Collection of Medieval Manuscripts, Early Prints, Religious and Historical art and scripture, 1175-1980, bulk 1175-1643
Collection
Identifier: 50-12-001
Scope and Content
The Collection of Medieval Manuscripts, Early Prints, Religious and Historical art and scripture contains manuscripts, early prints, wood carvings, print illustrations, paintings, booklets, and newspaper articles ranging across seven distinct time periods from 1175-1980, the bulk from 1175-1643. A majority of these manuscripts were created in Italy, Germany, and France.
The first time period of these materials is The Romanesque period (1000-1150 A.D.), which contained styles of art and manuscripts that focused on the concept of visual storytelling through illustration and often focused on the Christian religion. Romanesque manuscripts are characterized by striking colors, historiated initials (an enlarged letter at the beginning of a section of text/paragraph that contains a picture and is decorated), and fully illuminated pages. Many of the people who looked at books during the Romanesque period could not read or write, so, the images on these manuscripts contributed to communicate the messages of the text. These illustrations also contained vivid colors that contrasted against the background of the manuscript in order to communicate the scene effectively. Romanesque manuscripts focused on the Bible, often bound into more than one volume. Each book was prefaced by a large historiated initial, and the psalter, a public worship book containing the “Book of Psalms” where major historiated initials were also illuminated. Items in this collection that were modeled after this particular time period is the manuscript, “The Book of Hours.”
The second time period covered by materials within the collection is The Gothic period. The Gothic Period refers to art and manuscripts developed during the Middle Ages (1150-1520 A.D.), which was a term that was first used in the 19th century; The term “gothic” is sometimes used to generally refer to all post-Romanesque art in Europe. The Gothic period placed an emphasis on earthy and natural materials, gruesome and horrific elements, and sexual and violent imagery. This particular style developed in Northern France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland before spreading to Spain, Portugal, and the rest of Europe in the 15th century.
The earliest Gothic art often revolved around the stories of the New and Old Testament, side by side, and depicted the lives of different Saints. Along with this, images of the Virgin Mary also changed to a form that appeared more human, caring, and affectionate, attempting to mirror the manners of a well-born aristocratic woman, instead of having the Virgin Mary sitting down and holding Christ on her lap. Works of secularity, which are works that are neutral in content regarding religion, also started to rise during this time. With the increase of cities in Europe, founding of universities, an increase in trade, the establishment of a money-based economy, the bourgeoisie (middle class) were finally able to afford to patronize the arts and commission arts, which led to a rapid production of paintings and illuminated manuscripts. Within this collection the items we have from this time period are the manuscripts, “Psalter with Commentary,” “Devotionale Treatise,” “The Golden Legend,” and “Antiphonale Romanorum.”
Another time period that this collection covers is The Scientific Revolution, which was a drastic change in scientific thought that took place during the 16th and 17th centuries, in which a new view of nature emerged which replaced the Greek view that had dominated science for almost 2,000 years. During this time, science became an autonomous discipline that was distinct from both philosophy and technology, and it came to be regarded as having utilitarian goals, and by the end of this period, it essentially replaced Christianity as the focal point of European civilization. The growing flood of information that resulted from the Scientific Revolution put heavy strains on old institutions, namely the Catholic Church, and practices because it was no longer sufficient to publish scientific results in an expensive book that only a few people could buy; information had to be spread widely and rapidly. The item in this collection from the Scientific Revolution is the print, “Phillip Hassail” from “Theatrum Europaeum.”
The fourth time period covered within the collection is the Renaissance, a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political, and economic “rebirth” that followed the Middle Ages that took place gradually from the 14th century to the 17th century; it often marks the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. The Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature, and art. The Renaissance originated in Florence, Italy, which was a place with rich cultural history where wealthy citizens could afford to support new artists. Art, architecture and science were closely linked during the Renaissance and it was a unique time when these fields of interest fused together seamlessly.
Renaissance art was characterized by realism and naturalism, and artists strived to depict people and objects in a true-to-life way; they used techniques, such as perspective, shadows, and light to add depth to their work and emotion was another quality that artists tried to infuse into their pieces. As more people learned how to read, write, and interpret ideas, they also began to examine and critique religion as they knew it. A good portion of Renaissance art depicted scenes from the Bible or was commissioned by the church; there was an emphasis on naturalism, however, placing such figures as Christ and the Madonna in landscapes from the observable world. “Plate of Adoration of the Magi, from the Life of the Virgin,” is a print example within our collection from the Renaissance.
The collection also contains items from the Romantic era, which was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and peaked from 1800-1850. It stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, specifically emotions such as trepidation, horror, and the awe that was experienced in confronting the sublimity of nature. The Romantic era elevated folk art, language, and custom, and argued for an epistemology (a theory of knowledge that is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge and belief) based on usage and custom.
Generally, Romanticism can be understood as a pursuit for the value of beauty on the part of humans because they have the faculty of emotion, intellect, and will. All of these pursue the values of truth and goodness, but when intellect is emphasized one-sidedly, such as in the Enlightenment, and when will is stressed, human beings naturally react with their faculty of emotion. Our collection contains two different items from the Romantic Era. The first piece is a print illustration entitled, “Sir Kenneth and the Dwarfs of the Chapel and Master Holdenough Interrupted in his Vocation” (French translation: “Le Chevalier Kenneth et les Nains de la Chapelle - Maître Holdenough interrompa dans su vocation” while the second piece is a “Mamluk Soldier Painting.”
Another portion of this collection contains items that were created after Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1440, which was an innovative device, operated by hand, that transferred ink to a print medium. This invention allowed for a rapid increase in the speed at which books could be produced, allowing print materials to become widely available to people of all classes, and not just for the wealthy. The lower classes were able to educate themselves through reading, which allowed their lifestyles to improve drastically. Because the printing press allowed books to be more easily produced which increased the number of schools, libraries, and universities, including the Bible, the literacy rate increased over time and more people started to read the Bible for the first time.
Gutenberg’s printing press used Gothic script letters; each letter was made on a metal block by engraving it into the base of a copper mould, and then filling the mould with molten metal. Individual blocks were arranged in a frame to create a text and then covered in ink. After this, a sheet of paper, made out of old linen and rags at the time, was mechanically pressed onto the metal blocks. After the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press, new types of presses began to appear.
The items within this collection that are examples of early prints created after the printing press are, “Numeri (Bible Book of Numbers, Chapter XXXIII),” “Liber Chronicorum,” “De Re Rustica,” “Vitae Illustrium Virorum (From Plutarch’s Lives),” “Herbarius Latinus,” and “Nicholas von Wyle Tranzlatzionelm oder Tutschunger des hochgeachtn Nicolai von Weil.”
This collection also contains items that are specific to the history and information regarding Gutenberg’s printing press, which include a booklet entitled, “Our Most Previous Heritage,” a newspaper article entitled, “How Gutenberg Paved the Way,” and a print copy of “The Gutenberg Bible.”
This collection additionally contains two Persian manuscripts that were created possibly in the the Samanid Empire through Ghaznavid Dynasty and possibly in the Qajar Dynasty.
The first manuscript is a Nastaliq 2-sided manuscript that is most likely from Shahnemah, (“The Persian Book of Kings”), from the 10th to early early 6th century B.C.E., created during the Samanid Empire and Ghaznavid Dynasty. Shahnameh is a long epic poem that was written by the persian poet, Ferdowsi, between c. 977 and 1010 CE; it is the national epic of greater Iran, and is one of the longest poems in the entire world that tells the mythical and historical past of the Persian Empire.
Persian manuscripts carry with them a long history of vivid storytelling and poetic power. Today, Persian is the language of Iran, but it has long been in an impressive geographic range and for diverse texts and traditions. During the Middle Ages, a virtuosic tradition of miniature painting was cultivated in Persian manuscript production which endured well into the modern period. Persian manuscripts were often characterized by a mesmerizing use of pattern, color, and composition marks an illumination practice.
We have another Persian manuscript in this collection from the Qajar Dynasty entitled, “Polo Game” created during the 19th-20th century. This particular manuscript is most likely an example of a Persian miniature and is a perfect example of artwork created during the Qajar Dynasty because it has an exuberant style and flamboyant use of color, it is rich in iconography, and tells a narrative of a past battle in Persian history.
The Qajar Dynasty was founded by Mohammad Khan and was the ruling dynasty of Iran from 1794 to 1925. The Qajar Dynasty introduced Western science, technology, and educational methods into Iran and some historians argue that the Qajars brought about the country’s modernization. In order to legitimize their rule over their Shiªi subjects, the Qajars emphasized Shi'i rituals and practices in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Qajars represented themselves as patrons of Moharran rituals. They attended public mourning rituals, such as the rowzeh khani, taªziyeh, and shabih khani, and they financially supported such ritual observances. The dynasty fell in 1925 when Reza Khan became the prominent political personality in Iran while Ahmad Shāh was absent and deposed by the national consultative assembly in October of 1925.
Art during this time period is characterized by an exuberant style and flamboyant use of color, which was emphasized as the 19th century progressed. An important feature of Qajar art is the richness of its iconography, which are the visual images and symbols used in a work. Flowers (especially roses and irises), foliage, and fruit normally function as both the central and supporting motifs. Within these works, there are also views of pastoral landscapes and buildings that are inspired by imported European illustrations. Within these artworks are also many different narratives. Nostalgia for Persia’s past is reflected in these works, including traditional themes of Persian literature, and battles. Unique to the Qajar period, these images represent the survival of a tradition whose earlier history has been lost. During this dynasty and all of the years after, Persian, also known as Farsi, was used, which is a Western Iranian language that belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages.
The manuscripts, artwork, prints and newspapers within the Collection consist of topics regarding religion, secularity, legends, stories told through biblical paraphrase, revolution, the printing press, and Persian history. In regards to religion, this collection is extremely important to see how religious works developed from the Romanesque period, all the way through the Romantic period. All of these items within the collection are crucial to understanding the history of these mediums and how they reflect their distinct time periods.
The first time period of these materials is The Romanesque period (1000-1150 A.D.), which contained styles of art and manuscripts that focused on the concept of visual storytelling through illustration and often focused on the Christian religion. Romanesque manuscripts are characterized by striking colors, historiated initials (an enlarged letter at the beginning of a section of text/paragraph that contains a picture and is decorated), and fully illuminated pages. Many of the people who looked at books during the Romanesque period could not read or write, so, the images on these manuscripts contributed to communicate the messages of the text. These illustrations also contained vivid colors that contrasted against the background of the manuscript in order to communicate the scene effectively. Romanesque manuscripts focused on the Bible, often bound into more than one volume. Each book was prefaced by a large historiated initial, and the psalter, a public worship book containing the “Book of Psalms” where major historiated initials were also illuminated. Items in this collection that were modeled after this particular time period is the manuscript, “The Book of Hours.”
The second time period covered by materials within the collection is The Gothic period. The Gothic Period refers to art and manuscripts developed during the Middle Ages (1150-1520 A.D.), which was a term that was first used in the 19th century; The term “gothic” is sometimes used to generally refer to all post-Romanesque art in Europe. The Gothic period placed an emphasis on earthy and natural materials, gruesome and horrific elements, and sexual and violent imagery. This particular style developed in Northern France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland before spreading to Spain, Portugal, and the rest of Europe in the 15th century.
The earliest Gothic art often revolved around the stories of the New and Old Testament, side by side, and depicted the lives of different Saints. Along with this, images of the Virgin Mary also changed to a form that appeared more human, caring, and affectionate, attempting to mirror the manners of a well-born aristocratic woman, instead of having the Virgin Mary sitting down and holding Christ on her lap. Works of secularity, which are works that are neutral in content regarding religion, also started to rise during this time. With the increase of cities in Europe, founding of universities, an increase in trade, the establishment of a money-based economy, the bourgeoisie (middle class) were finally able to afford to patronize the arts and commission arts, which led to a rapid production of paintings and illuminated manuscripts. Within this collection the items we have from this time period are the manuscripts, “Psalter with Commentary,” “Devotionale Treatise,” “The Golden Legend,” and “Antiphonale Romanorum.”
Another time period that this collection covers is The Scientific Revolution, which was a drastic change in scientific thought that took place during the 16th and 17th centuries, in which a new view of nature emerged which replaced the Greek view that had dominated science for almost 2,000 years. During this time, science became an autonomous discipline that was distinct from both philosophy and technology, and it came to be regarded as having utilitarian goals, and by the end of this period, it essentially replaced Christianity as the focal point of European civilization. The growing flood of information that resulted from the Scientific Revolution put heavy strains on old institutions, namely the Catholic Church, and practices because it was no longer sufficient to publish scientific results in an expensive book that only a few people could buy; information had to be spread widely and rapidly. The item in this collection from the Scientific Revolution is the print, “Phillip Hassail” from “Theatrum Europaeum.”
The fourth time period covered within the collection is the Renaissance, a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political, and economic “rebirth” that followed the Middle Ages that took place gradually from the 14th century to the 17th century; it often marks the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. The Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature, and art. The Renaissance originated in Florence, Italy, which was a place with rich cultural history where wealthy citizens could afford to support new artists. Art, architecture and science were closely linked during the Renaissance and it was a unique time when these fields of interest fused together seamlessly.
Renaissance art was characterized by realism and naturalism, and artists strived to depict people and objects in a true-to-life way; they used techniques, such as perspective, shadows, and light to add depth to their work and emotion was another quality that artists tried to infuse into their pieces. As more people learned how to read, write, and interpret ideas, they also began to examine and critique religion as they knew it. A good portion of Renaissance art depicted scenes from the Bible or was commissioned by the church; there was an emphasis on naturalism, however, placing such figures as Christ and the Madonna in landscapes from the observable world. “Plate of Adoration of the Magi, from the Life of the Virgin,” is a print example within our collection from the Renaissance.
The collection also contains items from the Romantic era, which was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and peaked from 1800-1850. It stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, specifically emotions such as trepidation, horror, and the awe that was experienced in confronting the sublimity of nature. The Romantic era elevated folk art, language, and custom, and argued for an epistemology (a theory of knowledge that is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge and belief) based on usage and custom.
Generally, Romanticism can be understood as a pursuit for the value of beauty on the part of humans because they have the faculty of emotion, intellect, and will. All of these pursue the values of truth and goodness, but when intellect is emphasized one-sidedly, such as in the Enlightenment, and when will is stressed, human beings naturally react with their faculty of emotion. Our collection contains two different items from the Romantic Era. The first piece is a print illustration entitled, “Sir Kenneth and the Dwarfs of the Chapel and Master Holdenough Interrupted in his Vocation” (French translation: “Le Chevalier Kenneth et les Nains de la Chapelle - Maître Holdenough interrompa dans su vocation” while the second piece is a “Mamluk Soldier Painting.”
Another portion of this collection contains items that were created after Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1440, which was an innovative device, operated by hand, that transferred ink to a print medium. This invention allowed for a rapid increase in the speed at which books could be produced, allowing print materials to become widely available to people of all classes, and not just for the wealthy. The lower classes were able to educate themselves through reading, which allowed their lifestyles to improve drastically. Because the printing press allowed books to be more easily produced which increased the number of schools, libraries, and universities, including the Bible, the literacy rate increased over time and more people started to read the Bible for the first time.
Gutenberg’s printing press used Gothic script letters; each letter was made on a metal block by engraving it into the base of a copper mould, and then filling the mould with molten metal. Individual blocks were arranged in a frame to create a text and then covered in ink. After this, a sheet of paper, made out of old linen and rags at the time, was mechanically pressed onto the metal blocks. After the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press, new types of presses began to appear.
The items within this collection that are examples of early prints created after the printing press are, “Numeri (Bible Book of Numbers, Chapter XXXIII),” “Liber Chronicorum,” “De Re Rustica,” “Vitae Illustrium Virorum (From Plutarch’s Lives),” “Herbarius Latinus,” and “Nicholas von Wyle Tranzlatzionelm oder Tutschunger des hochgeachtn Nicolai von Weil.”
This collection also contains items that are specific to the history and information regarding Gutenberg’s printing press, which include a booklet entitled, “Our Most Previous Heritage,” a newspaper article entitled, “How Gutenberg Paved the Way,” and a print copy of “The Gutenberg Bible.”
This collection additionally contains two Persian manuscripts that were created possibly in the the Samanid Empire through Ghaznavid Dynasty and possibly in the Qajar Dynasty.
The first manuscript is a Nastaliq 2-sided manuscript that is most likely from Shahnemah, (“The Persian Book of Kings”), from the 10th to early early 6th century B.C.E., created during the Samanid Empire and Ghaznavid Dynasty. Shahnameh is a long epic poem that was written by the persian poet, Ferdowsi, between c. 977 and 1010 CE; it is the national epic of greater Iran, and is one of the longest poems in the entire world that tells the mythical and historical past of the Persian Empire.
Persian manuscripts carry with them a long history of vivid storytelling and poetic power. Today, Persian is the language of Iran, but it has long been in an impressive geographic range and for diverse texts and traditions. During the Middle Ages, a virtuosic tradition of miniature painting was cultivated in Persian manuscript production which endured well into the modern period. Persian manuscripts were often characterized by a mesmerizing use of pattern, color, and composition marks an illumination practice.
We have another Persian manuscript in this collection from the Qajar Dynasty entitled, “Polo Game” created during the 19th-20th century. This particular manuscript is most likely an example of a Persian miniature and is a perfect example of artwork created during the Qajar Dynasty because it has an exuberant style and flamboyant use of color, it is rich in iconography, and tells a narrative of a past battle in Persian history.
The Qajar Dynasty was founded by Mohammad Khan and was the ruling dynasty of Iran from 1794 to 1925. The Qajar Dynasty introduced Western science, technology, and educational methods into Iran and some historians argue that the Qajars brought about the country’s modernization. In order to legitimize their rule over their Shiªi subjects, the Qajars emphasized Shi'i rituals and practices in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Qajars represented themselves as patrons of Moharran rituals. They attended public mourning rituals, such as the rowzeh khani, taªziyeh, and shabih khani, and they financially supported such ritual observances. The dynasty fell in 1925 when Reza Khan became the prominent political personality in Iran while Ahmad Shāh was absent and deposed by the national consultative assembly in October of 1925.
Art during this time period is characterized by an exuberant style and flamboyant use of color, which was emphasized as the 19th century progressed. An important feature of Qajar art is the richness of its iconography, which are the visual images and symbols used in a work. Flowers (especially roses and irises), foliage, and fruit normally function as both the central and supporting motifs. Within these works, there are also views of pastoral landscapes and buildings that are inspired by imported European illustrations. Within these artworks are also many different narratives. Nostalgia for Persia’s past is reflected in these works, including traditional themes of Persian literature, and battles. Unique to the Qajar period, these images represent the survival of a tradition whose earlier history has been lost. During this dynasty and all of the years after, Persian, also known as Farsi, was used, which is a Western Iranian language that belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages.
The manuscripts, artwork, prints and newspapers within the Collection consist of topics regarding religion, secularity, legends, stories told through biblical paraphrase, revolution, the printing press, and Persian history. In regards to religion, this collection is extremely important to see how religious works developed from the Romanesque period, all the way through the Romantic period. All of these items within the collection are crucial to understanding the history of these mediums and how they reflect their distinct time periods.
Dates
- 1175-1980, bulk 1175-1643
Access:
Open for research.
Historical Sketch
This particular collection covers manuscripts, prints, and artwork over a vast range of time periods. The collection contains a broad range of illuminated manuscripts and early prints from the 12th century to the 17th century, with the bulk of them created in the 15th century.
Illuminated manuscripts were formally prepared texts, created by hand, and decorated with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. The Roman Catholic Church used these illuminated manuscripts for visual tools for prayers, psalms, and public worship, and were used to support the daily devotions of monks, nuns, and laymen (a non-ordained male member of a church), which primarily happened during the Romanesque period through the Renaissance.
Illuminated manuscripts were created by monks and nuns across Europe until the 13th century; they were created with natural, delicate materials such as gold leaf, silverpoint, vellum, and bright, mineral-derived paints. These manuscripts were illustrated, gilded, and written by hand and were time consuming, tedious, detailed, and demanding; it was not uncommon for these monks and nuns to work in solitude from the morning until the night. Larger monasteries even had rooms that they called scriptoriums, which were reclusive spaces built for the purpose of writing, copying, illuminating, and binding manuscripts. By the 14th century, the public demand for manuscripts increased alongside a growing, educated middle class, which caused illuminated manuscripts to be produced in commercial facilities in Amsterdam, Rome, and Paris; this made them accessible to the middle class.
Illuminated manuscripts during the Middle Ages were only available to the clergy, but were quickly sought after by royals, aristocrats, and laymen. Different families who commissioned these works often passed them down as heirlooms or displayed them in private libraries. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, illuminated manuscripts were created for secular use (meaning works that are neutral in content regarding religion) and resulted in many manuscripts having poetic, historical, and mythological content. 1440 hailed the beginning of the end of illuminated manuscripts with the invention of the printing press and by the 16th century, production of manuscripts plummeted to an all time low and, once again, became reserved for the wealthy elite since they were not being commonly produced.
The collection contains manuscripts created during The Romanesque period. The Romanesque period (1000-1150 A.D.) contained styles of art and manuscripts that focused on the concept of visual storytelling through illustration and often focused on the Christian religion. Romanesque manuscripts are characterized by striking colors, historiated initials (an enlarged letter at the beginning of a section of text/paragraph that contains a picture and is decorated), and fully illuminated pages. Many of the people who looked at books during the Romanesque period could not read or write, so, the images on these manuscripts contributed to communicate the messages of the text. These illustrations also contained vivid colors that contrasted against the background of the manuscript in order to communicate the scene effectively. These manuscripts contained silver or gold embellishments and were usually created by a group of people instead of an individual; they were so expensive that usually only clergy could afford to commission artists and monks to make them.
Monks produced almost all illuminated manuscripts during this time, however, towards the end of the Romanesque period, artists were commissioned to do this work; even though artists rarely signed their work, tax records of the time suggested that these artists were mostly women. Romanesque manuscripts focused on the Bible, often bound into more than one volume and each book was prefaced by a large historiated initial, and the psalter, a public worship book containing the “Book of Psalms” where major historiated initials were also illuminated. Both of these books contained lavish examples of many different illustrated religious scenes.
Additionally within this collection are examples of illuminated manuscripts from the Gothic period. The Gothic period refers to art and manuscripts developed during the Middle Ages (1150-1520 A.D.), which was a term that was first used in the 19th century. The term “gothic” is sometimes used to generally refer to all post-Romanesque art in Europe. The Gothic style evolved as a reaction to Romanesque art and Byzantine art, which focused on religious expressions, heaven, and the spiritual world and often contained intricate patterns and rich colors. The Gothic period placed an emphasis on earthy and natural materials, gruesome and horrific elements, and sexual and violent imagery. This particular style developed in Northern France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland before spreading to Spain, Portugal, and the rest of Europe in the 15th century.
The Gothic period was divided into three distinct parts: the Early Gothic Period (1150-1350 A.D.), High Gothic Period (1250-1300), and the Late Gothic Period (1300-1500 A.D.), which only applied to Gothic architecture and was not applied to manuscripts or artwork. The earliest Gothic art often revolved around the stories of the New and Old Testament, side by side, and depicted the lives of different Saints; along with this, images of the Virgin Mary also changed to a form that appeared more human, caring, and affectionate, attempting to mirror the manners of a well-born aristocratic woman, instead of having the Virgin Mary sitting down and holding Christ on her lap. Works of secularity, which are works that are neutral in content regarding religion, also started to rise during this time. With the increase of cities in Europe, founding of universities, an increase in trade, the establishment of a money-based economy, the bourgeoisie (middle class) were finally able to afford to patronize the arts and commission arts, which led to a rapid production of paintings and illuminated manuscripts.
Gothic illuminated manuscripts are the world’s most complete record of Gothic paintings and date back to the middle of the 13th century. Many illuminated manuscripts from this time were royal bibles, psalters, and prayer books. Gothic manuscripts come in a variety of different forms and types, which sometimes present different distinct features, however, the vast majority of Gothic manuscripts are characterized by Gothic script, topics based around the bible, religion, secular legends, and heroic legends, decorative borders, and the manuscripts were smaller in size. The biggest characteristic of these Gothic manuscripts was their use of Gothic script, also known as Blackletter, Gothic miniscule, or Textura, which was used throughout Western Europe from 1150 until the 17th century, even after the end of the Gothic Period. It served as one of the major typefaces in the history of Western typography.
Gothic script derived directly from Carolingian miniscule, a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period characterized by rounded, distinguishable shapes, and clear capital letters, spaces between words. Carolingian miniscule was labor-intensive, consumed a lot of the space, and was time consuming during a time when new books in many different subjects were needed to keep up with the founding of new universities, new businesses, interests in law, grammar, history, and other works that were not just religious, which lead to the creation of Gothic script. The text script itself consists of tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines; these aspects made the script easier, and quicker to write while filling up more of the page to keep up with the demand for more books.
The early prints within this collection were created shortly after the invention of the printing press. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440, which was an innovative device, operated by hand, that transferred ink to a print medium. This invention allowed for a rapid increase in the speed at which materials could be produced, allowing print materials to become widely available to people of all classes, and not just for the wealthy. The lower classes were now able to educate themselves through reading, which allowed their lifestyles to improve drastically. Gutenberg’s printing press used Gothic script letters; each letter was made on a metal block by engraving it into the base of a copper mould, and then filling the mould with molten metal. Individual blocks were arranged in a frame to create a text and then covered in ink. After this, a sheet of paper, made out of old linen and rags at the time, was mechanically pressed onto the metal blocks.
After the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press, new types of presses began to appear, notably with two men from Germany, Arnold Pannartz and Conrad Sweynheym (Schweinheim). The two of them established the first Italian printing press in 1465 in the Benedictine monastery of Subiaco, Italy. They eventually moved their printing operation to Rome in 1467, before moving to Venice in 1469. There were some issues with these new movable-type printing presses, such as the lack of quality compared to handmade books, a drab presentation compared to the color-illustrated manuscripts, and errors in early printed editions that were often repeated in later editions. A new boost to the quantity of printed material came with the rise of the humanist movement and its interest in reviving literature from ancient Greece and Rome.
Two printers, Nicholas Jensen, who was a Frenchman, and Aldus Manutius, an Italian man, profited off of this new demand. Jenson innovated with new typefaces in his printing shop in Venice Italy, which included easy-to-read Roman type and a Greek font which imitated manuscript texts. Some of Jenson’s books also had illustrations and decorations added by hand to recapture the quality of older, entirely handmade books.
Jenson cut a Roman type that borrowed shapes from the calligraphic shapes from humanist miniscule. Humanist minuscule was a script style primarily based on Carolingian miniscule inspired by traditional Latin letterforms; it is characterized by low contrast between thin and thick strokes, loose letter spacing, and was more legible for small-sized text. Roman type is characterized by very little differentiation between thicks and thins, diagonal stress, capitals shorter than ascenders, and serifs that are small and graceful. After the schwabacher script, the Fraktur typeface took over in popularity during the Scientific Revolution after the end of the Gothic Period.
The collection also contains early prints from The Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution was a drastic change in scientific thought that took place during the 16th and 17th centuries, in which a new view of nature emerged which replaced the Greek view that had dominated science for almost 2,000 years. Science became an autonomous discipline that was distinct from both philosophy and technology, and it came to be regarded as having utilitarian goals. By the end of this period, it essentially replaced Christianity as the focal point of European civilization. During this time, there arose a new view of science that brought forth the following transformations: the reeducation of common sense in favor of abstract reasoning, the substitution of a quantitative for a qualitative view of nature, the view of nature as a machine rather than an organism, the development of an experimental scientific method that sought definite answers to certain limited questions couched in the framework of specific theories, and the acceptance of new criteria for explanation, and stressing the “how” rather than the “why” that had characterized the Aristotelian search for final causes.
The growing flood of information that resulted from the Scientific Revolution put heavy strains on old institutions and practices because it was no longer sufficient to publish scientific results in an expensive book that only a few people could buy; information had to be spread widely and rapidly. Fraktur typeface is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typefaces derived from this hand, which was developed in the early 16th century. It is often characterized as “the German typeface” because it remained popular in Germany and Eastern Europe for longer than anywhere else. Fraktur typeface is characterized by letters that are designed by individual strokes that are broken apart, and that in the lower case ‘o,’ the left part of the bow is broken, but the right part is not.
This collection also contains artwork ranging from the late Gothic Period/early Renaissance until the Romantic Era.
The Renaissance was a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political, and economic “rebirth” that followed the Middle Ages that took place gradually from the 14th century to the 17th century; it often marks the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. The Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature, and art. The Renaissance originated in Florence, Italy, which was a place with rich cultural history where wealthy citizens could afford to support new artists. Different Italian writers, artists, politicians, and others declared that they were participating in an intellectual and artistic revolution that would be much different from what they experienced during the Dark Ages. The powerful Medici family, who ruled Florence for more than 60 years, backed this movement.
The movement first expanded to other Italian city-states such as Venice, Milan, Bologna, Ferrara, and Rome before spreading to France and then throughout western and northern Europe during the 15th century. Art, architecture and science were closely linked during the Renaissance and it was a unique time when these fields of interest fused together seamlessly. Artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, incorporated scientific principles into their work so that they could recreate the human body with extraordinary precision, meanwhile, architects, such as Filippo Brunelleschi, studied mathematics to accurately engineer and design immense buildings with expansive domes.
Renaissance art was characterized by realism and naturalism, and artists strived to depict people and objects in a true-to-life way; they used techniques, such as perspective, shadows, and light to add depth to their work and emotion was another quality that artists tried to infuse into their pieces. Humanism, which is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, encouraged Europeans to question the role of the Roman Catholic during the Renaissance. As more people learned how to read, write, and interpret ideas, they also began to examine and critique religion as they knew it. Also, because the printing press allowed for texts, including the Bible, to be easily reproduced, this allowed for everyone to read and purchase books, which meant that the people were often reading this Bible for the first time.
During the 16th century, Martin Luther, who was a german monk, led the Protestant Reformation, which was a revolutionary movement that caused a split from the Catholic church; he questioned many of the practices of the church and whether they aligned with the teachings of the Bible, and, as a result, a new form of Christianity known as Protestantism was created. The Renaissance began to die out due to several contributing factors, the first of which being that numerous wars plagued the Italian peninsula. Changing trade routes also led to a period of economic decline and limited the amount of money that wealthy contributors could spend on the arts.
Later on in the Renaissance movement, known as the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic church began to censor artists and writers in response to the Protestant Reformation, which caused many Renaissance thinkers to fear being too bold, which stifled creativity. Finally, in 1545, the Council of Trent established the Roman Inquisition, which made humanism and any views that challenged the Catholic church an act of heresy punishable by death. A good portion of Renaissance art depicted scenes from the Bible or was commissioned by the church; there was an emphasis on naturalism, however, placing such figures as Christ and the Madonna in landscapes from the observable world.
The collection also contains artwork from the Romantic era, which was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and peaked from 1800-1850. It stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, specifically emotions such as trepidation, horror, and the awe that was experienced in confronting the sublimity of nature. The Romantic era elevated folk art, language, and custom, and argued for an epistemology (a theory of knowledge that is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge and belief) based on usage and custom.
Romanticism arose as a reaction against the excessive rationalism of the Enlightenment and it drew upon the French Revolution’s rejection of aristocratic social and political norms; it was also influenced by the theory of evolution and uniformitarianism, which argued that “the past is the key to the present.” Romanticism elevated the achievements of what it perceived as misunderstood heroic individuals and artists that altered society, and legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority, which permitted freedom from classical notions of form in art. Romanticism was the inevitable reaction to the Enlightenment’s rationalism, and the artistic and literary works of the Romantic movement have had lasting appeal because of the human faculty of emotions.
Generally, Romanticism can be understood as a pursuit for the value of beauty on the part of humans because they have the faculty of emotion, intellect, and will. All of these pursue the values of truth and goodness, but when intellect is emphasized one-sidedly, such as in the Enlightenment, and when will is stressed, human beings naturally react with their faculty of emotion. In France, the movement is associated with the 19th century, particularly in paintings, because it developed later after the rise of Napoleon.
During the Romantic period, artists began turning their attention to the natural world. With this growing fascination of nature, there was an increase in the practice of painting en Plein air, which meant that artists painted outside. This process enabled artists to produce elevated landscapes, and the close and intimate observation of the natural world translated into more emotive and atmospheric scenes in artwork. These pieces were often highly varied and characterized by people, landscapes, peaceful beauty, religion, and revolution.
Additionally there are different booklets and newspaper articles discussing the Gutenberg Bible, and a modern reprint of the Gutenberg Bible within the collection.
Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468) was the son of a patrician of Mainz and obtained a skill in metalwork. From 1428 and 1430, he was exiled from Mainz in the course of a bitter struggle between the guilds of that city and the patricians, which caused him to move to Strasbourg, France. While he was there, he engaged in crafts such as gem cutting, and taught pupils. Besides these, there is not much information about Gutenberg’s life. He invented the printing press in 1440 which allowed for a rapid increase in book production, and he specifically produced “The Gutenberg Bible,” which was one of the earliest major books that was printed using the movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the “Gutenberg Revolution.” The Bible itself is an edition of the Vulgate and contains the Latin version of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. This Bible is also mainly the work of St. Jerome, who started his translation work in 380 A.D. “The Gutenberg Bible” is the world’s most famous bible and was completed printing in late 1455 in Mainz, Germany. It was also the first book that was mass produced in which 180 copies were printed.
Lastly this collection contains two different manuscripts from the Persian Empire, one that was created during the Qajar Dynasty, and another that was created during an unknown time but references a persian poem from Shahnameh (“The Persian Book of Kings”) from the Samanid Empire into the Ghaznavid Dynasty.
The Samanid Empire was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire of Iranian origin which was centered in Khorasan and Transoxiana, while also encompassing Persia and Central Asia from 818 to 999. Four brothers, Nuh, Amad, Yahya, and Ilyas founded the Samanid state and each of them ruled territories under the Abbasid suzerainty. The Samanid Empire was part of the Iranian Intermezzo, which saw the creation of a Persianate culture and identity that brought Iranian speech and traditions into the fold of the Islamic world, which later contributed to the formation of the Turko-Persian culture. The Samanids promoted the arts, gave rise to the advancement of science and literature, which attracted scholars such as Rudaki, Ferdowsi, and Avicenna. Scholars noted that the Samanids revived Persian language and culture while continuing to use Arabic for sciences and religious studies. Samanid authorities even declared that “here, in this region, the language is Persian, and the kings of this realm are Persian kings.”
The Ghaznavid dynasty succeeded the Samanid Empire and was a Persianate Muslim dynasty and empire of the Turkic mamluk origin, ruling at its greatest extent, with large parts of Persia, Khorasan, and much of Transoxiana and the northwest Indian subcontinent from 977 to 1186. The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin upon his succession to the rule of Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was an ex-general of the Samanid Empire from Balk, which was north of the Hindu Kush in Greater Khorasan. Mahmud of Ghazni, Sabuktigin’s son, expanded the Ghaznavid Empire to the Amy Darya, the Indus River, and the Indian Ocean in the east to Rey and Hamadan in the west. Under the reign of Mas’ud I, the Ghaznavid dynasty began to lose control over its western territories to the Selkuj Empire after the Battle of Dandanaqan in 1040, which resulted in a restriction of its holdings to modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Northern India.
The second manuscript was most likely created from the 19th century to the early 20th century with influences from the Qajar Dynasty. The Qajar Dynasty was founded by Mohammad Khan and was the ruling dynasty of Iran from 1794 to 1925. The Qajar Dynasty introduced Western science, technology, and educational methods into Iran and some historians argue that the Qajars brought about the country’s modernization. In order to legitimize their rule over their Shiªi subjects, the Qajars emphasized Shi'i rituals and practices in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Qajars represented themselves as patrons of Moharran rituals. They attended public mourning rituals, such as the rowzeh khani, taªziyeh, and shabih khani, and they financially supported such ritual observances. The dynasty fell in 1925 when Reza Khan became the prominent political personality in Iran while Ahmad Shāh was absent and deposed by the national consultative assembly in October of 1925.
Persian miniatures were a private form of painting that emerged in Persia during the 13th century. These miniatures were often kept in books of albums and served to illustrate the accompanying texts beautifully scripted in calligraphy. Persian miniatures began when Persia was ruled by a succession of foreign dynasties, who came from the east and the north. It was only in the 14th century that the practice began of commissioning illustrated copies of classic works of Persian poetry. However, a 14th century flowering of Arabic illustrated literary manuscripts in Syria and Egypt collapsed at the end of the century, leaving Persia the undisputed leader in Islamic book illustration. Many of the best miniatures from early manuscripts were removed from their books in later centuries and transferred to albums, several of which are now in Istanbul, which is what complicates the tracing of the art history
Art during this time period is characterized by an exuberant style and flamboyant use of color, which was emphasized as the 19th century progressed. An important feature of Qajar art is the richness of its iconography, which are the visual images and symbols used in a work. Flowers (especially roses and irises), foliage, and fruit normally function as both the central and supporting motifs. Within these works, there are also views of pastoral landscapes and buildings that are inspired by imported European illustrations. Within these artworks are also many different narratives. Nostalgia for Persia’s past is reflected in these works, including traditional themes of Persian literature, and battles. The most significant and interesting iconography often included in these works is drawn from the themes of popular folklore, which are found in the oil paintings decorating the walls of coffee houses, paintings on glass, colored lithographs, and tilework panels. Unique to the Qajar period, these images represent the survival of a tradition whose earlier history has been lost.
Persian, also known as Farsi, was used throughout these manuscripts, which is a Western Iranian language that belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a language that has different standard forms and is predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikstan. Throughout history, Persian was considered prestigious by various empires centered in West Asia, Central Asia, and South Astia. It was the first language to break through the monopoly of Arabic on writing in the Muslim world, with Persian poetry becoming a tradition in many eastern courts.There are two different classifications of the Persian language: Old Persian and Middle Persian. Old Persian is attested from the wedge-shaped inscriptions left by the Achaemenid dynasty (599 to 331 B.C.) that ruled the lands known as the Realm of the Aryans up until the conquest of Alexander the Great. Middle Persian, also known as Pahlavi, is known chiefly through its use in Persian’s pre-Islamic Zoroastrian, meaning that they believed their religion was revealed by their supreme God, religious writings. Persian manuscripts carry with them a long history of vivid storytelling and poetic power. Today, there are around 250 Ta’zieh pieces that were collected by an Italian ambassador to Iran, Cherulli, and were added to a collection in the Vatican Library.
Today, Persian is the language of Iran, but it has long been in an impressive geographic range and for diverse texts and traditions. During the Middle Ages, a virtuosic tradition of miniature painting was cultivated in Persian manuscript production which endured well into the modern period. Persian manuscripts were often characterized by a mesmerizing use of pattern, color, and composition marks an illumination practice.
Illuminated manuscripts were formally prepared texts, created by hand, and decorated with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. The Roman Catholic Church used these illuminated manuscripts for visual tools for prayers, psalms, and public worship, and were used to support the daily devotions of monks, nuns, and laymen (a non-ordained male member of a church), which primarily happened during the Romanesque period through the Renaissance.
Illuminated manuscripts were created by monks and nuns across Europe until the 13th century; they were created with natural, delicate materials such as gold leaf, silverpoint, vellum, and bright, mineral-derived paints. These manuscripts were illustrated, gilded, and written by hand and were time consuming, tedious, detailed, and demanding; it was not uncommon for these monks and nuns to work in solitude from the morning until the night. Larger monasteries even had rooms that they called scriptoriums, which were reclusive spaces built for the purpose of writing, copying, illuminating, and binding manuscripts. By the 14th century, the public demand for manuscripts increased alongside a growing, educated middle class, which caused illuminated manuscripts to be produced in commercial facilities in Amsterdam, Rome, and Paris; this made them accessible to the middle class.
Illuminated manuscripts during the Middle Ages were only available to the clergy, but were quickly sought after by royals, aristocrats, and laymen. Different families who commissioned these works often passed them down as heirlooms or displayed them in private libraries. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, illuminated manuscripts were created for secular use (meaning works that are neutral in content regarding religion) and resulted in many manuscripts having poetic, historical, and mythological content. 1440 hailed the beginning of the end of illuminated manuscripts with the invention of the printing press and by the 16th century, production of manuscripts plummeted to an all time low and, once again, became reserved for the wealthy elite since they were not being commonly produced.
The collection contains manuscripts created during The Romanesque period. The Romanesque period (1000-1150 A.D.) contained styles of art and manuscripts that focused on the concept of visual storytelling through illustration and often focused on the Christian religion. Romanesque manuscripts are characterized by striking colors, historiated initials (an enlarged letter at the beginning of a section of text/paragraph that contains a picture and is decorated), and fully illuminated pages. Many of the people who looked at books during the Romanesque period could not read or write, so, the images on these manuscripts contributed to communicate the messages of the text. These illustrations also contained vivid colors that contrasted against the background of the manuscript in order to communicate the scene effectively. These manuscripts contained silver or gold embellishments and were usually created by a group of people instead of an individual; they were so expensive that usually only clergy could afford to commission artists and monks to make them.
Monks produced almost all illuminated manuscripts during this time, however, towards the end of the Romanesque period, artists were commissioned to do this work; even though artists rarely signed their work, tax records of the time suggested that these artists were mostly women. Romanesque manuscripts focused on the Bible, often bound into more than one volume and each book was prefaced by a large historiated initial, and the psalter, a public worship book containing the “Book of Psalms” where major historiated initials were also illuminated. Both of these books contained lavish examples of many different illustrated religious scenes.
Additionally within this collection are examples of illuminated manuscripts from the Gothic period. The Gothic period refers to art and manuscripts developed during the Middle Ages (1150-1520 A.D.), which was a term that was first used in the 19th century. The term “gothic” is sometimes used to generally refer to all post-Romanesque art in Europe. The Gothic style evolved as a reaction to Romanesque art and Byzantine art, which focused on religious expressions, heaven, and the spiritual world and often contained intricate patterns and rich colors. The Gothic period placed an emphasis on earthy and natural materials, gruesome and horrific elements, and sexual and violent imagery. This particular style developed in Northern France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland before spreading to Spain, Portugal, and the rest of Europe in the 15th century.
The Gothic period was divided into three distinct parts: the Early Gothic Period (1150-1350 A.D.), High Gothic Period (1250-1300), and the Late Gothic Period (1300-1500 A.D.), which only applied to Gothic architecture and was not applied to manuscripts or artwork. The earliest Gothic art often revolved around the stories of the New and Old Testament, side by side, and depicted the lives of different Saints; along with this, images of the Virgin Mary also changed to a form that appeared more human, caring, and affectionate, attempting to mirror the manners of a well-born aristocratic woman, instead of having the Virgin Mary sitting down and holding Christ on her lap. Works of secularity, which are works that are neutral in content regarding religion, also started to rise during this time. With the increase of cities in Europe, founding of universities, an increase in trade, the establishment of a money-based economy, the bourgeoisie (middle class) were finally able to afford to patronize the arts and commission arts, which led to a rapid production of paintings and illuminated manuscripts.
Gothic illuminated manuscripts are the world’s most complete record of Gothic paintings and date back to the middle of the 13th century. Many illuminated manuscripts from this time were royal bibles, psalters, and prayer books. Gothic manuscripts come in a variety of different forms and types, which sometimes present different distinct features, however, the vast majority of Gothic manuscripts are characterized by Gothic script, topics based around the bible, religion, secular legends, and heroic legends, decorative borders, and the manuscripts were smaller in size. The biggest characteristic of these Gothic manuscripts was their use of Gothic script, also known as Blackletter, Gothic miniscule, or Textura, which was used throughout Western Europe from 1150 until the 17th century, even after the end of the Gothic Period. It served as one of the major typefaces in the history of Western typography.
Gothic script derived directly from Carolingian miniscule, a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period characterized by rounded, distinguishable shapes, and clear capital letters, spaces between words. Carolingian miniscule was labor-intensive, consumed a lot of the space, and was time consuming during a time when new books in many different subjects were needed to keep up with the founding of new universities, new businesses, interests in law, grammar, history, and other works that were not just religious, which lead to the creation of Gothic script. The text script itself consists of tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines; these aspects made the script easier, and quicker to write while filling up more of the page to keep up with the demand for more books.
The early prints within this collection were created shortly after the invention of the printing press. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440, which was an innovative device, operated by hand, that transferred ink to a print medium. This invention allowed for a rapid increase in the speed at which materials could be produced, allowing print materials to become widely available to people of all classes, and not just for the wealthy. The lower classes were now able to educate themselves through reading, which allowed their lifestyles to improve drastically. Gutenberg’s printing press used Gothic script letters; each letter was made on a metal block by engraving it into the base of a copper mould, and then filling the mould with molten metal. Individual blocks were arranged in a frame to create a text and then covered in ink. After this, a sheet of paper, made out of old linen and rags at the time, was mechanically pressed onto the metal blocks.
After the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press, new types of presses began to appear, notably with two men from Germany, Arnold Pannartz and Conrad Sweynheym (Schweinheim). The two of them established the first Italian printing press in 1465 in the Benedictine monastery of Subiaco, Italy. They eventually moved their printing operation to Rome in 1467, before moving to Venice in 1469. There were some issues with these new movable-type printing presses, such as the lack of quality compared to handmade books, a drab presentation compared to the color-illustrated manuscripts, and errors in early printed editions that were often repeated in later editions. A new boost to the quantity of printed material came with the rise of the humanist movement and its interest in reviving literature from ancient Greece and Rome.
Two printers, Nicholas Jensen, who was a Frenchman, and Aldus Manutius, an Italian man, profited off of this new demand. Jenson innovated with new typefaces in his printing shop in Venice Italy, which included easy-to-read Roman type and a Greek font which imitated manuscript texts. Some of Jenson’s books also had illustrations and decorations added by hand to recapture the quality of older, entirely handmade books.
Jenson cut a Roman type that borrowed shapes from the calligraphic shapes from humanist miniscule. Humanist minuscule was a script style primarily based on Carolingian miniscule inspired by traditional Latin letterforms; it is characterized by low contrast between thin and thick strokes, loose letter spacing, and was more legible for small-sized text. Roman type is characterized by very little differentiation between thicks and thins, diagonal stress, capitals shorter than ascenders, and serifs that are small and graceful. After the schwabacher script, the Fraktur typeface took over in popularity during the Scientific Revolution after the end of the Gothic Period.
The collection also contains early prints from The Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution was a drastic change in scientific thought that took place during the 16th and 17th centuries, in which a new view of nature emerged which replaced the Greek view that had dominated science for almost 2,000 years. Science became an autonomous discipline that was distinct from both philosophy and technology, and it came to be regarded as having utilitarian goals. By the end of this period, it essentially replaced Christianity as the focal point of European civilization. During this time, there arose a new view of science that brought forth the following transformations: the reeducation of common sense in favor of abstract reasoning, the substitution of a quantitative for a qualitative view of nature, the view of nature as a machine rather than an organism, the development of an experimental scientific method that sought definite answers to certain limited questions couched in the framework of specific theories, and the acceptance of new criteria for explanation, and stressing the “how” rather than the “why” that had characterized the Aristotelian search for final causes.
The growing flood of information that resulted from the Scientific Revolution put heavy strains on old institutions and practices because it was no longer sufficient to publish scientific results in an expensive book that only a few people could buy; information had to be spread widely and rapidly. Fraktur typeface is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typefaces derived from this hand, which was developed in the early 16th century. It is often characterized as “the German typeface” because it remained popular in Germany and Eastern Europe for longer than anywhere else. Fraktur typeface is characterized by letters that are designed by individual strokes that are broken apart, and that in the lower case ‘o,’ the left part of the bow is broken, but the right part is not.
This collection also contains artwork ranging from the late Gothic Period/early Renaissance until the Romantic Era.
The Renaissance was a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political, and economic “rebirth” that followed the Middle Ages that took place gradually from the 14th century to the 17th century; it often marks the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. The Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature, and art. The Renaissance originated in Florence, Italy, which was a place with rich cultural history where wealthy citizens could afford to support new artists. Different Italian writers, artists, politicians, and others declared that they were participating in an intellectual and artistic revolution that would be much different from what they experienced during the Dark Ages. The powerful Medici family, who ruled Florence for more than 60 years, backed this movement.
The movement first expanded to other Italian city-states such as Venice, Milan, Bologna, Ferrara, and Rome before spreading to France and then throughout western and northern Europe during the 15th century. Art, architecture and science were closely linked during the Renaissance and it was a unique time when these fields of interest fused together seamlessly. Artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, incorporated scientific principles into their work so that they could recreate the human body with extraordinary precision, meanwhile, architects, such as Filippo Brunelleschi, studied mathematics to accurately engineer and design immense buildings with expansive domes.
Renaissance art was characterized by realism and naturalism, and artists strived to depict people and objects in a true-to-life way; they used techniques, such as perspective, shadows, and light to add depth to their work and emotion was another quality that artists tried to infuse into their pieces. Humanism, which is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, encouraged Europeans to question the role of the Roman Catholic during the Renaissance. As more people learned how to read, write, and interpret ideas, they also began to examine and critique religion as they knew it. Also, because the printing press allowed for texts, including the Bible, to be easily reproduced, this allowed for everyone to read and purchase books, which meant that the people were often reading this Bible for the first time.
During the 16th century, Martin Luther, who was a german monk, led the Protestant Reformation, which was a revolutionary movement that caused a split from the Catholic church; he questioned many of the practices of the church and whether they aligned with the teachings of the Bible, and, as a result, a new form of Christianity known as Protestantism was created. The Renaissance began to die out due to several contributing factors, the first of which being that numerous wars plagued the Italian peninsula. Changing trade routes also led to a period of economic decline and limited the amount of money that wealthy contributors could spend on the arts.
Later on in the Renaissance movement, known as the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic church began to censor artists and writers in response to the Protestant Reformation, which caused many Renaissance thinkers to fear being too bold, which stifled creativity. Finally, in 1545, the Council of Trent established the Roman Inquisition, which made humanism and any views that challenged the Catholic church an act of heresy punishable by death. A good portion of Renaissance art depicted scenes from the Bible or was commissioned by the church; there was an emphasis on naturalism, however, placing such figures as Christ and the Madonna in landscapes from the observable world.
The collection also contains artwork from the Romantic era, which was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and peaked from 1800-1850. It stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, specifically emotions such as trepidation, horror, and the awe that was experienced in confronting the sublimity of nature. The Romantic era elevated folk art, language, and custom, and argued for an epistemology (a theory of knowledge that is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge and belief) based on usage and custom.
Romanticism arose as a reaction against the excessive rationalism of the Enlightenment and it drew upon the French Revolution’s rejection of aristocratic social and political norms; it was also influenced by the theory of evolution and uniformitarianism, which argued that “the past is the key to the present.” Romanticism elevated the achievements of what it perceived as misunderstood heroic individuals and artists that altered society, and legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority, which permitted freedom from classical notions of form in art. Romanticism was the inevitable reaction to the Enlightenment’s rationalism, and the artistic and literary works of the Romantic movement have had lasting appeal because of the human faculty of emotions.
Generally, Romanticism can be understood as a pursuit for the value of beauty on the part of humans because they have the faculty of emotion, intellect, and will. All of these pursue the values of truth and goodness, but when intellect is emphasized one-sidedly, such as in the Enlightenment, and when will is stressed, human beings naturally react with their faculty of emotion. In France, the movement is associated with the 19th century, particularly in paintings, because it developed later after the rise of Napoleon.
During the Romantic period, artists began turning their attention to the natural world. With this growing fascination of nature, there was an increase in the practice of painting en Plein air, which meant that artists painted outside. This process enabled artists to produce elevated landscapes, and the close and intimate observation of the natural world translated into more emotive and atmospheric scenes in artwork. These pieces were often highly varied and characterized by people, landscapes, peaceful beauty, religion, and revolution.
Additionally there are different booklets and newspaper articles discussing the Gutenberg Bible, and a modern reprint of the Gutenberg Bible within the collection.
Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468) was the son of a patrician of Mainz and obtained a skill in metalwork. From 1428 and 1430, he was exiled from Mainz in the course of a bitter struggle between the guilds of that city and the patricians, which caused him to move to Strasbourg, France. While he was there, he engaged in crafts such as gem cutting, and taught pupils. Besides these, there is not much information about Gutenberg’s life. He invented the printing press in 1440 which allowed for a rapid increase in book production, and he specifically produced “The Gutenberg Bible,” which was one of the earliest major books that was printed using the movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the “Gutenberg Revolution.” The Bible itself is an edition of the Vulgate and contains the Latin version of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. This Bible is also mainly the work of St. Jerome, who started his translation work in 380 A.D. “The Gutenberg Bible” is the world’s most famous bible and was completed printing in late 1455 in Mainz, Germany. It was also the first book that was mass produced in which 180 copies were printed.
Lastly this collection contains two different manuscripts from the Persian Empire, one that was created during the Qajar Dynasty, and another that was created during an unknown time but references a persian poem from Shahnameh (“The Persian Book of Kings”) from the Samanid Empire into the Ghaznavid Dynasty.
The Samanid Empire was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire of Iranian origin which was centered in Khorasan and Transoxiana, while also encompassing Persia and Central Asia from 818 to 999. Four brothers, Nuh, Amad, Yahya, and Ilyas founded the Samanid state and each of them ruled territories under the Abbasid suzerainty. The Samanid Empire was part of the Iranian Intermezzo, which saw the creation of a Persianate culture and identity that brought Iranian speech and traditions into the fold of the Islamic world, which later contributed to the formation of the Turko-Persian culture. The Samanids promoted the arts, gave rise to the advancement of science and literature, which attracted scholars such as Rudaki, Ferdowsi, and Avicenna. Scholars noted that the Samanids revived Persian language and culture while continuing to use Arabic for sciences and religious studies. Samanid authorities even declared that “here, in this region, the language is Persian, and the kings of this realm are Persian kings.”
The Ghaznavid dynasty succeeded the Samanid Empire and was a Persianate Muslim dynasty and empire of the Turkic mamluk origin, ruling at its greatest extent, with large parts of Persia, Khorasan, and much of Transoxiana and the northwest Indian subcontinent from 977 to 1186. The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin upon his succession to the rule of Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was an ex-general of the Samanid Empire from Balk, which was north of the Hindu Kush in Greater Khorasan. Mahmud of Ghazni, Sabuktigin’s son, expanded the Ghaznavid Empire to the Amy Darya, the Indus River, and the Indian Ocean in the east to Rey and Hamadan in the west. Under the reign of Mas’ud I, the Ghaznavid dynasty began to lose control over its western territories to the Selkuj Empire after the Battle of Dandanaqan in 1040, which resulted in a restriction of its holdings to modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Northern India.
The second manuscript was most likely created from the 19th century to the early 20th century with influences from the Qajar Dynasty. The Qajar Dynasty was founded by Mohammad Khan and was the ruling dynasty of Iran from 1794 to 1925. The Qajar Dynasty introduced Western science, technology, and educational methods into Iran and some historians argue that the Qajars brought about the country’s modernization. In order to legitimize their rule over their Shiªi subjects, the Qajars emphasized Shi'i rituals and practices in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Qajars represented themselves as patrons of Moharran rituals. They attended public mourning rituals, such as the rowzeh khani, taªziyeh, and shabih khani, and they financially supported such ritual observances. The dynasty fell in 1925 when Reza Khan became the prominent political personality in Iran while Ahmad Shāh was absent and deposed by the national consultative assembly in October of 1925.
Persian miniatures were a private form of painting that emerged in Persia during the 13th century. These miniatures were often kept in books of albums and served to illustrate the accompanying texts beautifully scripted in calligraphy. Persian miniatures began when Persia was ruled by a succession of foreign dynasties, who came from the east and the north. It was only in the 14th century that the practice began of commissioning illustrated copies of classic works of Persian poetry. However, a 14th century flowering of Arabic illustrated literary manuscripts in Syria and Egypt collapsed at the end of the century, leaving Persia the undisputed leader in Islamic book illustration. Many of the best miniatures from early manuscripts were removed from their books in later centuries and transferred to albums, several of which are now in Istanbul, which is what complicates the tracing of the art history
Art during this time period is characterized by an exuberant style and flamboyant use of color, which was emphasized as the 19th century progressed. An important feature of Qajar art is the richness of its iconography, which are the visual images and symbols used in a work. Flowers (especially roses and irises), foliage, and fruit normally function as both the central and supporting motifs. Within these works, there are also views of pastoral landscapes and buildings that are inspired by imported European illustrations. Within these artworks are also many different narratives. Nostalgia for Persia’s past is reflected in these works, including traditional themes of Persian literature, and battles. The most significant and interesting iconography often included in these works is drawn from the themes of popular folklore, which are found in the oil paintings decorating the walls of coffee houses, paintings on glass, colored lithographs, and tilework panels. Unique to the Qajar period, these images represent the survival of a tradition whose earlier history has been lost.
Persian, also known as Farsi, was used throughout these manuscripts, which is a Western Iranian language that belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a language that has different standard forms and is predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikstan. Throughout history, Persian was considered prestigious by various empires centered in West Asia, Central Asia, and South Astia. It was the first language to break through the monopoly of Arabic on writing in the Muslim world, with Persian poetry becoming a tradition in many eastern courts.There are two different classifications of the Persian language: Old Persian and Middle Persian. Old Persian is attested from the wedge-shaped inscriptions left by the Achaemenid dynasty (599 to 331 B.C.) that ruled the lands known as the Realm of the Aryans up until the conquest of Alexander the Great. Middle Persian, also known as Pahlavi, is known chiefly through its use in Persian’s pre-Islamic Zoroastrian, meaning that they believed their religion was revealed by their supreme God, religious writings. Persian manuscripts carry with them a long history of vivid storytelling and poetic power. Today, there are around 250 Ta’zieh pieces that were collected by an Italian ambassador to Iran, Cherulli, and were added to a collection in the Vatican Library.
Today, Persian is the language of Iran, but it has long been in an impressive geographic range and for diverse texts and traditions. During the Middle Ages, a virtuosic tradition of miniature painting was cultivated in Persian manuscript production which endured well into the modern period. Persian manuscripts were often characterized by a mesmerizing use of pattern, color, and composition marks an illumination practice.
Extent
1 boxes
Language of Materials
English
Persian
Provenance
The Collection of Medieval Manuscripts, Early Prints, Religious and Historical Art scripture, 1175-1980, bulk 1175-1643 is an artificial collection that was compiled together from various sources to create a collection that would be easier to access for researchers given the lack of provenance information at the time the materials were discovered in Spring 2022 by Suzanna Calev, Wilkes University’s Archivist. With assistance from Wilkes’ English professor, Thomas Hamill, it was eventually brought to light that Andrew J. Sordoni first donated a majority of the materials comprising the collection of Medieval Manuscripts, Early Prints, Religious and Historical Art scripture, 1175-1980, bulk 1175-1643, in 1955. According to the September 14, 1955 issue of The Beacon, Sordoni donated $700 worth of rare and special books that included this collection of medieval manuscripts and pages of first printed books. The article states that these were initially bought by Sordoni from Kroch’s and Brentano’s bookstore in Chicago, one of the largest bookstores at the time in 1955. They were initially found in an oversized envelope in plastic sleeves and the captions that accompany them look to have been made for an exhibit, which according to the article, was held in Kirby Hall in 1955. It is speculated that some of the rare books within the original Sordoni donation were destroyed in the Agnes flood of 1972 as the rare book vault was located in the basement of Farley Library and librarians and staff at the time were unable to move all of them before the flood hit in June 1972. The article depicted within the Word Document finding aid (that you may access under Digital Material) that Sordoni donated The Almanach Anf Das Jur, a miniature book of detailed portraits published in 1823 and reproductions of The Book of Kells, however we are unable to locate these materials within our current collection and can therefore speculate they were lost in 1972. Some of the historical artwork within this collection are part of donations that were given to the university between the 1970s and 1980s by Helen Farr Sloan, a patron of the arts, educator, accomplished artist and second wife to John Sloan. Helen was an original member of the Sordoni Art Gallery Advisory commission and an avid supporter and donor of artwork to Wilkes.
Acquisition:
A majority of the materials within this collection were donated to Farley Library by Andrew J. Sordoni, former State Senator and national president of the American Automobile Association, in 1955. They were discovered on a shelf in the Wilkes University Archives in Spring 2022 by Wilkes University Archivist, Suzanna Calev and have been refoldered into acid-free folders and boxes. Some of the artwork within this artificial collection were donated by Helen Farr Sloan, wife of famous painter John Sloan.
Condition Note:
The materials are overall in good condition with slight signs of wear, page yellowing/browning, and fading. The following materials within the collection should be handled with extreme care as they have yellowed/browned with age, have staining, and page tears:
Psalter with Commentary, Devotional Treatise, Latin Vulgate Bible, The Golden Legend, Numeri (Bible Book of Numbers, Chapter XXXIII), Plate of Adoration of the Magi, from the life of the Virgin, Nicolas von Wyle, Tranzlatzioneln oder Tutschunger des hochgeachtn Nicolai von Weil, St. Demetrius, 2-sided Arabic Text Page from “Book of Kings,” Polo Game
Copyright:
These manuscripts are in the public domain.
Series Description
The Collection of Medieval Manuscripts, Early Prints, Religious and Historical art and scripture, 1175-1980, bulk 1175-1643, is arranged into four series: Series I: Medieval Manuscripts and Early Prints, 1175-1645, bulk 15th century, Series II: Religious and Historical Artwork, 1501/02-1838, Series III:Gutenberg Bible, 1950-1960, and Series IV: Persian texts, unknown to 10th-early 6th century BCE. Series I has been arranged into two further subseries: Subseries I: Medieval Manuscripts, 1175-1450, and Subseries II: Early Prints, 1472-1643. Each series is arranged chronologically by creation date.
Series I: Medieval Manuscripts and Early Prints, 1175-1645, bulk 15th century
Series I: Medieval Manuscripts and Early Prints, 1175-1645, bulk 15th century, is arranged chronologically and is arranged further into two distinct subseries: Subseries I: Medieval Manuscripts, 1175-1450, and Subseries II: Early Prints, 1472-1643. The series contains a broad range of illuminated manuscripts and early prints from the 12th century to the 17th century, with the bulk of them created in the 15th century.
Subseries I: Medieval Manuscripts, 1175-1450, consists of illuminated manuscripts that were formally prepared by hand, and decorated with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. These manuscripts were created across the Romanesque and Gothic periods and contain topics such as Christian devotional texts, the lives of saints, and examples of Gregorian notation.
Subseries II: Early Prints, 1472-1643, consists of early printed materials created after the invention of the Gutenberg printing press, and feature script types such as Gothic script, Carolingian Miniscule, Fraktur typeface, schwabacher script, and Jenson’s Roman Type. The prints range in a variety of topics such as stories of the Israelites, historical accounts of the world, legends, mythological creatures, agriculture, and biographies.
Subseries I: Medieval Manuscripts, 1175-1450, consists of illuminated manuscripts that were formally prepared by hand, and decorated with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. These manuscripts were created across the Romanesque and Gothic periods and contain topics such as Christian devotional texts, the lives of saints, and examples of Gregorian notation.
Subseries II: Early Prints, 1472-1643, consists of early printed materials created after the invention of the Gutenberg printing press, and feature script types such as Gothic script, Carolingian Miniscule, Fraktur typeface, schwabacher script, and Jenson’s Roman Type. The prints range in a variety of topics such as stories of the Israelites, historical accounts of the world, legends, mythological creatures, agriculture, and biographies.
Subseries I: Medieval Manuscripts, 1175-1450
Subseries I: Medieval Manuscripts, 1175-1450, is arranged chronologically by date and contains illuminated manuscripts created prior to the printing press during the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Illuminated manuscripts were formally prepared texts, created by hand, and decorated with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. The Roman Catholic Church used these illuminated manuscripts for visual tools for prayers, psalms, and public worship, and were used to support the daily devotions of monks, nuns, and laymen (a non-ordained male member of a church), which primarily happened during the Romanesque period through the Renaissance.
Within this subseries, there is one example of an illuminated manuscript from the Romanesque period, titled, “The Book of Hours” which was a collection of different Christian devotional texts, containing prayers that are in honor of the Virgin Mary. These types of devotional texts were popular during the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. Although “The Book of Hours” was not made during the Romanesque time period and was created during the Gothic period, it reflects the Romanesque style with elaborate religious illustrations, gold embellishments, floral borders, and historiated initials.
Additionally within this subseries are examples of illuminated manuscripts from the Gothic period. The Gothic period refers to art and manuscripts developed during the Middle Ages (1150-1520 A.D.), which was a term that was first used in the 19th century; The term “gothic” is sometimes used to generally refer to all post-Romanesque art in Europe. The Gothic style evolved as a reaction to Romanesque art and Byzantine art, which focused on religious expressions, heaven, and the spiritual world and often contained intricate patterns and rich colors. The Gothic period placed an emphasis on earthy and natural materials, gruesome and horrific elements, and sexual and violent imagery. This particular style developed in Northern France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland before spreading to Spain, Portugal, and the rest of Europe in the 15th century.
Gothic manuscripts come in a variety of different forms and types, which sometimes present different distinct features, however, the vast majority of Gothic manuscripts are characterized by Gothic script, topics based around the bible, religion, secular legends, and heroic legends, decorative borders, and the manuscripts were smaller in size. The biggest characteristic of these Gothic manuscripts was their use of Gothic script, also known as Blackletter, Gothic miniscule, or Textura. Blackletter was used throughout Western Europe from 1150 until the 17th century, even after the end of the Gothic Period. It served as one of the major typefaces in the history of Western typography. Gothic script derived directly from Carolingian miniscule, a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period characterized by rounded, distinguishable shapes, and clear capital letters, spaces between words.
An item within this subseries, titled, “Psalter with Commentary,” was written by an unknown author in 1175 and was developed in the Gothic period. It was written in Carolingian miniscule since it was developed in the early beginnings of the Gothic period, which still utilized older script types. Carolingian miniscule was labor-intensive, consumed a lot of the pace, and was time consuming during a period when new books in many different subjects were needed to keep up with the founding of new universities, new businesses, interests in law, grammar, history, and other works that were not just religious, which lead to the creation of Gothic script. The text script itself consists of tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines; these aspects made the script easier, and quicker to write while filling up more of the page to keep up with the demand for more books.
There are many different manuscripts within our collection that contain Gothic script, but the first example in our series is the “Devotional Treatise.” The Devotional Treatise, published in 1450, is an example of a minute manuscript, a small script made in an attempt to meet the demand for inexpensive books, which was produced during the Gothic period. The Gothic script on this particular manuscript is characterized by tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines, with annotations in red ink.
Another example of Gothic script within the series is “The Golden Legend,” created by Jacobus de Voragine in 1450, which was a story that depicted the lives of saints in different factual and fictional stories. This particular manuscript was also created in the middle of the Gothic period and is characterized by script that contains tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines, and topics of the bible, religion, and legends. “The Golden Legend” was a story that depicted the lives of saints in different factual and fictional stories. He also wrote about the accounts of events in the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and holy days and seasons. Each chapter of “The Golden Legend” concerns a different saint or Christian festival, and they are ordered according to the feast days through the calendar. The story was immensely popular during the Middle Ages and was the most widely read book, after the Bible. Voragine’s purpose of this book was to captivate, encourage, and edify the faithful while preserving information that pertained to church traditions and legends. It was then translated all over Western Europe, however, during the Reformation the book was deemed “unacceptable” because of its lack of historical perspective. Thus, the book went out of fashion and its popularity started to dwindle.
One last example of manuscripts from the Gothic period within the subseries is “Antiphonale Romanorum,” created in 1450. This manuscript was written in large, upright Gothic type and contains Gregorian notation, an early form of musical notation, on vellum; the script also contains tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines, and is a religious chant. Even though this is an example of a manuscript made in the Gothic period, consisting of Gothic script, it contains aspects of a Romanesque manuscript, as well, with the historiated initials throughout the piece.
Within this subseries, there is one example of an illuminated manuscript from the Romanesque period, titled, “The Book of Hours” which was a collection of different Christian devotional texts, containing prayers that are in honor of the Virgin Mary. These types of devotional texts were popular during the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. Although “The Book of Hours” was not made during the Romanesque time period and was created during the Gothic period, it reflects the Romanesque style with elaborate religious illustrations, gold embellishments, floral borders, and historiated initials.
Additionally within this subseries are examples of illuminated manuscripts from the Gothic period. The Gothic period refers to art and manuscripts developed during the Middle Ages (1150-1520 A.D.), which was a term that was first used in the 19th century; The term “gothic” is sometimes used to generally refer to all post-Romanesque art in Europe. The Gothic style evolved as a reaction to Romanesque art and Byzantine art, which focused on religious expressions, heaven, and the spiritual world and often contained intricate patterns and rich colors. The Gothic period placed an emphasis on earthy and natural materials, gruesome and horrific elements, and sexual and violent imagery. This particular style developed in Northern France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland before spreading to Spain, Portugal, and the rest of Europe in the 15th century.
Gothic manuscripts come in a variety of different forms and types, which sometimes present different distinct features, however, the vast majority of Gothic manuscripts are characterized by Gothic script, topics based around the bible, religion, secular legends, and heroic legends, decorative borders, and the manuscripts were smaller in size. The biggest characteristic of these Gothic manuscripts was their use of Gothic script, also known as Blackletter, Gothic miniscule, or Textura. Blackletter was used throughout Western Europe from 1150 until the 17th century, even after the end of the Gothic Period. It served as one of the major typefaces in the history of Western typography. Gothic script derived directly from Carolingian miniscule, a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period characterized by rounded, distinguishable shapes, and clear capital letters, spaces between words.
An item within this subseries, titled, “Psalter with Commentary,” was written by an unknown author in 1175 and was developed in the Gothic period. It was written in Carolingian miniscule since it was developed in the early beginnings of the Gothic period, which still utilized older script types. Carolingian miniscule was labor-intensive, consumed a lot of the pace, and was time consuming during a period when new books in many different subjects were needed to keep up with the founding of new universities, new businesses, interests in law, grammar, history, and other works that were not just religious, which lead to the creation of Gothic script. The text script itself consists of tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines; these aspects made the script easier, and quicker to write while filling up more of the page to keep up with the demand for more books.
There are many different manuscripts within our collection that contain Gothic script, but the first example in our series is the “Devotional Treatise.” The Devotional Treatise, published in 1450, is an example of a minute manuscript, a small script made in an attempt to meet the demand for inexpensive books, which was produced during the Gothic period. The Gothic script on this particular manuscript is characterized by tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines, with annotations in red ink.
Another example of Gothic script within the series is “The Golden Legend,” created by Jacobus de Voragine in 1450, which was a story that depicted the lives of saints in different factual and fictional stories. This particular manuscript was also created in the middle of the Gothic period and is characterized by script that contains tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines, and topics of the bible, religion, and legends. “The Golden Legend” was a story that depicted the lives of saints in different factual and fictional stories. He also wrote about the accounts of events in the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and holy days and seasons. Each chapter of “The Golden Legend” concerns a different saint or Christian festival, and they are ordered according to the feast days through the calendar. The story was immensely popular during the Middle Ages and was the most widely read book, after the Bible. Voragine’s purpose of this book was to captivate, encourage, and edify the faithful while preserving information that pertained to church traditions and legends. It was then translated all over Western Europe, however, during the Reformation the book was deemed “unacceptable” because of its lack of historical perspective. Thus, the book went out of fashion and its popularity started to dwindle.
One last example of manuscripts from the Gothic period within the subseries is “Antiphonale Romanorum,” created in 1450. This manuscript was written in large, upright Gothic type and contains Gregorian notation, an early form of musical notation, on vellum; the script also contains tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines, and is a religious chant. Even though this is an example of a manuscript made in the Gothic period, consisting of Gothic script, it contains aspects of a Romanesque manuscript, as well, with the historiated initials throughout the piece.
Subseries II: Early Prints, 1472-1643
Subseries II: Early prints, 1472-1643, is arranged chronologically by date and contains early prints created after the invention of the printing press. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440, which was an innovative device, operated by hand, that transferred ink to a print medium. This invention allowed for a rapid increase in the speed at which materials could be produced, allowing print materials to become widely available to people of all classes, and not just for the wealthy.
“Numeri (Bible Book of Numbers, Chapter XXXIII),” published in 1475, is an example within our collection of works that were published because of Gutenberg’s printing press. This particular print was printed during the Gothic period and contains Gothic script. This script contains tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines, and follows the story of the Israelites when they wandered through the wilderness after the departure of Sinai and before their occupation of the Promised Land. This print is a perfect representation of not only a print that contains Gothic script, but also contains qualities of a story from the Gothic period, containing religion and stories from the Bible.
Another example of a print from the Gothic period that contains Gothic script is “Liber Chronicorum,” also known as “The Nuremberg Chronicle,” created by Hartmann Schedel, and published in 1493 by Anton Koberger. “The Nuremberg Chronicle” is an illustrated encyclopedia that consists of historical accounts of the world and different accounts that are told through biblical paraphrase; this work also contains different subjects of legends, and mythological creatures, which makes it a representation of subjects from the Gothic period.
After the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press, new types of presses began to appear, notably with two men from Germany, Arnold Pannartz and Conrad Sweynheym (Schweinheim). The two of them established their printing press in 1465 in the Benedictine monastery of Subiaco, Italy. Their printing press was the first printing press in Italy, and they moved their printing operation to Rome in 1467, before moving to Venice in 1469.
There were some issues with these new movable-type printing presses, such as the lack of quality compared to handmade books, a drab presentation compared to the color-illustrated manuscripts, and errors in early printed editions that were often repeated in later editions. A new boost to the quantity of printed material came with the rise of the humanist movement and its interest in reviving literature from ancient Greece and Rome. Two printers, Nicholas Jensen, who was a Frenchman, and Aldus Manutius, an Italian man, profited off of this new demand. Jenson innovated with new typefaces in his printing shop in Venice Italy, which included easy-to-read Roman type and a Greek font which imitated manuscript texts. Some of Jenson’s books also had illustrations and decorations added by hand to recapture the quality of older, entirely handmade books.
An example of a print by Jensen is “De Re Rustica” by Rutilius Palidius. This print was published in 1472 by Jenson in Italy during the Gothic period, but is characterized by an early example of Jenson’s Roman type. Jenson cut a Roman type that borrowed shapes from the calligraphic shapes from humanist miniscule, which was a script style based on Carolingian miniscule which was inspired by traditional Latin letterforms; it is characterized by low contrast between thin and thick strokes, loose letter spacing, and was more legible for small-sized text. Roman type is characterized by very little differentiation between thicks and thins, diagonal stress, capitals shorter than ascenders, and serifs that are small and graceful. “De Re Rustica” is also characterized by these specific script qualities and also contains rubricated red capital letters.
“Vitae Illustrium Virorum (From Plutarch’s Lives),” created by Plutarch and published January 2, 1475, is another example of a print from the Gothic period that also contains Jenson’s Roman type; this print’s script is also characterized by very little differentiation between thicks and thins, diagonal stress, capitals shorter than ascenders, and serifs that are small and graceful.
One last example of a print from the Gothic period, which also contains Jenson’s Roman type is “Herbarius Latinus,” created by Leonardus Archates and Gulielmirs de Pavia, which was published in 1491. Along with a hand drawn picture of a plant, the script is characterized by very little differentiation between thicks and thins, diagonal stress, capitals shorter than ascenders, and serifs that are small and graceful. A Gothic script known as, schwabacher, also evolved from regular Gothic script under the influence of Humanist type design.
In our collection, the print “Nicolas von Wyle, Tranzlatzionelm oder Tutschunger des hochgeachtn Nicolai von Weil,” published by Johannes Bryse in 1510 is an example of a print from the Gothic period that also contains schwabacher script. This print contains a script that consists of sharp edges, and the lower-case ‘g’ and upper-case ‘H’ having distinctive forms.
In our series, we have one example of Fraktur typeface and a print from the Scientific Revolution, entitled “Philip Hassail'' from “Theatrum Europaeum,” written by Heinrich Oraeus von Assenheim, I.P.A. V.M. in 1643. Phillip Hassail, who this print is written about, was actually known as Phillip III, Landgrave of Hesse-Butzbach, who was born in Darmstadt, Germany on December 26th, 1581. Phillip III was born to parents, George I “the Pious” of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Magdalene of Lippe. He married his first wife, Anna Margaretha of Diepholz, who died childless, and not long after he married his second wife, Christina Sophia of East Frisia. After his father died in 1596, he inherited some of his father’s land, Butzbach. Phillip became a well-traveled man who spoke eight different languages, was a mathematician, built an elaborate library, built an observatory, and had astronomical instruments made. Phillip even conversed and kept in contact with influential people such as Kepler and Galileo. Phillip died in 1643 during a treatment from his doctor, in which alcohol caught fire and Phillip suffered severe burns. Fraktur typeface is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typeface derived from this hand, which was developed in the early 16th century. It is often characterized as “the German typeface” because it remained popular in Germany and Eastern Europe for rather longer than anywhere else. Fraktur typeface is characterized by letters that are designed by individual strokes that are broken apart, and that in the lower case ‘o,’ the left part of the bow is broken, but the right part is not. This early print is an example of Fraktur typeface because it is characterized by letters that are designed by individual strokes that are broken apart, and the lowercase ‘o’ has a broken left part of the bow, while the right is not broken. After the schwabacher script, the Fraktur typeface took over in popularity during the Scientific Revolution after the end of the Gothic Period.
“Numeri (Bible Book of Numbers, Chapter XXXIII),” published in 1475, is an example within our collection of works that were published because of Gutenberg’s printing press. This particular print was printed during the Gothic period and contains Gothic script. This script contains tall, narrow, black letters that form straight, sharp lines, and follows the story of the Israelites when they wandered through the wilderness after the departure of Sinai and before their occupation of the Promised Land. This print is a perfect representation of not only a print that contains Gothic script, but also contains qualities of a story from the Gothic period, containing religion and stories from the Bible.
Another example of a print from the Gothic period that contains Gothic script is “Liber Chronicorum,” also known as “The Nuremberg Chronicle,” created by Hartmann Schedel, and published in 1493 by Anton Koberger. “The Nuremberg Chronicle” is an illustrated encyclopedia that consists of historical accounts of the world and different accounts that are told through biblical paraphrase; this work also contains different subjects of legends, and mythological creatures, which makes it a representation of subjects from the Gothic period.
After the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press, new types of presses began to appear, notably with two men from Germany, Arnold Pannartz and Conrad Sweynheym (Schweinheim). The two of them established their printing press in 1465 in the Benedictine monastery of Subiaco, Italy. Their printing press was the first printing press in Italy, and they moved their printing operation to Rome in 1467, before moving to Venice in 1469.
There were some issues with these new movable-type printing presses, such as the lack of quality compared to handmade books, a drab presentation compared to the color-illustrated manuscripts, and errors in early printed editions that were often repeated in later editions. A new boost to the quantity of printed material came with the rise of the humanist movement and its interest in reviving literature from ancient Greece and Rome. Two printers, Nicholas Jensen, who was a Frenchman, and Aldus Manutius, an Italian man, profited off of this new demand. Jenson innovated with new typefaces in his printing shop in Venice Italy, which included easy-to-read Roman type and a Greek font which imitated manuscript texts. Some of Jenson’s books also had illustrations and decorations added by hand to recapture the quality of older, entirely handmade books.
An example of a print by Jensen is “De Re Rustica” by Rutilius Palidius. This print was published in 1472 by Jenson in Italy during the Gothic period, but is characterized by an early example of Jenson’s Roman type. Jenson cut a Roman type that borrowed shapes from the calligraphic shapes from humanist miniscule, which was a script style based on Carolingian miniscule which was inspired by traditional Latin letterforms; it is characterized by low contrast between thin and thick strokes, loose letter spacing, and was more legible for small-sized text. Roman type is characterized by very little differentiation between thicks and thins, diagonal stress, capitals shorter than ascenders, and serifs that are small and graceful. “De Re Rustica” is also characterized by these specific script qualities and also contains rubricated red capital letters.
“Vitae Illustrium Virorum (From Plutarch’s Lives),” created by Plutarch and published January 2, 1475, is another example of a print from the Gothic period that also contains Jenson’s Roman type; this print’s script is also characterized by very little differentiation between thicks and thins, diagonal stress, capitals shorter than ascenders, and serifs that are small and graceful.
One last example of a print from the Gothic period, which also contains Jenson’s Roman type is “Herbarius Latinus,” created by Leonardus Archates and Gulielmirs de Pavia, which was published in 1491. Along with a hand drawn picture of a plant, the script is characterized by very little differentiation between thicks and thins, diagonal stress, capitals shorter than ascenders, and serifs that are small and graceful. A Gothic script known as, schwabacher, also evolved from regular Gothic script under the influence of Humanist type design.
In our collection, the print “Nicolas von Wyle, Tranzlatzionelm oder Tutschunger des hochgeachtn Nicolai von Weil,” published by Johannes Bryse in 1510 is an example of a print from the Gothic period that also contains schwabacher script. This print contains a script that consists of sharp edges, and the lower-case ‘g’ and upper-case ‘H’ having distinctive forms.
In our series, we have one example of Fraktur typeface and a print from the Scientific Revolution, entitled “Philip Hassail'' from “Theatrum Europaeum,” written by Heinrich Oraeus von Assenheim, I.P.A. V.M. in 1643. Phillip Hassail, who this print is written about, was actually known as Phillip III, Landgrave of Hesse-Butzbach, who was born in Darmstadt, Germany on December 26th, 1581. Phillip III was born to parents, George I “the Pious” of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Magdalene of Lippe. He married his first wife, Anna Margaretha of Diepholz, who died childless, and not long after he married his second wife, Christina Sophia of East Frisia. After his father died in 1596, he inherited some of his father’s land, Butzbach. Phillip became a well-traveled man who spoke eight different languages, was a mathematician, built an elaborate library, built an observatory, and had astronomical instruments made. Phillip even conversed and kept in contact with influential people such as Kepler and Galileo. Phillip died in 1643 during a treatment from his doctor, in which alcohol caught fire and Phillip suffered severe burns. Fraktur typeface is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typeface derived from this hand, which was developed in the early 16th century. It is often characterized as “the German typeface” because it remained popular in Germany and Eastern Europe for rather longer than anywhere else. Fraktur typeface is characterized by letters that are designed by individual strokes that are broken apart, and that in the lower case ‘o,’ the left part of the bow is broken, but the right part is not. This early print is an example of Fraktur typeface because it is characterized by letters that are designed by individual strokes that are broken apart, and the lowercase ‘o’ has a broken left part of the bow, while the right is not broken. After the schwabacher script, the Fraktur typeface took over in popularity during the Scientific Revolution after the end of the Gothic Period.
Series II: Religious and Historical Artwork, 1501/1502-possible 19th Century
Series II: Religious and Historical Artwork, 1501/1502-possible 19th Century is arranged chronologically by date and contains artwork ranging from the early Renaissance until the Romantic Era such as prints, wood carvings, and a painting. The artwork in this collection depicts a variety of topics such as the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus, St. Demetrius, illustrations from “The Talisman” and “Woodstock,” and a painting of a Mamluk soldier.
The “Plate of Adoration of the Magi, from the Life of the Virgin,” created by Albrecht Dürer in 1501/1502 was created during the Renaissance era. This particular artwork belongs to the series, “The Life of the Virgin,” which is a series of 19 different woodcuts that were published in book form. “The Life of the Virgin is considered to be his most important work because it influenced the development of Renaissance art in Europe and has been studied by many different artists. It is an example of Renaissance art because it depicts the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus being visited by the three Magi, but instead of being placed in a Biblical scene, they are depicted on the steps of a stone building in the observable world.
This series then takes a big jump to the Romantic era, with works in this collection such as the print book illustration, “Sir Kenneth and the Dwarfs of the Chapel and Master Holdenough Interrupted in his Vocation” (French translation: “Le Chevalier Kenneth et les Nains de la Chapelle - Maître Holdenough interrompa dans su vocation” by George Cruikshank, published by Fisher Son & Co. London & Paris in 1838. This particular print is split into two separate illustrations, the top depicting a scene from Sir Walter Scott’s novel, “The Talisman” and the bottom illustration depicts a scene from Scott’s novel, “Woodstock.” Even though this book illustration may not fit the conventional art norms of the Romantic Era, it depicts scenes from two books that emphasize revolution, thus, meets the characteristics of the Romantic Era.
One last example we have from the Romantic Era is the “Mamluk Soldier Painting” by Jose Villegas Cordero, published sometime within the 19th century. This watercolor painting consists of light colors of yellow, blue, red, gray, and white, and depicts a Mamluk soldier, which also symbolizes revolution because of the 10+ battles the Mamluk soldiers were in. The Mamluks, which is translated to “one who is owned” (which means “slave”), is a term that most commonly refers to non-Arab, ethnically diverse enslaved mercenaries, slave soldiers, and freed slaves who ended up being assigned high-ranking military and administrative duties; they ended up serving the Ottoman and Arab dynasties in the Muslim world. The Mamluks ended up ruling Egypt and Syria from 1250 until 1517 when their entire dynasty was extinguished by the Ottomans.
The “Plate of Adoration of the Magi, from the Life of the Virgin,” created by Albrecht Dürer in 1501/1502 was created during the Renaissance era. This particular artwork belongs to the series, “The Life of the Virgin,” which is a series of 19 different woodcuts that were published in book form. “The Life of the Virgin is considered to be his most important work because it influenced the development of Renaissance art in Europe and has been studied by many different artists. It is an example of Renaissance art because it depicts the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus being visited by the three Magi, but instead of being placed in a Biblical scene, they are depicted on the steps of a stone building in the observable world.
This series then takes a big jump to the Romantic era, with works in this collection such as the print book illustration, “Sir Kenneth and the Dwarfs of the Chapel and Master Holdenough Interrupted in his Vocation” (French translation: “Le Chevalier Kenneth et les Nains de la Chapelle - Maître Holdenough interrompa dans su vocation” by George Cruikshank, published by Fisher Son & Co. London & Paris in 1838. This particular print is split into two separate illustrations, the top depicting a scene from Sir Walter Scott’s novel, “The Talisman” and the bottom illustration depicts a scene from Scott’s novel, “Woodstock.” Even though this book illustration may not fit the conventional art norms of the Romantic Era, it depicts scenes from two books that emphasize revolution, thus, meets the characteristics of the Romantic Era.
One last example we have from the Romantic Era is the “Mamluk Soldier Painting” by Jose Villegas Cordero, published sometime within the 19th century. This watercolor painting consists of light colors of yellow, blue, red, gray, and white, and depicts a Mamluk soldier, which also symbolizes revolution because of the 10+ battles the Mamluk soldiers were in. The Mamluks, which is translated to “one who is owned” (which means “slave”), is a term that most commonly refers to non-Arab, ethnically diverse enslaved mercenaries, slave soldiers, and freed slaves who ended up being assigned high-ranking military and administrative duties; they ended up serving the Ottoman and Arab dynasties in the Muslim world. The Mamluks ended up ruling Egypt and Syria from 1250 until 1517 when their entire dynasty was extinguished by the Ottomans.
Series III: Gutenberg Bible, 1950-1960
Series III: Gutenberg Bible, 1950-1960, is arranged chronologically by date and contains a series of different booklets, and newspaper articles discussing the Gutenberg Bible, and a modern reprint of the Gutenberg Bible. The first item is a booklet entitled, “Our Most Previous Heritage” by the American Bible Society, which was published between 1950-1960 in New York, New York. This booklet consists of 16 different pages, telling the story of the Bible and how it progressed throughout the years to become our modern-day Bible.
The second item we have in this collection is a newspaper article entitled, “How Gutenberg Paved the Way,” by Margaret T. Hills which was published on November 1, 1956. This particular newspaper article describes Johannes Gutenberg and how his Bible paved the way for the modern-day bible.
The last item within this collection is a copy of “The Gutenberg Bible” published by Pageant Books, INC. 1960. This exact print describes the history of “The Gutenberg Bible” and its significance. “The Gutenberg Bible” was one of the earliest major books that was printed using the movable metal type in Europe, and marked the start of the “Gutenberg Revolution.” The Bible itself is an edition of the Vulgate and contains the Latin version of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. This Bible is also mainly the work of St. Jerome, who started his translation work in 380 A.D. “The Gutenberg Bible” is the world’s most famous bible and was completed printing in late 1455 in Mainz, Germany. It was also the first book that was mass produced in which 180 copies were printed.
The second item we have in this collection is a newspaper article entitled, “How Gutenberg Paved the Way,” by Margaret T. Hills which was published on November 1, 1956. This particular newspaper article describes Johannes Gutenberg and how his Bible paved the way for the modern-day bible.
The last item within this collection is a copy of “The Gutenberg Bible” published by Pageant Books, INC. 1960. This exact print describes the history of “The Gutenberg Bible” and its significance. “The Gutenberg Bible” was one of the earliest major books that was printed using the movable metal type in Europe, and marked the start of the “Gutenberg Revolution.” The Bible itself is an edition of the Vulgate and contains the Latin version of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. This Bible is also mainly the work of St. Jerome, who started his translation work in 380 A.D. “The Gutenberg Bible” is the world’s most famous bible and was completed printing in late 1455 in Mainz, Germany. It was also the first book that was mass produced in which 180 copies were printed.
Series IV: Persian texts, 10th-early 6th century BCE to 19th-20th century
Series IV: Persian texts, 10th-early 6th BCE to 19th-20th century, is arranged chronologically by date and contains two different Persian manuscripts. The first Persian manuscript we have is a 2-sided text page from “The Book of Kings,” created by Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 C.E. The manuscript “The Book of Kings,” also known as “Shanhnameh,” is a long epic poem that is the national epic of Iran; it is one of the longest poems in the entire world and tells the mythical and historical past of the Persian Empire. Ferdowsi wrote this poem in Nastaliq script, which is one of the main calligraphy handwritings that is used to write Perso-Arabic script and some Indo-Iranian languages. This manuscript is an example of the Persian Nastaliq script because, it is a cursive script, written horizontally but at a sloping angle where the longer sequence of characters is in a calligraphy-connectected cluster, the taller it becomes, with short verticals and long horizontal strokes.
The second manuscript entitled, “Polo Game,” describes the quality of stories surrounding the Battle of Karbala and how it is used in Ta’zieh. This particular manuscript is most likely an example of a Persian miniature and is a perfect example of artwork created during the Qajar Dynasty because it has an exuberant style and flamboyant use of color, it rich in iconography, and tells a narrative of a past battle in Persian history. This manuscript contains the Persian alphabet, also known as the Perso-Arabic script. It is written with a right-to-left alphabet used for the Persian language and is a variation of the Arabic alphabet with four additional letters added: پ چ ژ گ. The script is characterized by being, not exclusively, right-to-left (mathematical expressions, numeric dates, and numbers bearing units are embedded left to right), and cursive.
Persian manuscripts carry with them a long history of vivid storytelling and poetic power. Today, Persian is the language of Iran, but it has long been in an impressive geographic range and for diverse texts and traditions. During the Middle Ages, a virtuosic tradition of miniature painting was cultivated in Persian manuscript production which endured well into the modern period. Persian manuscripts were often characterized by a mesmerizing use of pattern, color, and composition marks an illumination practice.
The second manuscript entitled, “Polo Game,” describes the quality of stories surrounding the Battle of Karbala and how it is used in Ta’zieh. This particular manuscript is most likely an example of a Persian miniature and is a perfect example of artwork created during the Qajar Dynasty because it has an exuberant style and flamboyant use of color, it rich in iconography, and tells a narrative of a past battle in Persian history. This manuscript contains the Persian alphabet, also known as the Perso-Arabic script. It is written with a right-to-left alphabet used for the Persian language and is a variation of the Arabic alphabet with four additional letters added: پ چ ژ گ. The script is characterized by being, not exclusively, right-to-left (mathematical expressions, numeric dates, and numbers bearing units are embedded left to right), and cursive.
Persian manuscripts carry with them a long history of vivid storytelling and poetic power. Today, Persian is the language of Iran, but it has long been in an impressive geographic range and for diverse texts and traditions. During the Middle Ages, a virtuosic tradition of miniature painting was cultivated in Persian manuscript production which endured well into the modern period. Persian manuscripts were often characterized by a mesmerizing use of pattern, color, and composition marks an illumination practice.
Processed By:
Morgan Rich, Archives Work-Study, Spring-Fall 2023, supervised and edited by Suzanna Calev, archivist, Spring-Fall 2023.
- Language of description
- No linguistic content; Not applicable
- Script of description
- Code for uncoded script
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu