Vergleich mit den heute bekannten Texten (editiones criticae), sondern anhand einer Nebeneinanderstellung mit den damals zugänglichen Handschriften und Inkunabeln vorgenommen werden.
Ein Viertel der erhalten gebliebenen authentischen Corvinen (216) enthält Übersetzungen griechischer Autoren ins Lateinische. In 57 Handschriften befinden sich Opera der klassischen griechischen, der griechisch-patristischen und der byzantinischen Literatur. Die ca. 100 Werke von 46 Autoren wurden von 32 Gelehrten ins Lateinische übersetzt.

Megaleh Temirin (Revealer of Secrets), first published in Vienna in 1819, is one of the sharpest and wittiest pieces of Jewish literature written in the first half of the nineteenth century, and is perhaps the most important piece of Hebrew prose composed before the stories of Mendele Mocher Seforim. A sly and complex story deriding Hasidism and Hasidim, it is told through the correspondence between the beadles of Hasidic courts and contemporary rabbis, and it presents a dark picture of  avaricious frauds and swindlers whose main concern was control over territory and the souls of believers, a goal achieved by beguiling the authorities and attacking all opponents. Perl lends his book a ‘Hasidic’ feel both in its physical design and in its language, presenting a Maskilic version of In Praise of the Ba’al Shem Tov that lays Hasidism bare so that no reader will ever be able to look at that, or any other Hasidic book, in the same way again. In addition to the book’s satiric sting, which would have been enough to bring its readers a dual pleasure, Perl’s hints at contemporary people and places, hidden within anagrams and numerological tricks. With the unraveling of these clues, which also include the use of actual Hasidic sources, the book is a valuable, contemporary view of historical reality. A meticulous reading of the book may therefore open a window on the hidden worlds of Hasidism and the Haskalah at the start of the nineteenth century.

The first volume (Imagined Hasidism) serves as an introduction to the complex satirical writings of Josef Perl of Tarnopol (1773-1839). At the center of the book stands an analysis of the satires, Megaleh Temirin (1819) and Bochen Tzadik (1838), including a systematic treatment of the ‘characters’ in the central works and a discussion of the dozens of manuscripts to be found in the Perl Archive in Jerusalem. Perl’s writings are analyzed here in the fuller context of Hebrew and Yiddish literature in general and Maskilic and Hasidic literature in particular, as well as other polemical writings and governmental records critical of Hasidism. The study thus presents a complex and nuanced picture of the relationship between literature and history, between the anti-Hasidic reports and the more complicated historical reality, and lays the groundwork for further research into the genre of nineteenth-century Maskilic satire.

The second and third volumes (Megaleh Temirin) present for the first time an annotated edition of Megaleh Temirin. It is based on the first edition and the scattered manuscripts and it includes a comparison to its Yiddish translation. The book is accompanied by appendices on its origins and contents, including fundamental treatments of several passages: an explication of the encoded names, the Hasidic sources used by the author, and the variants found in the manuscripts and in the only edition of the book in Yiddish.

The editor of the book, Professor Jonatan Meir, teaches in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University. He has published several articles on the Haskalah of Eastern Europe, Hasidism, and a number of varied topics in twentieth-century Kabbalah.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Contents


Introduction                                                                                     
Scholarship on the anti-Hasidic writings of Josef Perl • Hasidic hagiography and the emergence of satire • Two-fold reading of Perl’s writings and the gematriyot • Satire, literature, and history • ‘Holy Books’ and subversive books

Chapter 1: Josef Perl, Rabbi Nathan of Nemirov, and the ‘Holy Books’
Prayer of the fall of Hasidism and the expungement of their books • Sefer Shivhe ha-Besht and the critique of hagiography • Sefer Sipurey Ma‘asiyot and the parodic response to it • Rabbi Nathan of Nemirov, ‘heretical books’ and the ‘Holy Books’ • In praise of the true Tsaddikim • ‘Laughter of the heretics’: testimonies about the polemics against Sefer Shivhe ha-Besht • ‘Holy Books’, ‘sacredness of hagiography’, and parodies of hagiography • Appendix: Parodic manuscript about an opponent of the ‘Holy Books’ who was reborn as a horse

Chapter 2: Speaking Names in Sefer Megale Temirin                             
Time of the composition of Megale Temirin, censorship, and a note on the Buch • Hasidic books and the emergence of parody • Structure of Sefer Megale Temirin • The Introduction to Sefer Megale Temirin • Main Hasidic courts • The court in Żołyń (Łożne) and the peregrinations of the Buch • The court of Dishpal (Międzyboż), moneyboxes of the Besht, the holy relics • The court in Aklo (Olika) and the ritualized reading of Sefer Shivhe ha-Besht • Function of the footnotes and the parodic hagiography • History of the rabbis – clandestine opponents of Hasidism • The Besht in Tarnopol • Rabbi Meir Jacob of Zasław and the letters from Galicja  • Zaddikim in Galicja • Ciphered stories • ‘Holy Places’: reincarnations of a praise from Sefer Shivhe ha-Besht • The revelation of the Buch and the death of the secretary • ‘Gang of criminals’: another death and an escape to the Land of Israel • The End: Ovadia Ben Petahia and the rabbi of Opatów

Chapter 3: Joseph Perl, Hirsh of Zydaczów, and the Polemics of Gematriyot
Reb Zevi Hirsh of Zydaczów and Hasidism in Galicja • Maskilic opposition to the Zydaczówer • Letters concealed in Sefer Megale Temirin • A manuscript about the misdeeds of the Hasidim • Books, education, and a note on Reb Nathan of Nemirov • Zydaczówer’s ban on the Maskilim and the first Gematria • Parodic letter of Perl and the second Gematria • About the parodic letter and the jumble of gematriyot • Denunciation and expulsions of R Zevi Hirsh • ‘Father of impurity’: Joseph Perl and the writings of the rabbi of Komarno • Final note • Appendix: Parodic letter against the Zydaczówer

Chapter 4: Speaking Names in the Book of Sefer Bohen Zaddik               
The manuscript of Sefer Bohen Zaddik and the difficulties with its publication • Structure of the book • In search for the true Zaddik and the rabbi of Opatów • Travels of Ovadia Ben Petahia between the towns of Galicja • Kromcza Ruska (Zaleszczyki) or the entrance to Galicja • ‘Briks’ (Tarnopol): Rabbi Jehoshua Heschel Babad and the school • ‘Bicik’ (Lemberg) Rabbi Jacob Orenstein and a ban on the Maskilim • ‘Abdera’ (Brody) Rabbi Ephraim Zalman Margaliot and Sefer ha-Zoref • The explanation of the names of the rabbis • Utopia and dystopia • The hidden butcher and his kabbalistic writings • The discovery of the colonies • The image of the disciples of the Gaon and the ‘true Hasid’ • ‘The solution for the East’ or heterotopia •  The will to flee and the emissary

Chapter 5: The Imaginary Influence of Sefer Megale Temirin                     
The myth about the success of the book • Pamphlet Megale Sod • The manuscript about the misdeeds of the Hasidim • Dialogues about Sefer Megale Temirin • For whom Sefer Megale Temirin was intended and who read it • Note concerning Sefer Megale Temirin in Yiddish • Influence real and imagined • Was Sefer Shivhe ha-Besht written by a parodist? • Temerl Bergson and Sefer Megale Temirin • Writ of defense of Hasidism • Sefer Megale Temirin and the Hebrew literature • Appendix: writ of defense of Joseph Judah Lob Sossnitz

Afterword: Note on the Anti-Hasidic Outlook                                       

Bibliographic Abbreviations   

Reviews:
(1) Dan Meron, 2013, ‘Megaleh Temirin’, Kivunim Hadashim 29, 55 pages (Hebrew)
(2) David Assaf, 2014, ‘Hasidim will not Read it but Tear it’, Haaretz, Tarbut ve-Sifrut, p .6 (Hebrew) http://onegshabbat.blogspot.co.il/2014/04/blog-post_18.html
(3) Eliezer Brodt, 2014, 'New book Announcement- Megale Temirin', The Seforim Blog http://seforim.blogspot.co.il/2014/01/new-book-announcement-megale-temirin.html
(4) Matan Hermoni, 2014,  הסבתא המופקרת של הספרות העבריתHaaretz, Sfarim (Hebrew) http://www.haaretz.co.il/.premium-1.2382365
(5) Shinichi Yamamoto, 2015, 山本　伸一, "ヨナタン・メイール編著『想像のハシディズム』", ユダヤ・イスラエル研究　第28号  http://www.waseda.jp/assoc-jsjs/jistudies.html
(6) David Biale and David Assaf,, 2015, 'Revealer Revealed', Jewish Review of Books, pp. 17-21  http://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/1454/revealer-revealed/
(7) Hillel Halkin, 2015, "Sex, Magic, Bigotry, Corruption- and the First Hebrew Novel', Mosaic Magazine,  http://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/2015/05/sex-magic-bigotry-corruption-and-the-first-hebrew-novel/
(8) Tomer Persico, 2015, "Interview", Lula'at haEl http://tomerpersico.com/2015/08/10/meir_perl/
(9) Ariel Evan Mayse, 'Review', Jewish History (2015)ת  http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10835-015-9245-2
(10) Review - Gal-Ed

During the Early modern age, the Society of Jesus was the religious institution that, more than any other, linked its reason for existence to the world of the book. Indeed between the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries, Jesuit founded some of the richest and most highly organized libraries of the Christian world. By analyzing archival documentation, in large part unpublished, this work navigates and delves into the twists and turns of Jesuit library history. In doing so it seeks, for the very first time, to reconstruct the operations and affairs of the library institutions of the Societas Iesu. By employing a unique historical-thematic structure, the distinct characteristics of Jesuit collections are revealed, and the library practices of the order, prior to the papal suppression of 1773, are reconstructed. The case of Perugia ultimately offers a prime example of a true Jesuit library. Through the analysis of unpublished sources, as well as the Jesuit bibliographic patrimony presently archived at the Biblioteca Comunale Augusta, the organizational and functional history of this “militant” library is traced from its origins to the eighteenth century suppression. A complex history, constructed by books and people, is brought to light, through an articulated bibliographic and document-based excavation, that offers the reader a fine example of one of the most significant cultural realities of the Age of typography.

La Compagnia di Gesù fu l’istituzione religiosa che più di ogni altra in Età moderna legò la sua ragion d’essere al mondo del libro. Tra Cinque e Seicento i padri gesuiti costituirono dunque alcune delle più ricche e meglio organizzate biblioteche del mondo cristiano. Avvalendosi di una documentazione in larga misura inedita, l’opera si addentra nei meandri della storia bibliotecaria ignaziana cercando di ripercorrere per la prima volta in maniera organica le vicende degli istituti librari della Societas Iesu. Attraverso un apposito itinerario storico-tematico vengono delineati i caratteri peculiari delle antiche raccolte gesuitiche, ricostruendo così la viva esperienza bibliotecaria dell’ordine prima della soppressione clementina del 1773. Il caso di Perugia, infine, costituisce un esempio perfetto di cosa fosse realmente una biblioteca ignaziana. Grazie all’analisi incrociata delle fonti documentarie inedite con quella del patrimonio bibliografico ex-gesuitico conservato oggi presso la Biblioteca Comunale Augusta, viene ripercorsa la storia organizzativa e funzionale di questa biblioteca “militante” dalle origini fino alla soppressione settecentesca. Una storia complessa, fatta di libri ma anche di uomini, riportata alla luce grazie a un articolato lavoro di scavo documentario e bibliografico che offre al lettore un esempio virtuoso di una tra le più importanti realtà culturali dell’età tipografica.

The author addresses anew the manuscript f. 115, no.60 from the collection of St. Petersburg Institute of History (the so-called ‘Azbuka Fryaskaya’) of 1604. This manuscript, written for the most part by the Muscovite scribe Fyodor Basov, is one of the two oldest Russian calligraphy sample books. The author discusses the relation of the ‘Azbuka Fryaskaya’ to other Old Russian ABC-books and their functions. As the codicological analysis has proved, the quires with cursive writing initially were placed in another part of the codex, next to the examples of ornate lettering. Such placement of the quires with cursive writing, as well as their decoration shows that Fyodor Basov viewed the cursive writing as decorative, ornate lettering par excellence. The paper also discusses the technical and aesthetical principles of the cursive writing, which were basic for Muscovite calligraphers of the late 16th — early 17th century when cursive writing took its shape as a style of writing. Specia attention has been paid to the question of the influence of Greek (Byzantine) tradition on the aesthetics of Old Russian calligraphic cursive writing. Both the Russian calligraphic sample-books and the cursive writing are also viewed in the context of Western European calligraphy and its influence. The author concludes that the cursive writing style elaborated by the Muscovite calligraphers was the result of the development of Russian Early Modern writing culture that adopted some tendencies both from the Byzantine and from the Western traditions.

Der Versuch, den überlieferten Buchbestand der 1803 aufgehobenen Erfurter Kartause zu erfassen und den Verbleib der im mittelalterlichen Standortkatalog verzeichneten Bände zu ermitteln, wurde von Paul Lehmann 1928 zum ersten Mal unternommen. 60 Jahre später präsentierte Sigrid Krämer eine aktualisierte Dokumentation des erhaltenen Buchbestands der Erfurter Kartause, die im ersten Teil des von Krämer erstellten Nachschlagewerks „Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters“ 1989 erschienen ist. Der von diesen beiden Verzeichnissen erfasste Buchbestand bildet den Grundstock der vorliegenden Übersicht, die eine nach Möglichkeit korrigierte, nochmals aktualisierte und bibliographisch fundierte Dokumentation über den Verbleib von Büchern (in erster Linie von Handschriften, in geringerem Maße auch von Inkunabeln und Frühdrucken) aus der Kartause Erfurt bietet. Auch in der 3., korrigierten und erweiterten Version erhebt sie nicht den Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit und Fehlerlosigkeit. Vielmehr bildet sie den Zwischenstand eines work in progress ab, der in eine Datenbank münden soll. Ergänzungen und Korrekturen sind jederzeit möglich und höchst willkommen.

Nel contributo, che fa parte del I volume di un'opera dedicata alle scritture autografe dei letterati italiani del Cinquecento, sono stati censiti tutti i manoscritti autografi di Benedetto Varchi (1503-1565), accademico e letterato di spicco della politica culturale del duca Cosimo I. Oltre al riordinamento sistematico delle lettere autografe e soprattutto dei manoscritti delle opere dello scrittore e linguista fiorentino, comprendenti sonetti, canzoni, carmina latini, lezioni accademiche e commenti ad Aristotele, traduzione del "De consolatione" di Boezio e la  "Storia fiorentina" con i variegati materiali schedati per la sua stesura, l'articolo contiene la ricostruzione della biblioteca varchiana.*********************************
In this article there are catalogued all manuscripts by Benedetto Varchi (1503-1565), member of Accademia Fiorentina and one of the leading representatives of cultural policy of Cosimo I de’Medici. The text includes: systematised letters and different works by Varchi such as Latin and Italian poems, lectures, comments to Aristotle’s works, translation of “De consolatione” by Boecius and “History of Florence” of Varchi, as well as reconstruction of his library with additional items (his books), recently discovered in libraries in Italy and abroad.

Instruir a los participantes del Curso-Taller, en principios, conceptos y métodos para la identificación de los elementos culturales y materiales del libro como Patrimonio Documental Bibliográfico; con ello, se aprenderá a identificar el contexto socio-cultural de la obra, así como apreciar la singularidad de cada ejemplar a través de las ediciones, marcas de propiedad, apostillas y dedicatorias, estado de conservación.

Ce volume est le premier d’une collection dirigée par Philippe Bobichon, Colette Sirat, Shlomo Zucker, et Laurent Héricher (Bibliothèque nationale de France), et qui est publiée dans le cadre d’une collaboration étroite entre l’IRHT et la Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Les descriptions (une dizaine de pages, en moyenne, par manuscrit) comportent : 1) un examen détaillé de ses aspects matériels (unités codicologiques, papier ou parchemin, filigrane, trous, taches, réparations, cahiers et numérotation éventuelle, réclames, titres courants, dimensions, piqûres, réglure, écriture[s], premiers mots et titres, encre[s], eulogies, notes et corrections marginales, interventions dans la copie, manicules) ; 2) une collation et une traduction des colophons ; 3) une présentation des œuvres copiées avec débuts et fins de textes, la description des inédits, des considérations sur l’individualité de chaque copie (état du texte, évaluation des lacunes, etc.) et une mise en relation de ces observations avec la bibliographie existante ; 4) diverses indications sur l’histoire du manuscrit.
Les descriptions sont donc d’une facture nouvelle. Leur spécificité réside, en particulier, dans la place accordée aux observations codicologiques et historiques, et dans leur constante mise en relation avec les aspects textuels des manuscrits. 

Les trente-quatre notices de ce premier volume font parcourir au lecteur presque tous les grands textes de l’histoire de la pensée juive médiévale, depuis son tout début, au Xe siècle. Le volume débute avec le rabbanite Sa‘adya Gaon et la paraphrase inédite de son Livre des Croyances) et les traités de ses contemporains qaraïtes. Il se poursuit avec les copies des Devoirs des cœurs de Bahya Ibn Paquda, du Kuzari de Juda Ha-Lévi et des traités d’Abraham Ibn Ezra (avec leurs commentaires). Après un florilège de textes cabalistiques viennent plusieurs copies du Guide des égarés de Maïmonide, dont l’exemplaire unique de la traduction vers l’hébreu faite par Juda Al-Harizi. Elles sont suivies des commentaires de Joseph Ibn Kaspi et de Moïse de Narbonne.
Ces manuscrits, tous d’une qualité exceptionnelle, proposent des textes dont les variantes méritent d’être étudiées. Ils proviennent des aires culturelles orientale, byzantine, italienne, espagnole et provençale. Certains d’entre eux furent écrits ou possédés par de grandes personnalités du monde juif qui y ont laissé leurs traces. Le lecteur se rendra compte, avec les volumes qui suivront, que le fonds de la BnF est, dans divers domaines, l’un des plus riches au monde

This article examines the social meaning of philology in Arabic from the perspective of a contemporary Indian Shīʿī Muslim community, known as the Alawi Bohras. Rather than approaching philology as a tradition of canonical texts, it considers philology as a social act: a set of practices that are imbedded socially in the community. We focus on the community's khizāna, or manuscript treasury, and investigate its social role as a sacred site of philology, its Arabic manuscripts being only accessible to the highest clerics. Even though inaccessible to believers, the khizāna manuscripts have rich social lives as objects of concealment, agency, and healing. These social lives precisely lay bare the encounter between the philological and the community. As a study in social codicology that explores this encounter, the case of the Alawi Bohras is an invitation to rethink the social meaning of philology and manuscripts in Muslim societies.

In the year 1969, the oldest part of the school library of Herlufsholm in Næstved was sold to the newly
founded University Library of Odense, including the special Groothoff book collection, Bibliotheca
Groothoffiana. Today, the joint collections are administered by the University Library of Southern
Denmark.
The Herlufsholm library contains very many works of great historical value, including many first editions
of spectacular scientific books, priceless maps, and etchings/woodcuts, not to mention numerous
handwritten names and annotations, added in the books by prominent figures of the past.
Tycho Brahe, René Descartes, Otto von Guericke, Johannes Kepler and Andreas Vesalius are among the
many famous authors to be found in the collection. Among the previous owners of the books are several
members of the Danish and foreign aristocracy as well as leading Danish scientists and scholars of all
kinds.
This book explains important parts of the school library history and presents selected items from the
collection, drawing forth examples of exquisite materials of both Danish and foreign origin.

Описание рукописей, хранящихся в Библиотеке Российской академии наук, включает в себя тексты, связанные с церковным правом. Описание охватывает 103 славянские рукописные книги XV–XX века, описанные постатейно. В описание вошли Кормчие книги, номоканон «Зонар», Пандекты и Тактикон Никона Черногорца, Алфавитная синтагма Матфея Властаря, «Епитоми» Константина Арменопула, Апостольские постановления «Климента Римского», Стоглав, номоканоны и сборники смешанного состава, а также авторские материалы исследователей, изучавших славянские рукописи по церковному праву в XIX–XX вв.
Описание сопровождено указателем инципитов, а также именным и географическим указателями. Книга рассчитана на археографов, историков, филологов, занимающихся изучением церковного права, славянского рукописного наследия и истории науки.

The aim of the program is to take stock of Hungarian documents of
studia humanitatis with 1526 as a milestone. The census intends to register predominantly the use of (school)books in Hungary in teaching grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy.