@mssprovenance.bsky.social
Oxford-based researcher of medieval manuscripts; formerly of the Bodleian and the BL; especially interested in provenance and illumination; currently preparing a catalogue of the medieval and renaissance manuscripts of University College, Oxford.
Things like this do not appear for sale very often ...
www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctio...
Things look grim in the markets right now, but at least the U.S. economy wasn’t already being propped up by a massive speculative AI bubble that is highly sensitive to rising energy costs.
Auct.
You may be surprised to learn (as was I) that many people think "the 11th-century" is the same as "the 1100s". (Despite the fact that they know they are in the 21st century, in which each year begins with "20" not "21").
Turning a sc/roll into a codex has at least two good practical reasons: for ease of handling, and to provide a protective binding. I can't think of a practical reason for doing the opposite.
I can imagine other transformations of format, though, such as binding single-sheet documents as a codex.
It would either require the original codex to only be written on rectos or versos, or for the resulting roll/scroll to be turned over at the end of each page to read the text continuously. Neither makes sense to me, unless each page had a discrete unit of non-continuous text (e.g. short prayers?)
That‘s the spirit.
God forbid the BL should make MS availability known or its catalogue more user-friendly. It's almost as if they don't want users.
Can’t believe they released the Epstein files to cover up for the Melania movie.
The full ruling (in German) can be read or downloaded here: entscheidsuche.ch/view/CH_BVGE...
It is very long and detailed, but there is a summary at the end.
#ReceptioGate
For Carlo Rossi's imaginative interpretation of the same court ruling, see:
www.receptiogate.org/post/recepti...
Spoiler alert: she did nothing wrong, and everyone else is to blame.
#ReceptioGate
«Scientific misconduct»: Affair surrounding Zurich professor ends up in court
#ReceptioGate
www.watson.ch/schweiz/just...
«Massive scientific misconduct»: Former professor at the University of Zurich loses in court
#ReceptioGate
www.nzz.ch/zuerich/selb...
Plagiarism verdict against former University of Zurich professor: Massive scientific misconduct
#ReceptioGate
www.tagesanzeiger.ch/st-gallen-bu...
Breviary. You can tell by the rubrics. Some are just 'R' or 'V' for responsories and versicles; others on the front cover are 'lectio viij' and 'lectio ix' (Matins lessons 8 and 9); then 'Ad l. an.' (i.e. Ad laudes, antiphona), 'Ad iij cap.' (the capitulum at Terce); 'coll' for collects, and so on.
When I see cars parked like that I assume they belong to anglers, who want access to the nearby river. These ones don't bother me, as they are not blocking pedestrian/cycle paths.
!["Among old master drawings [in Seilern's collection] there were thirty by Rembrandt, nine by Watteau, six by Michelangelo, three by Dürer and one each by Bellini, Mantegna and Leonardo."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:orsuejc6cgc6cjkyxcqvqnyv/bafkreidg5yb763t34yzbuuqzr54r6k7h7225fnolu6r3xxohbf3abuxaae)
Having enjoyed the first, I am now reading the second volume of Brian Sewell's autobiography. It includes these startling details about Antoine Seilern:
The life of Frederic Madden, in his words, 200 years after the events described. Transcribed from his journal by students @ies-sas.bsky.social. Released daily in 2026.👇
madden1826.com
What I want is a TV documentary channel entirely devoted to documentaries with no quick-cut montages of everything about to happen, which don't give a fuck about keeping my attention, presented by extremely knowledgeable people in a terrible mood who have no interest in trying to make me like them.
Now that you point it out (even without the mezzotint), it is embarrassingly obvious that the experimenter/philosopher is adjusting the valve: something he would not do if he just wanted to wait and let the bird die. So he must be letting air in, to spare its life, as you say.
This is my favorite sentence in a long while. From Doug Varone, whose dance company lost $40,000 by canceling two Kennedy Center gigs planned for next April:
“It is financially devastating but morally exhilarating.”
#courage
'but there's a catalogue record for it in the library'
That's not a defence. They should not be citing articles that they have not read.
Calendars of feast-days in medieval manuscripts are sometimes used to record things like the deaths of close family members. Here is a Carmelite Breviary that not only records the death of the writer's mother in May 1585 (first image), but also: 'thys day was my lytell bytch stollen'
#MedievalDoggo
This exhibition will include manuscripts!
'Giotto e san Francesco: Una rivoluzione nell’Umbria del Trecento', Perugia, 14 March - 14 June 2026.
www.arte.it/calendario-a...
(I dislike Perugia, but I guess I'll have to pay one more visit ...)
The British Library's new catalogue has a snappy URL for anyone wanting to search for medieval (western) manuscripts:
searcharchives.bl.uk?f%5Bcollecti...
Shelfmark searching only works with 'MS' between the collection name (which must be written in full, with the exception of 'Add') and number.
we can kill them all if we just work together and ✨believe💫
They corrected 'on mass', but I still find the illiteracy at the BBC shocking -- these are people who write for a living!
This week's blogpost:
'Mirmellus Arnandi'
mssprovenance.blogspot.com/2025/12/mirm...
Science Christmas
The Upturned Microscope