Renaissance and medieval manuscripts collection

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Renaissance and medieval manuscripts collection

Collection History

The New York Public Library possesses one of the largest and finest collections of medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts in North America, yet its manuscript holdings are scarcely known to scholars, much less to a wide public audience. Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts are vehicles of the collective memory of western European culture, and provide a material connection between the scribes, illuminators, and patrons who produced these works and the audiences who view them today.

The works represent diverse genres, from Bibles and missals to romance literature and science texts. Dating from the turn of the 10th century until well into the period of the Renaissance, these works give vivid testimony to the creative impulses of the often nameless craftsmen who continually discovered new ways of animating the contents of hand-produced books through inventive and sometimes exuberant manipulations of all the elements of the book: form and format, layout, script, decoration, illustration, and binding.

Drawn from the Library's Spencer Collection and the Manuscripts and Archives Division, these works focus on the 9th through the 16th centuries -- seven hundred years of profound political, ecclesiastical, social, and intellectual change in Western Europe and the world. Among these rare items are a 10th-century Ottonian manuscript, with its imitation of Byzantine textile with gold decoration; the Towneley Lectionary, illuminated by Giulio Clovio (once praised as the "Michelangelo of small works"), which originated in Rome and probably belonged to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese; and a late 15th-century Book of Hours, which represents the leading style of illumination from Besançon, one of the French Regional Schools.

Background

"The Digital Scriptorium" originated in the mid-1990s as an image database, intended to unite scattered resources from many institutions into an international tool for teaching and scholarly research. NYPL curators have augmented the Digital Scriptorium's primary documentation of NYPL's contribution of 259 manuscript parts with images of the works' most significant illuminations. Some works in this digital presentation also appeared in the exhibition, "The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at The New York Public Library," held October 21, 2005 - February 12, 2006 in the Library's D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall.

- Collection History and Background text excerpted from the press release and exhibition catalog descriptions for "The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at The New York Public Library."

Related Resources

Alexander, Jonathan J. G., James H. Marrow, and Lucy Freeman Sandler. The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at The New York Public Library. (2005)

NYPL. "The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at The New York Public Library." (2005-2006) <http://www.nypl.org/research/calendar/exhib/hssl/hsslexhibdesc.cfm?id=354>

University of California, Berkeley. "The Digital Scriptorium." (c1996-2004) <http://www.digital-scriptorium.org>

This collection is also available in Archives & Manuscripts
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Collection Data

Description: Collection consists of a wide variety of bound manuscripts, predominantly religious in nature, including illuminated manuscripts, Bibles, books of hours (Horae), lectionaries, antiphonarium, prayer books, some classical Greek works, and other material.
Dates / Origin: Date Created: 850 - 1600 (Approximate)
Library locations: Manuscripts and Archives Division; Shelf locator: MssCol 2557
Topics: Greek literature
Genres: Religious books; Manuscripts; Illuminations; Bibles; prayer books; Literature
Notes: Citation/reference: Listed in De Ricci, Seymour, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. New York. N.Y.: H.W. Wilson, 1935; and Supplement, New York, N.Y.: Bibliographical Society of America, 1962; Listed in Digital Scriptorium, University of California, Berkeley.; Language: Items are in Latin, French, Greek, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Italian, and English; Additional physical form: Most items available on microfilm; New York Public Library. Most items available on microfilm; New York Public Library. Microfilm must be used in lieu of originals when available.; Biographical/historical: Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts are vehicles of the collective memory of western European culture, and provide a material connection between the scribes, illuminators, and patrons who produced these works and the audiences who view them today. These works give vivid testimony to the creative impulses of the often nameless craftspeople who continually discovered new ways of animating the contents of hand-produced books through inventive and sometimes exuberant manipulations of all the elements of the book: form and format, layout, script, decoration, illustration, and binding.; Content: Restricted access; Manuscripts and Archives Division; Permit must be requested at the division indicated. Originals may be viewed only by advance permission of Curator of Manuscripts.
Physical Description: Extent: 36 linear feet (161 v.)
Type of Resource: Text
Identifiers: NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b12455533; MSS Unit ID: 2557; RLIN/OCLC: NYPW89-A695; Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): d533f0b0-c5ca-012f-d4a0-58d385a7bc34