monsterseas

Anything I can't fit into a tweet

[medievalpoc]

Aurora Consurgens (att: St. Thomas Aquinas or “Pseudo-Aquinas”)

f. 34v: Black Female Angel

Germany (c. 1420s)

Parchment Codex with Watercolor Miniatures, 20.4 x 13.9 cm.

Zürich, Zentralbibliothek.

This is one of those manuscript miniatures that is so beautiful and strange, it’s hard to believe it’s really as old as it is. Aurora Consurgens is an alchemical treatise; a commentary on the Latin translation of Silvery Waters by Muhammed ibn Umail at-Tamîmî (Senior Zadith), attributed first to Saint Thomas Aquinas and later attributed to “Pseudo-Aquinas”.

The miniatures are unusual not only for their quality, but also for the fact that they’re tiny watercolor paintings on the parchment codex. The whole text has been digitized here, and you can read like you were holding it:

*ETA*

The link has a photo with flash in which you can see the gilded portions a bit better, as well as the ability to zoom in to see the details. For those who were curious, inside the Angel’s body is a sheathed dagger and a coiled serpent:

[deckerlibrary]

“Handmade, marbled papers were popular in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and are considered works of art in and of themselves. The Decker Library is fortunate enough to own a number of beautifully marbled tomes from the 18th and 19th centuries, including marbled edges and covers.”

Pictured above are examples of some of the beautiful marbled volumes from the collection.  To see these and more, check out our new library exhibit on Endsheet Art curated by Allison Fischbach.

[mysimpsonsblogisgreaterthanyours]

[rarebooksinscotland]

As Scotland’s oldest university, the University of St Andrews has been collecting books for more than 600 years. The library’s Special Collections Division is home to more than 200,000 early and rare printed books, approximately 3 linear kilometres of archival materials, and more than 1 million photographs.

Our rare book collection now comprises over 50 named collections which range from the personal libraries of former principals to subject-based collections focussing on children’s and photographically illustrated books, and including everything from incunabula (books printed within approximately 50 years of the invention of the printing press) to contemporary artists’ books.

Images:

A chained Vulgate Bible printed in Rouen in 1511 (Bib BS75.B11). 

Title page of Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius (1610, For QB41.G2S4).

‘Magnolia’ printed plate and accompanying printed text from v. 2 of Catesby’s The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (1741-1743, rff QH104.C2).

"Trotting, free, light-gray horse" from Eadweard Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion (1887, rfx QP301.M8).

A selection of books from the growing collection of early Virginia Woolf and Hogarth Press works.

[rarebooksinscotland]

The collection of special books held by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh contains many works previously owned by former Regius Keepers (Directors), particularly John Hope (1725-1786) and the Balfour’s, John Hutton (1808-1884) and Isaac Bayley (1854-1922).

The greater part of Hope’s library...

[rarebooksinscotland]

Rare Books in Scotland (RBiS) is a forum facilitated by the National Library of Scotland for members of staff in Scottish libraries and other organisations of all sizes and in all sectors who have responsibility for collections of ‘rare books’ in the broadest sense. From 27 November 2014, RBiS celebrates its 10th anniversary with a gallery of images collected from participating institutions. Follow our tumblr for more snapshots from the rich collections of early and rare books held throughout Scotland. All the images posted here are free to share, but please credit their owners. For more about RBiS see our webpages. Photos:

Attendees at the 10th anniversary meeting of RBiS, 27 November 2014, admire a display of books at the National Library of Scotland.

Participants in a workshop on Bibliographic Description taught by Daryl Green, Rare Books Librarian at the University of St Andrews, held at Innerpeffray Library in November 2014.

[monsterseas]

Until then I had thought each book spoke of the things, human or divine, that lie outside books. Now I realized that not infrequently books speak of books: it is as if they spoke among themselves. In the light of this reflection, the library seemed all the more disturbing to me. It was then the place of a long, centuries-old murmuring, an imperceptible dialogue between one parchment and another, a living thing, a receptacle of powers not to be ruled by a human mind, a treasure of secrets emanated by many minds, surviving the death of those who had produced them or had been their conveyors.

Adso in Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose

[atlasobscura]

Reading in Restraint: The Last Chained Libraries

In the Middle Ages, books were incredibly scarce, and although many wanted to share knowledge with the masses, they didn’t quite trust the public. So the chained library was born, and while most of these restrained reading collections have vanished, a rare few still exist, looking much as they did centuries ago. 

Come with us for a tour of the world’s last remaining chained libraries, on Atlas Obscura!

[clirhiddencollections]

That’s one way to avoid dealing with library theft/late fees…

[bookpatrol]

A look at the last chained libraries

[monsterseas]

Sometimes the old ones are the best

[scotianostra]

The Gothic Rocket

Hill and Adamson shot of The Scott Monument under construction in 1843. You can see how it got it’s nickname “The Gothic Rocket”

[logaintb-deactivated20161020]

[sketchthebook]

Point Omega by Don DeLillo

Made With Paper

[artemisdreaming]

Etchings for Jorge Luis Borges Library of Babel

Erik Desmazières

[monsterseas]

The silverfish bookworm (Lepisma saccharina) from Robert Hooke's Micrographia (1665)

[monsterseas]

I went for a Sunday afternoon pint today and it put me in mind of this little essay. The place I was in doesn't quite have all (or even most) of the qualities Orwell outlines for the ideal pub, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

[monsterseas]

It's all practical joking in any case. It's making people care about something which isn't really going on.

Kurt Vonnegut being interviewed for the BBC World Service Book Club. Available here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/wbc/all

[monsterseas]

I recently read W. G. Sebald's "The Rings of Saturn", before watching the film "Patience (After Sebald)" by Grant Gee and listening to the accompanying soundtrack by The Caretaker (aka Leyland Kirby). I immensely enjoyed all three of them, and I'd love to find any similar multimedia projects. It's always nice when the worlds of music and literature collide in the right way, so adding such an excellent film to the mix made this extra special. The film and its soundtrack definitely helped my understanding of and thinking about the book - I think I'll need to re-read it soon in light of this.