An Odd End: Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.G.13, fol. 41a

This note addresses a small obscurity in M. R. James's description of a manuscript at Jesus College, Cambridge. While the difficulty resolved is minor, it does gesture toward a persisting problem of manuscript production, how to conclude a book or similar smaller unit.

Illustrated and Illuminated Manuscripts of the Dalāʾil al-khayrāt from Southeast Asia

Illustrated and illuminated manuscripts of the Dalāʾil al-khayrāt from Southeast Asia are an invaluable resource for our understanding of the painting tradition of this region. The many copies now kept in various institutions attest to its popularity, while the lavish treatment often given to manuscripts indicates the high regard local communities had for this text. The types of images featured are similar to those from other parts of the Islamic world, yet these images, as well as the decorative illumination, also reflect local artistic styles. This paper examines a selection of Southeast Asian manuscripts of the Dalāʾil al-khayrāt dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, situating them both within the broader context of manuscript production and usage, and the pietistic landscape of the region.

Law manuscripts from fifteenth-century Iceland

This article discusses a number of interdisciplinary aspects of Icelandic law manuscripts, produced in the fifteenth century, which contain important vernacular legal codes dealing with secular and ecclesiastical matters in medieval Iceland, such as Jónsbók and Kristinréttr Árna Þorlákssonar. In this article, it is argued that a continuity of law manuscript production exists in Iceland following the Black Death in 1402–04; this is seen in several ways: indications are found in textual and artistic parts of the manuscripts, as well as in para-texts that accompany the law texts in the margins. With particular focus on the manuscript AM 136 4to (Skinnastaðabók), this article discusses four distinctive cross-disciplinary features of fifteenth-century Icelandic law manuscripts: the adaptation and further development of textual contents initially found in law manuscripts dating back to previous centuries, select types of layouts chosen by the initial scribes, the book painting, and the use of the margins by later users and owners for comments and discussion on the textual content. The article concludes that with the changing Scandinavian politics in the late fourteenth century, Icelandic law manuscripts in the fifteenth century were first and foremost written for, and inspired by, domestic productions. While texts related to Norwegian royal supremacy and trade are rarely featured, the texts most used for domestic issues appear more frequently. On the other hand, statutes and concordats occur as regularly in these manuscripts as they do in earlier works, which indicates ongoing contact with the Norwegian Archdiocese of Niðaróss during the fifteenth century.

“Scribal” Quatrains in Poetry Collections: A General Typology and the Question of Origin

Since many East Syriac copyists were also poets, they created a number of poetic texts — mostly quatrains — mentioning scribes and their work that obtained much importance in the both literary life and manuscript production of this Church in the Ottoman period. Some of them were placed in poetic anthologies. The current article discusses the problems of the origin and the general typology of such pieces that have never been studied before.

Manuscript Production in Florence

Florence was the center of humanist book production, not only in Italy, but more generally in the West. This essay discusses the new style of classical and humanist books produced in fifteenth-century Florence, focusing on script, decoration, major libraries (the Angeli, the badia, San Marco), collectors (the Medici, Parentucelli, Jean Jouffroy, King Alfonso of Naples, Federico da Montefeltro), and the booksellers (Guarducci, Vespasiano).