e-codices Newsletter - Issue N° 22

In this issue

1. 54 new manuscripts, five new collections and two new projects
2. The Virgil manuscripts from the Burgerbibliothek of Bern
3. New collections
4. Biblioteca Sefarad - another private library on e-codices
5. Support from the René und Susanne Braginsky Foundation
6. New focus of e-codices: Autographs
7. Autograph of Grimm’s Fairy Tales
8. Christmas Greetings

December 2015

Issue N° 22

54 new manuscripts, five new collections and two new projects

e-codices has digitally edited no fewer than 54 additional digital manuscripts from 15 different libraries, of these five new collections. In addition, we are taking on two new projects. As part of the project "Braginsky Collection on e-codices," we will publish not only more manuscripts, but also Megillot (Esther scrolls) and Ketubbot (marriage contracts). The project „The Bodmer autograph collection" will make accessible the most important autographs from this unique collection.

bj-Berol-Theol-Lat-Qu-0011_144r

Krakow, Jagiellonian Library, Depositum (Ms. Berol. Theol. Lat. Qu. 11), f. 144r – Tropary-Sequentiary

bbb-0165_002r

Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 165, f. 2r – Vergilius: Bucolica, Georgica, Aeneis / Scholia Turonensia

The Virgil manuscripts from the Burgerbibliothek of Bern

The Burgerbibliothek of Bern owns a series of outstanding Virgil manuscripts, among which the scholia have become particularly famous among scholars. The Bernese Virgil scholia in their pure form can be found in Cod. 172 (Ecl., Georg., Aen. I-V; Paris, BnF, lat. 7929 owns Aen. VI-XII of the same manuscript, cf. on Gallica, created in the second third of the 9th century, presumably in the area around Paris, perhaps Saint-Denis) and Cod. 167 (Ecl., Geog., Aen.). Cod. 165 (Ecl., Georg., Aen.) originated in Tours and contains a compilation of various traditions, which has survived only in this manuscript.

New collections

At the beginning of this year, we contacted several Swiss collections that often hold only a few manuscripts each. Their interest was overwhelming. Several small collections were made accessible in earlier updates this year. In this update we include the Dokumentationsstelle Oberer Zürichsee in Wädenswil, the Landesarchiv Appenzell Innerrhoden in Appenzell and the Mémoires d’Ici - Centre de recherche et de documentation du Jura bernois in Saint-Imier. Other collections, including some that are otherwise difficult to access, will follow next year.

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Appenzell, Landesarchiv Appenzell Innerrhoden, M.03.02/PfAA A 2.1, f. 7r – Appenzell Missal

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Montreux, Bibliotheca Sefarad, Ms. J 4, recto – Privilege (copy)

Biblioteca Sefarad - another private library on e-codices

e-codices has made a name for itself as the preferred digital library for private manuscript collections in Switzerland. We are pleased to introduce the Biblioteca Sefarad, located on Lake Geneva. This is a private library about Jewish culture; it specializes in Judaism, the Spanish Inquisition and Sephardism. As initial pieces we present a charter ("priuilegium") from December 17, 1475 (in a copy from 1478) and the "Lumen ad revelationem gentium et gloriam plebis Dei Israel, de unitate fidei et de concordi et pacifica aequalitate fidelium", the most important work by Alonso de Oropesa OSH († 1469); the Latin text has not yet been edited, but a Castilian translation was prepared in 1979 based on the three manuscripts known to date.

Support from the René und Susanne Braginsky Foundation

The René und Susanne Braginsky Foundation has made a generous donation to e-codices. This general donation will, inter alia, help to promote the digital publication of Jewish sources and support the digital publication of more manuscripts from the Braginsky collection on e-codices.

fmb-cb-0905_1v-2r

fmb-ms-Einstein-E-004-001_1r

Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, E-4.1, f. 1r – Albert Einstein, Ether and Relativity Theory, Autograph

New focus of e-codices: Autographs

The library of Martin Bodmer contains an extensive and deservedly world-famous collection of autographs, spanning literature from the entire world. A new e-codices project will gradually make accessible the most important autographs from this collection. As an initial offering, we present 11 autographs, among them the autograph of Le rosier de Madame Husson by Guy de Maupassant, as well as Einstein’s inaugural lecture at the University of Leiden in 1920.

Autograph of Grimm’s Fairy Tales

This autograph by the Brothers Grimm, held by the Fondation Martin Bodmer, contains the earliest document of the „Kinder- und Hausmärchen" (Fairy Tales). In October 1810, Jacob Grimm sent it to Clemens Brentano, and it became part of his estate. The document provides enlightening insights into the working methods of the Brothers Grimm, since they intensely revised their tales for the first printing (1812 and 1814 [predated 1815]). In 1954 Martin Bodmer purchased this autograph from Benjamin, a New York dealer in autographs.

fmb-ms-Grimm-G-072-001_2r

Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, G-72.1, f. 2r

sbs-0008_8v

Schaffhausen, Stadtbibliothek, Gen. 8, f. 8v (detail) – Klosterneuburger Evangelienwerk

zbs-S-0378_25v

Solothurn, Zentralbibliothek, Cod. S 378, f. 25v (detail)– Breviarium canonicorum regularium monasterii sanctae crucis mortariensis

ssg-0016_29r

St. Gallen, Stiftsarchiv (Abtei Pfäfers), Cod. Fab. XVI, f. 29r (detail) – Jean de Mandeville, Antichrist (Travels of Sir John Mandeville) - with illustrations

Christmas Greetings

We have selected several Christmas images from the e-codices collection. Feel free to share these with friends as a holiday greeting.


We wish you and your family, Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year !

the e-codices team