Course Schedule

1. Wed 31 May, 1-4 pm

(in the Fordham Rare Book Room, 4^th Floor, Walsh Library)

Introduction and Issues

(1) For background and discussion, read Bernhard Bischoff, Latin Paleography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, trans. Daibhi Ó Croinin and David Ganz (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990), pp. 1-47 (Introduction, and Part A. Codicology)—available on Eres[*].

(2) Digital Scriptorium (one of the course assignments will be preparing Fordham’s manuscripts and fragments for entry in the Digital Scriptorium): Review the online material on the DS at http://www.scriptorium.columbia.edu/ .

Although the links from the opening page are not loaded, from the Search page you can access the site from the Search page; once there, review the pages (including linked pages on the left of each page) on the Use of Images, About the Project, and Technical Information; and be prepared to discuss the database fields. From the opening page, use the link Try our new Interface and try some searches. Be prepared to present examples using the searches, and the advantages and disadvantages of the presentation.

(3) Transcribe and translate the appended file (Transcription Exercise 1.mdi).

2. Mon 5 June, 1-4 pm

(in the Chang Room, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University)

Examples of terms and issues: presentation and discussion of materials in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Columbia University

For background, read Christopher de Hamel, Scribes and Illuminators: Medieval Craftsmen (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992)—reserve.

3. Wed 7 June, 1-4 pm (in the Fordham Rare Book Room)

(1) Presentation of first descriptions for DS

(2) For discussion, read De Hamel (see above), and J. A. Szirmai, The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding (Aldershot, Hants., and Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 1999), pp. 95-172 (Part II. The medieval codex in the Western world: Introduction, Chapter 7: Carolingian Bindings, Chapter 8: Romanesque bindings)—Eres.

(3) Transcribe and translate Transcription Exercise 2.

4. Mon 12 June, 1-4 pm

(in the Chang Room, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University)

Exercise in collating MSS

Hand in catalogue-search questions: for the assignment, compare three MS catalogues on the categories of evidence presented, ease of use, and questions of presentation.

5. Wed 14 June, 9-11 N.B. (in the Manuscript and Archive Reading Room, New York Public Library, 42^nd Street)

Problems and Issues: presentation and discussion of materials in the New York Public Library

Hand in Transcription Exercise 3

6. Mon 19 June, 1-4 pm (in FMH 416)

Medieval Libraries and the Transmission of Texts

(1) Presentation of MS exercises (identifications of assigned photocopies, with reference to codicological issues)

(2) For discussion, read the following items:

Bernhard Bischoff, Manuscripts and Libraries in the Age of Charlemagne (Cambrige Studies in Palaeography and Codicology, 1; Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 93-114 (chap. 5, Libraries and Schools in the Carolingian Revival of Learning)—Eres.

Mary A. Rouse and Richard H. Rouse, Authentic Witnesses: Approaches to Medieval Texts and Manuscripts (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991), pp. 341-408 (“The Early Library of the Sorbonne”)—Eres.

(3) Transcribe and translate Transcription Exercise 4.

7. Wed 21 June, 1-4 pm

(Palaeography Room, Walsh Library)

Medieval Libraries and the Transmission of Texts

(1) For discussion, read the following items:

Mary A. Rouse and Richard H. Rouse, Authentic Witnesses, pp. 469-494 (“Bibliography before Print: The Medieval De viris illustribus”)—Eres.

Leonard E. Boyle, “’Epistulae venerunt parum dulces’: the Place of Codicology in the Editing of Medieval Latin Texts,” in Editing and Editors: a Retrospect, Papers Given at the Twenty-First Annual Conference on Editorial Problems, University of Toronto, 1-2 November 1985, ed. Richard Landon (New York: AMS, 1988), pp. 29-46—Eres;

(2) Prepare topics, questions and hypotheses based on quantitative study and using evidence from MS catalogues, including DS.

(3) Transcribe and translate Transcription Exercise 5.

8. Mon 26 June, 1-4 pm

(FMH 416)

Using Manuscript Evidence

(1) For discussion, read Andrew Taylor, Textual Situations: three medieval manuscripts and their readers (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), pp. 1-75 (1. Medieval Materials, 2. Bodleian MS Digby 23, Interstice: the minstrel and the book)—Eres.

(2) Prepare topics, questions and hypotheses based on evidence from medieval library lists.

(3) Transcribe and translate Transcription Exercise 6.

9. Wed 28 June, 1-4 (Hispanic Society Library, on the Audobon Terrace, Broadway between 155^th and 156^th Streets [west side])      

Problems and issues: presentation and discussion of materials in the Hispanic Society of America library

29 June

Descriptions of remaining items for DS due