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Posted by: Marianna Stell
Is that mermaid holding a mirror? No, and yes. The lower border of the January calendar page from this fifteenth-century illuminated Book of Hours contains a Siren, who is holding a mirror. What is a Siren? Why it is in this Book of Hours? Learn more in this New Years post.
Posted in: Illuminated manuscript, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press), Seasonal, Women in Book History
Posted by: Marianna Stell
The Edith Book of Hours from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection is the smallest medieval manuscript at the Library of Congress. Created in Paris in the fourteenth century in the style of miniature painter and manuscript illuminator, Jean Pucelle, this tiny book offers researchers an experience like no other in the collection. Recently digitized, the Edith Book of Hours is now available for remote viewing for the first time. This blog post offers observations about the size of this manuscript in the hopes of providing remote researchers with a sense of its physical presence.
Posted in: 14th Century, Illuminated Manuscript, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press)
Posted by: Marianna Stell
The Library of Congress has several important works by the printmaker, painter, and art theorist, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), including his famous engraving, Melencolia I (1514), and his Treatise on Measurement (1525).
Posted in: 16th Century, Fine Prints, History of Mathematics, History of Science, Illustrated Book, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press)
Posted by: Marianna Stell
In this post Haim Gottschalk, Hebraica-Judaica Cataloging Librarian for the Israel and Judaica Section of the Asian and Middle Eastern Division at the Library of Congress, writes about the provenance of two Hebraic items in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.
Posted in: 15th Century, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press), Provenance
Posted by: Michael North
November 2023 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio of William Shakespeare's plays. The Library of Congress is fortunate to own two copies of the First Folio in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. One copy is a little unusual.
Posted in: 17th Century, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press), Poetry, Provenance
Posted by: Marianna Stell
Gregor Reisch's (c.1470-1525) encyclopedic textbook, Margarita Philosophica (Philosophical Pearl) contains a woodcut that speaks to the process of education in the sixteenth century.
Posted in: 16th Century, Illustrated Book, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press)
Posted by: Marianna Stell
Likely created in Tours in the 1470s in a workshop influenced by the French painter and manuscript illuminator, Jean Fouquet (c. 1420 - 1480), a Book of Hours in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress reminds us that Halloween is just around the corner.
Posted in: 15th Century, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press), Seasonal
Posted by: Marianna Stell
Memory training was an important part of education in the Middle Ages. Borrowing from classical sources, medieval techniques offered elaborate and creative methods for memorizing lengthy works and speeches. The blockbook Ars memorandi, likely printed in Germany around 1470, offers a surprising lesson for those interested in the history of graphic design or mnemonic theory.
Posted in: 15th Century, 16th Century, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press)
Posted by: Marianna Stell
Christine de Pizan (1364-1430), first professional woman author in Europe, was considered by Simone de Beauvoir to be the first woman to 'take up her pen in defense of her sex'. The Library of Congress has a rare copy of Christine’s work, Epistre d'Othea, printed by Philippe Pigouchet around 1499.
Posted in: Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press), Women in Book History