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e-codices newsletter


The e-codices newsletter provides information about the latest updates, highlights, and activities of our project and appears about 4-5 times per year.
We are delighted to count you among our readers!

The e-codices team

 
 
In this issue
  1. "No manuscript description without digitization!"
  2. e-codices 2017-2020
  3. More manuscripts from the Braginsky Collection
  4. Islamic manuscripts on e-codices
  5. News from Fragmentarium
  6. Season‘s Greetings
 
 
December 2016

Issue N° 27
 
 
 
 
 
“No manuscript description without digitization!”
 
A few years ago, especially in Germany, one would often hear the opposite version of the above statement: “No digitization without a corresponding manuscript description.” This meant that the task of creating detailed descriptions of manuscripts following traditional guidelines would have to be undertaken first, before one could even consider putting digital reproductions of manuscripts on the internet.
However, the past ten years have shown the opposite to be true: it no longer makes sense to prepare scholarly descriptions if they are not published on the internet together with their digital manuscripts; any other course of action would hold back research. This would not only slow the pace of manuscript digitization, it would also deprive descriptions of their most important scholarly quality: direct verifiability.
It is beyond dispute that descriptions, especially ones that are more than rudimentary, remain very important. But nowadays no description can meet contemporary demands if it is not prepared in digital form, which must of course include high-quality reproductions. The development of new kinds of descriptions must be based on digital reproductions; digitization has become the central element of scholarly descriptions.

bge-fr0181-50v
 
 
 
utp/0110/17r

Utopia, armarium codicum bibliophilorum, Cod. 110, f. 17r – Book of hours by the Master of Charles VIII – possibly a supplement to Utopia Cod. 111
 
e-codices 2017-2020
 
Over the past twelve years, e-codices has raised 6.9 million Swiss francs in third-party funds. And in the past four years, the support of the Swiss University Conference (SUC) program 2013-2016 P-2: “Scientific information: Access, processing and safeguarding” has enabled us to modernize e-codices, increasing interoperability and greatly expanding content.
At its meeting on 5 December 2016, the steering committee of P-2 approved another extension: e-codices will be able to continue to expand and to enhance financial and institutional security through 2020. Our next newsletter will provide more details about the completion of the current project and the goals of the upcoming project.
 
 
 
More manuscripts from the Braginsky Collection
 
With 12 new documents in this update, the number of manuscripts (Codices, Megillot and Ketubbot) from the Braginsky Collection has reached 59. Among the new items are: a calligram by Aaron Wolf Herlingen of the seven penitential psalms in Latin, depicting King David with his harp, that was written or rather drawn for Prince Joseph, later King Joseph II (1741-1790) (B316); and a Karaite ketubbah from the year 5593 (1833 A.D.) from Qirq-Yer (Chufut-Kalé in the Crimean peninsula) (K54).
 
bc/k-0054/recto

Zürich, Braginsky Collection, K54, p. recto – Ketubah (כתובה), Qirq-Yer (Chufut-Kalé), 29 Adar (=1 Nisan in Rabbinite calendar) 5593 (March 21, 1833)
 
 
 
ubb/A-III-0019/2v

Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, A III 19, f. 2v – Koran
 
Islamic manuscripts on e-codices
 
The Koran edited on e-codices was written in Ramaḍān 639 h. [= March-April 1242] by Muḥammad Ibn al-Maʿāǧīnī. In addition to the canonical text, the manuscript also contains the variants of the seven readers of the Koran and their main transmitters. It was brought to Basel from Constantinople in 1437 by the Dominican John of Ragusa, one of the leading theologians at the Council of Basel. Since 1433 the manuscript was the property of the Dominican monastery of Basel as a bequest of John of Ragusa, and in 1559 it became the property of the university library. The Zurich theologian Theodor Bibliander made use of this manuscript in the preparation of his printing of the Latin translation of the Koran by Robert of Ketton (Basel 1543). His Latin translation was the first ever of the Koran and the Basel printing — a daring undertaking that even landed the printer, Johannes Oporinus, in jail for a time — was the first printing of this work.
We hope that over time we can build on this first Islamic Arabic manuscript and develop it into a larger project.
 
 
 
 
News from Fragmentarium
 
The international platform Fragmentarium is currently managing six case studies that were launched at the international meeting "Ex parte enim cognoscimus. Current State of Research on Medieval Fragments" (Fribourg, 6.-8. June 2016):
Outline of the case studies:
  1. Bodleian Library (Oxford) - In situ Manuscript Fragments in the Incunabula of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Zeno-Karl-Schindler Fellow: Ruth Mullett, Cornel University; Adviser: Prof. Nigel Palmer, Oxford.
  2. Campus Condorcet – Biblissima (Paris) - Rendre la bibliothèque de Florus de Lyon à son intégrité (Restoring the Library of Florus of Lyon to its Original State). Zeno-Karl-Schindler Fellow: Pierre Chambert-Protat, École française de Rome – Adviser: Prof. Anne-Marie Turcan-Verkerk, EPHE, IRHT, Campus Condorcet, Biblissima.
  3. Yale University – Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (New Haven) - Binding Waste Recovery and Cataloguing in the Beinecke Library. Liz Hebbard, Yale University – Adviser: Dr. Raymond Clemens, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library of Yale University.
  4. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Wien) - Describing book decorations in an online database – Fragments of Illuminated Manuscripts at the Austrian National Library. Mag. Dr. Katharina Kaska, MA and Mag. Friedrich Simader, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien – Adviser: Dr. Andreas Fingernagel, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien.
  5. Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen - Psalms and Psalters in the Manuscript Fragments at the Abbey Library of St. Gall. Prof. María Adelaida Andrés Sanz - SNF-International Short Visit – Universidad de Salamanca – Adviser: Dr. Cornel Dora, Stiftsbibliothekar von St. Gallen.
  6. Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig - Cataloguing and Digitization of Manuscript Fragments of the University Library of Leipzig – Ivana Dobcheva - supported by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Stiftung – Adviser: Dr. Christoph Mackert, Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig.
The information page http://fragmentarium.ms offers more detailed information.
We are preparing another 6-8 case studies for the coming year.
 
 
 
 
Season‘s Greetings
 
We have made a "Christmas scenes" album on Facebook with many images from the e-codices collection. Feel free to share these with friends as a holiday greeting.

christmas-album
Wishing you and your family a merry Christmas and a joyous New Year!

the e-codices team
 
 
 
e-codices
Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland
Rue de l’Hôpital 4, CH – 1700 Fribourg

T + 41 (0) 26 300 71 57
F + 41 (0) 26 300 96 27

www.e-codices.ch
e-codices@unifr.ch
 
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