Alexandra Barratt is the co-author of many descriptions on medieval bookbindings in New Zealand that will feature on these pages. Alexandra is Professor Emeritus at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, where she used to teach English language and literature. Since leaving paid employment she has been pursuing an interest in the manuscript waste found … Continue reading Medieval Bindings in NZ Libraries

Dunedin, Hewitson Library, Presbyterian Research Centre, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, formerly Knox College (Margaret M. Manion, Vera F. Vines, and Christopher de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections (Melbourne, London and New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989), no. 118), Book of Hours in Dutch, Netherlands, second quarter fifteenth century.[1] A. … Continue reading Dunedin, Hewitson Library, Presbyterian Research Centre, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, Book of Hours in Dutch

Auckland, St John’s College MS 1 (Margaret M. Manion, Vera F. Vines, and Christopher de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections (Melbourne, London and New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989), no. 49), Bible, Germany, fourteenth century.[1] This is the binding and part of the text of the so-called Bischewo Bible, acquired by … Continue reading Auckland, St John’s College MS 1, Bible, Germany

Dunedin, Selwyn College, Shoults Collection, on deposit in Otago University Library (Margaret M. Manion, Vera F. Vines, and Christopher de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections (Melbourne, London and New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989), no. 130), Conrad of Brundelsheim, Sermones, Germany, fourteenth/fifteenth centuries. This is the only medieval binding in New … Continue reading Dunedin, Selwyn College, Shoults Collection, Conrad of Brundelsheim, Sermones

Wellington, Alexander Turnbull Library MSR-15 (Margaret M. Manion, Vera F. Vines, and Christopher de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections (Melbourne, London and New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989), no. 133); part of St Matthew’s Gospel, glossed, Italy, mid twelfth century.[1] This is one of the manuscripts acquired by the then British … Continue reading Wellington, Alexander Turnbull Library MSR-15, Part of St Matthew’s Gospel

Auckland Libraries, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Med. MS S.287 (Margaret M. Manion, Vera F. Vines, and Christopher de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections (Melbourne, London and New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989), no. 36), Pierre d’Ailly, Meditationes super Septem Psalmos Penitentiales, France, second half of the fifteenth century.[1] When this … Continue reading Auckland Libraries, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Med. MS S.287, Pierre d’Ailly, Meditationes super Septem Psalmos Penitentiales

Wellington, Alexander Turnbull Library, MSR-28, formerly MS Papers 1620 (Margaret M. Manion, Vera F. Vines, and Christopher de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections (Melbourne, London and New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989), no. 158); rental of the Italian abbey of San Gregorio, Rimini, Italy, c.1487. This is a twelve-page memorandum dated … Continue reading Wellington, Alexander Turnbull Library, MSR-28, Rental of the Italian abbey of San Gregorio

Wellington, Alexander Turnbull Library MSR-26 (not in Manion, Vines, and de Hamel, see description by Alexandra Barratt, “What shall we pack? New Zealand Immigrants and their Manuscripts”, Parergon 30, No. 1 (2013), 81-9): Psalter, Flemish or German, late thirteenth century. This manuscript (including its binding) has recently been digitized by the Alexander Turnbull Library and … Continue reading Wellington, Alexander Turnbull Library MSR-26, Psalter

Auckland Libraries MS G. 185 (Margaret M. Manion, Vera F. Vines, and Christopher de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections (Melbourne, London and New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989), no. 27), Latin Psalter and Hymnal, Eastern Europe, second half of the fifteenth century.[1] This book has an eighteenth-century pasteboard and parchment cover … Continue reading Auckland Libraries MS G. 185, Latin Psalter and Hymnal

I have been guest blogging on my colleague Bruce Holsinger's excellent site, Burnable Books, on the topic, Medieval Studies in the Age of Big Data. I took this as an opportunity to explain why, in my opinion, humanists, even (perhaps especially) those of us with digital interests, need to privilege qualitative rather than quantitative analysis - the slow, careful, close, … Continue reading In Praise of Small Data