Peter Kidd

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.

Entscheidsuche Recherche d'arrêts Das frei zugängliche Portal entscheidsuche.ch bietet eine Suche in allen publizierten Gerichtsurteilen von Schweizer Gerichten aller Instanzen. Le portail entscheidsuche.ch, accessible gratuitement, p...

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

ReceptioGate 2026 ReceptioGate is the name given to a documented online defamation campaign that began in late 2022 against the RECEPTIO research centre and its founder, Professor Carla Rossi.The campaign originated fr...

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

Affäre um Zürcher Professorin landet vor Richtern Eine internationale Internet-Gemeinde bringt eine Mittelalter-Forscherin zu Fall – und fördert einen Skandal zutage, der unter Schweizer Akademien seinesgleichen sucht.

«Scientific misconduct»: Affair surrounding Zurich professor ends up in court

#ReceptioGate

www.watson.ch/schweiz/just...

Selbstplagiat: Ex-Professorin der Universität Zürich unterliegt vor Gericht Die Forscherin hatte aus eigenen Arbeiten abgeschrieben, ohne dies kenntlich zu machen. Es ist das vorläufige Ende einer skurrilen Affäre.

«Massive scientific misconduct»: Former professor at the University of Zurich loses in court

#ReceptioGate

www.nzz.ch/zuerich/selb...

Plagiatsurteil gegen frühere UZH-Professorin: «Schwerster Fall wissenschaftlichen Fehlverhaltens» Der Schweizerische Nationalfond forderte Fördergelder wegen angeblich nicht korrekt zitierter Passagen zurück. Das Urteil bestätigt «massives Fehlverhalten» bei zwei ihrer Publikationen.

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."

"... sometimes he came from his farm in Buckinghamshire in a wooden-bodied Austin Hereford shooting brake, a favourite pig sitting upright in the passenger seat beside him ..."

Having enjoyed the first, I am now reading the second volume of Brian Sewell's autobiography. It includes these startling details about Antoine Seilern:

Madden1826 Frederic Madden's Journal, 1826

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.

New Year’s Eve Concerts at Kennedy Center Are Canceled

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

Giotto e san Francesco. Una rivoluzione nell’Umbria del Trecento - Mostra - Perugia - Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria - Arte.it <h1 class="page_title">Giotto e san Francesco. Una rivoluzione nell’Umbria del Trecento, Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria Perugia, la mostra d'arte dell'artista nella città di Perugia. Gli orari di ape...

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.

Headline: "Microsoft Scales Back AI Goals Because Almost Nobody Is Using Copilot" by Jan Martindale Dec. 10 2025

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!

'Mirmellus Arnandi'

This week's blogpost:

'Mirmellus Arnandi'

mssprovenance.blogspot.com/2025/12/mirm...

Science Christmas
The Upturned Microscope

Genuine question. Can anyone explain how, with 200 years of experience exhibiting paintings, and a purpose-built lighting system, in a purpose-built gallery, it is acceptable for the National Gallery to light paintings as in these examples?:

#NationalGallery #Paintings #Exhibitions #Lighting

I've just received this, hot off the press.
(About 3 years late. Well, it is a Brepols imprint!)

Where do we think the MS, and the painter of the additions, are from? Could they be Mexican/South American?

Although some details make me think the painter was inspired by Spanish Romanesque art.