Kislak Center’s Rare Books and Manuscripts – Friday

Lea Library (more information) , 6th floor
10:00am – 4:00pm

Many thanks to the Kislak Center (link) for pulling an exciting selection of their rare books for us to see. Our access will be supervised and mediated by student workers, so unfortunately we will not be able to offer page turning or book handling options. You will need to leave all bags and belongings outside of the room and view only.

  • Treatise on munitions and explosive devices, with many illustrations of the various devices and their uses. This page shows an armored dude on horseback and a rake of live munitions slung over his shoulder
  • World and church history to the election of Pope Sixtus IV in 1471, with diagrams and drawings throughout the text. Written in humanistic script by a single hand.; Decoration: Illustrated with numerous drawings and diagrams in ink, with history laid out in linear diagrams, some illustrations colored by hand.
  • Genealogy of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, tracing his descent from the earls of Leicester and Chester, beginning with individuals of the 11th and 12th centuries, and providing the heraldic devices of the principal members of these families. This page has a Miniature of two knights bearing shields with the emblems of Leicester and Chester
  • Ms. Roll 1588: A chronicle with diagram from the first reign of Henry VI tracing the descent of the kings of England from Noah. 1425.
  • Ms. Codex 724: Vulgate Bible, with prologues for several books. France, 1275. Opening 3v-4r OR 159v-160r (opening of Job) Layout: Written in 2 columns of 56-58 lines, with illuminated border on the left edge of one or both columns on most pages.; Script: Written in a Gothic script, appears to be the work of a single scriptorium.; Decoration: Illuminated series of miniatures in a full-page initial at the beginning of Genesis, depicting the 7 days of Creation and the Crucifixion (f. 3v)
  • Ms. Codex 1057: Ferial psalter, containing the psalms divided into eight sections. Formerly held by the Abbey of Saint-Walburga. This page shows an historiated initial, painted, with white tracery and painted ascenders and descenders with grotesques in the margins (King David, f. 15v)
  • An illuminated chronicle tracing the descent of Edward IV from Adam, through Brut and Arthur (generally following the 12th-century account of Geoffrey of Monmouth) This is the section that is open for viewing - and the historical kings of England. The text draws on other historical authors such as Roger of Wendover, Matthew of Paris, and Ranulf Higden. The latest event in the text is the marriage of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou in 1445 and the appointment of Edward's father, Richard, duke of York, as regent in France; the illustration of Edward IV as king must be from his accession in 1461 or later. On the verso (outer surface of roll) is the Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi attributed to Peter of Poitiers, illustrated with drawings, followed by a diagram of Roman emperors and Christian popes
  • LJS 419: Illustrated herbal with three styles of illustration - I think this page is an example of the more naturalistic style
  • Ms. Codex 1071: Coats of arms, some painted and some drawn in ink, for the monarchs and nobles of England from Edward the Confessor to Elizabeth I, 1597. Opening 78v-79r
  • Book of hours, use of Metz, with a calendar, the Hours of the Virgin, the Penitential Psalms and Litany, and the Office of the Dead. The calendar includes Saint Arnulf (11 October) and Saint Clement (23 November), both bishops of Metz, and the opening miniature of the Hours of the Virgin, showing Mary nursing Jesus (f. 13r), is particularly associated with Metz

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