Manuscript Library Research Articles

BOOK COVER SAMPLES IN THE YUSUF AGA MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY

The need to use “covers” has arisen in order to preserve and protect written works. The protective cover made to keep the leaves of a magazine or book together without falling apart and without breaking their order is called a binding. Books, which are at the forefront of Turkish cultural heritage, have a special place among movable cultural properties. These resources, which form a bridge between the past and the future, are preserved in various museums, libraries and collections in order to carry them to future generations. Yusuf Aga Manuscript Library is one of the places where these resources are preserved. Descriptive method was used in this study. It is aimed to introduce the seven bindings in the Yusuf Ağa Manuscript Library in detail, with the material, construction technique, decoration features, colors used, and then to determine the connections of the book cover with similar examples and to reveal its position in the bookbinding art and its development process scientifically. In addition, information on the qualitative characteristics of the manuscripts in question, such as the scope, the periods they belong to, and the names of the works, has been arranged on the basis of the data in the inventory. Keeping the art of binding alive and establishing a connection between generations is very important in terms of Turkish culture, history, art and decoration. Keywords: Library, book, cover, binding, manuscript, Yusuf Aga

Justice in the miniatures of Brunetto Latini's art of rhetoric: Columbia Library, Plimpton MS 281

This article presents the miniatures in the art of rhetoric of a fifteenth-century French manuscript, Plimpton MS 281 (Columbia University, Rare Book and Manuscript Library). The text is Brunetto Latini’s Tresor, a thirteenth-century compilation written in Old French on the art of government. The iconography of Plimpton MS 281 seems to be new with regard to the art of rhetoric and to be intended for a legal milieu. By studying the images from the point of view of the history of the text, the aim is to understand what might have caused a change in the iconography of the art of rhetoric.

Integrasi Hukum Islam Di Kerajaan Demak Abad XVI M

: The transfer of government from Majapahit to Demak at the end of the 15th century, as well as a transition from the Hindu era to the Islamic era, also gave birth to social, political, cultural, and legal transformations. The pattern of the penetration of Islam into peaceful Javanese culture, or penetration pacifique, has shown integration in all fields. Integration creates a stable and equilibrium condition. The question that then arises is how Demak produces laws that are able to create such stable conditions. It is important to do this on the fiber Suryangalam legal text of the Demak era. The purpose of this study is to identify the Serat Suryo Alam manuscript, explore Islamic law legislation in the text, and explain how the Islamic kingdom of Demak carried out social engineering to realize a just and peaceful society. Then to answer the problem, philological and historical methods are used, while the analysis uses content analysis with Talcott Parson's integration theory. This study concludes that: 1) the Suryo Alam manuscript is a legal text that can be found in the digitization of British Library manuscripts, 2) this manuscript contains legal, material, and judicial sources at the same time, and 3) social engineering can be measured by the stages of adaptation of Hindu and Islamic law, with the Trirasa Goal of efforts, legal integration, and efforts to maintain the law in people's social lives or latency. This stage gave birth to an equilibrium society of tata titi tentrem gemahripah loh jinawi kartaraharja.

Kathryn James. English Paleography and Manuscript Culture, 1500–1800. New Haven: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, 2020. Pp. 288. $40.00 (cloth).

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The Scientific Significance of the Search and Publication of Kazakh Fairy Tales Preserved in Manuscripts

The process of collecting and publishing Kazakh fairy tales dates back to the second half of the 19th century. During the period of the colonization of the Kazakh steppe by the Russian Empire, people of different professions who came here for different purposes and worked in the civil service began to pay attention not only to the registration of land wealth, but also to the study of samples of oral folk art. On the pages of the first editions “Turkistan ualayatynyn gazeti”, “Dala ualayatynyn gazeti”, published in the second half of the 19th century in the Kazakh language and spreading in the Kazakh steppe, numerous folk tales were published, taken from oral folk art. Along with Russian scientists, representatives of the Kazakh intelligentsia and educators were also engaged in the study of fairy tales. Kazakh fairy tales were published several times at the beginning of the twentieth century and after the establishment of Soviet power. After gaining independence of Kazakhstan, numerous fairy tales were published in whole volumes. At the same time, some publications were found and re-published fairy tales that had not been previously published. We know that Kazakh fairy tales, collected in manuscript centers and library funds, have a rich heritage. Finding and republishing unpublished tales is an urgent need today. In the article, the author notes the importance of searching for fairy tales in the archives of the regional level, as well as among the manuscripts collected in manuscript funds and written in Cyrillic, Arabic or Latin letters, and the publication of these fairy tales, especially previously unknown ones. He also draws attention to the spiritual heritage of the people and the significance of fairy tales in modern folklore.

Petr Rychkov’s Map of Iske (Inner or Old) Kazan of 4 July 1770

Research objectives: On the basis of a recently discovered map – found in the manuscript library of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg – of Iske Kazan’s fortification made by P.N. Rychkov in 1770, this article investigates the manner in which its population protected itself against its foes in the restless era that witnessed the dissolution of the Golden Horde and the transition to the Kazan khanate. It additionally asks why in fact this map was composed. Research materials: Combining the evidence of Rychkov’s map with archaeological findings and in dialogue with the relevant historiography, the authors place the map in its historical context and ponder its significance, and suggest why this map was made in 1770. Results and novelty of the research: It appears that Iske Kazan’s inhabitants turned to a unique manner to defend themselves against their enemies, using a wall-moat-wall design to prevent any storming by mounted troops, different from what has been hitherto thought about the ruins of this defensive structure. This manner of defending seems eminently well suited to the restless conditions prevailing in the Volga-Kama region around 1400 and the art of war as practiced in this region. The article additionally suggests why this map was made in 1770, linking it to the general desire of the Romanov government to discover much more precisely how its subjects lived their lives. This impetus was born from the introduction of the Western-European scientific mindset in Peter I’s reign, which paid much closer heed to a realistic understanding of nature and culture. The Russian Academy of Sciences mounted from the 1720s onward a host of scientific expeditions, which almost resemble voyages of discovery, to map the tsarist empire, of which Rychkov’s travels formed a part. The article hints at the possibility that such fact-finding missions gradually allowed the central government in St. Petersburg to increase its power over its subject peoples.

Selçuklu Cilt Üslûbunun 15. Yüzyıl Osmanlı Ciltlerine Yansımaları (Çorum Hasan Paşa Yazma Eser Kütüphanesi Örnekleri)

Reflections of Seljuk Bookbinding Style on the 15th Century Ottoman Bindings (Examples of Çorum Hasan Pasha Manuscript Library) Abstract Binding is the general name of the book covers, which both have protective qualities and give aesthetic pleasure to the eyes with the decoration applied on it. According to the binding fragments found in Chotscho, the Turkish binding art must have started in Central Asia. These bindings set an example for Turkish bindings produced after it, both technically and in terms of decoration. Seljuk Turks, who came to Anatolia from Central Asia, brought this art with them and developed it here. The bookbinders of the period produced many decorated bookbindings during this period and formed the Seljuk style of binding. The medallion is generally in circular form and is located at the center point of the cover. From an ornamental point of view, the decoration of the front and back cover in a different way is the main feature that distinguishes Seljuk binding from other period bindings. The preference for different types of decoration in the border decorations is also one of the distinguishing features of the Seljuk binding style. Seljuk bindings also attract attention in terms of the material used in the inside of covers and the motif applied. Generally, the inside of the cover is covered with leather. There are full geometric and rūmī patterns on the inside of the cover. The effect of Seljuk binding style on Anatolian Principalities, especially Karamanids, has been determined by various studies. These effects and reflections continued in Turkish-Islamic bindings until the end of the 15th century. The theme of the article is 15th-century Ottoman bindings in which these reflections can be seen. The Çorum Hasan Pasha Manuscript Library, which has not been the subject of any study in this regard, has been determined as the research area. As a result of the researches carried out in this library, five examples from the 15th century were identified. The first of the examples is the binding of the work with inventory number 3374, with the copying date of 839/1435. This binding reflects the Seljuk binding style in terms of double-row border decoration, medallion form, and decoration technique applied with nails. The second example is the binding of the manuscript with inventory number 4064 and dated 850/1445. The waqf seal of Sayyid Ahmad Fayzī, the mufti of Çorum, is found on various pages of this work. The binding of the manuscript shows the Seljuk influence with different medallion designs on its front and back cover. In addition, the type of decoration of the corner piece is also a reflection of the same style. The third example is the binding of the manuscript dated 842/1438 with inventory number 4117. This binding is one of the important examples where the Seljuk style on one cover and the Ottoman early period binding style on the other cover come together in one binding. The fourth example is the binding of the manuscript with inventory number 4115, which was completed in the month of Muharram of 885/1479. The medallion of this binding is in narrow pointed oval form. This binding reflects the Seljuk style especially in terms of border decorations and technique. The fifth example is the binding of the manuscript with inventory number 4933. In the manuscript, there is the waqf seal dated 1201 (1786) in the name of Suleyman Feyzi and an ownership record written Muhammed b. Ahmad al-Shāfiī 934 (1527). The binding of the manuscript was decorated with Seljuk patterns using the gold-ink dyeing technique. The border decoration is also the type that stands out in the Seljuk decoration repertoire. In our article, it was determined that the Seljuk binding style continued to show its effect partially after the 15th century. Two bindings (4768, 4062) dated the 16th century are also available in the library. The binding of the manuscript, like 4117, has the characteristic of different decoration types of the front and back cover, which is the most typical feature of the Seljuk binding. As a result, it has been determined that the binding subject to the article coincides with the Seljuk bindings in terms of decoration types and production techniques and bears the reflections of this style. Reflections have also been compared with similar examples from the 15th century. According to this; the 15th century is a period in which the Seljuk State continued its continuity in terms of binding art, even if not in an administrative sense. Previous period effects that can be observed in every branch of art were also valid for 15th-century bookbinders who produced works in Anatolia.

Haj Travelbooks in Tatar Literature and Musa Jarullah’s Haj Travelbook

The notes kept during the pilgrimage journeys and the observations, impressions and determinations of the authors provided the formation of the type called pilgrimage travelnames. Many examples of this species have been written both in and outside the Anatolian area. Tatar Turks are one of the societies in which writing works with pilgrimage content outside Anatolia has turned into a literary tradition. In this study, the Haj Seyâhatnâma of Musa Jarullah, a Tatar thinker, will be discussed. The manuscript is registered at 06 Mil Yz A 5924 in the National Library Manuscripts Collection. Seyâhatnâma is located on the sheets 1a-28a of a notebook, all of which are 66 sheets. The countries and events on the route are presented with careful observation in the sea route. In the work, many countries such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, England, Russia, India, China, especially Turkey; important figures such as Ataturk, Ibn Saud, Muhammed Asadullah, Karim Khakimov, Ferdinand de Lesseps; important observations about the Suez Canal, the Istanbul Strait, the Maghrib Strait and the Cenup Strait and the holy lands are included.

‘Iyani, A Shirazi Poet and Historian in the Bahmani Deccan

ABSTRACT This paper examines MS D. 92 of the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras/Chennai, which contains the works of ‘Iyani, a late fifteenth century Shirazi poet and historian. ‘Iyani had migrated to the Deccan, and wrote in Persian in the Bahmani sultanate (1347–1528), receiving the patronage of both Sultan Mahmud Shah (r. 1482–924) and Habib al-Din Muhibballah, a descendant of the Sufi saint Shah Ni‘matallah Vali of Kirman. The paper investigates ‘Iyani’s works, which comprise qasidas, ghazals, ruba‘iyyat and two mathnavīs, the Jangnama-i Shahrukh and the Fathnama-i Mahmud Shahi. The latter, recording the defeat of a rebellion led by the Abyssinian commander in Gulbarga, Dastur Dinar, sheds new light on the political and factional environment in the final stages of Bahmani rule. ‘Iyani’s works represent a new source for the cultural, literary and political history of the fifteenth century Deccan.

What’s In the Manuscripts of Timbuktu? A Survey of the Contents of 31 Private Libraries

AbstractThe Arabic manuscripts of Timbuktu have received considerable publicity during the past 25 years, yet their contents remain largely unknown. Since 2012, an inventory of nearly 350,000 Timbuktu manuscripts in private libraries has been underway, and the contents of those libraries are now accessible in the West African Arabic Manuscript Database (WAAMD). This analysis examines 31 of the 35 libraries and in addition to reporting on their contents, notes challenges in accessing incompletely identified works, and compares the manuscripts with other West African collections.

Survey of insect pests in the manuscripts library of Coptic museum in Egypt.

Museums are the main sources of cultural, political, economic, scientific and historic information in the communities. Pests in a museum, library or archive environment can cause serious damage to highly valuable and irreplaceable materials. A survey was conducted in the Manuscripts Library of the Coptic Museum (Egypt) to determine the biodiversity of insect pests infest the place. Sampling were done monthly for a year (from October 2018 to September 2019) using sticky traps with a nontoxic sticky substance. The sticky traps were placed at the corners of the library, behind doors and on the windows edges. A total of 1047 specimens belonging to nine species under six families and five orders were collected and identified. The most abundant species was Monomorium pharaonic with a total of 639 collected specimens followed by Ochetellus glaber, Thermobia domestica, Gibbium psylloides, Anthrenus verbasci, Periplaneta Americana, Lasioderma serricorne, Liposcelis bostrychophila, Attagenus fasciatus with total number of 193, 62, 45, 39, 23, 21, 13, 12 collected specimens, respectively. The traps which sited in the corners of the library trapped 60% of the total recorded specimens.

A New Poem by Anna Letitia Barbauld

This short discovery article presents information pertaining to a previously unknown poem of four lines by Anna Letitia Barbauld. The poem is housed at Duke University in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Four Arabic Legal Documents Belonging to ʿAmmār b. Salama b. ʿAbd al-Wārith

Abstract This paper edits and studies four Arabic legal documents, written on two papyri, now housed in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. The documents belong to a certain ʿAmmār b. Salama b. ʿAbd al-Wārith, a merchant from al-Bahnasā. Document 1 (P.CTYBR inv. 1720 verso) records a contract of sale of two inherited portions belonging to a Copt with double names, a Christian and a Muslim one. The contract touches on two significant socio-religious subjects: 1. name change after religious conversion, and 2. the loss of paternal filiation (nasab) of children born outside wedlock or in wedlock but their paternity was disavowed via the Islamic procedure of liʿān “oath of condemnation” or upon evidence of certain circumstances that prove impossibility of paternity. Documents 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 (P.CTYBR inv. 1715 recto and verso) contains three debt acknowledgements recording payments in coin and in kind. All documents date to the year 297/909–910.

THE EVALUATION OF THE QURAN WITH INVENTORY NUMBER 000598 IN THE MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY OF DIB IN TERM OF ART OF ILLUMINATION

Manuscripts are the most important parts of the cultural heritage. Manuscripts are kept in various libraries and museums in Turkey. The study aimed to evaluate the art of illumination of the Quran with inventory number 000598 in the Manuscript Library of the Directorate of Religious Affairs. The visual materials obtained as a result of the research conducted in the library. The study was conducted according to the descriptive research method. The line type used in manuscript is the Reyhani line, one of the Hüsnü Hat types. During the examination of color and motif features was determined that it reflects the characteristics of the Seljuk period. The colors used in illuminated pages generally preserve their liveliness, although a little wear on the manuscript the general condition is good. Key Words: Quran, illumination, manuscript

The Genealogy of a Collection: Working with Manuscript Library Catalogues

In 1773 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, at that time librarian of the ducal library in Wolfenbüttel, criticised his predecessors of only being interested in the history of the library’s augmentation, of the library’s „genealogy“. According to the famous writer, former librarians were so fixated on the catalogues that they forgot the real purpose of telling a collection’s history: showing how it contributed to scholarship. Of course, Lessing has a point, the history of a collection and its holding institution should not be told simply by enumerating objects, but he might have underestimated the potential of catalogues and book lists as sources for the history of scholarship, indeed the history of knowledge. Library catalogues should not only be seen as valuable sources for the reconstruction of an as-is state of the library at a specific moment of the collection’s life but that a much broader perspective can be taken. Using the example of the Wolfenbüttel manuscript catalogues dating from the mid-17th to the 18th century, the catalogues can be read as behavioural guidelines, as an instrument for representation, as a witness for scholarly practices or as legal papers. Just as for literary documents, they invite to read between the lines, to analyse their specific style as well as to discover the different communicative strategies and hidden messages. Using Lessing’s image, the catalogues help with the composition of an enhanced genealogy, positioning every item into a network of objects, texts, practices, and ideas.

Back Cover

Previous article FreeBack CoverFull TextPDF Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreBack cover. Werner Wolff, photographer, Add and Leonard Bates. From “Furniture Designer,” Ebony 6, no. 1 (February 1951): 70. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Previous article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Art Volume 35, Number 1Spring 2021 Sponsored by the Smithsonian American Art Museum Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/714335 Views: 158 © 2021 by Smithsonian Institution. All rights reserved. Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

John Bates Clark's view on the Treaty of Versailles as the origin of both World War II and the idea of a European Union

The aim of this paper is to highlight the position of John Bates Clark about the Treaty of Versailles and the U.S. approach to Foreign Policy in the aftermath of World War I. To achieve this goal, we analyze some unpublished manuscripts from the Rare Book & Manuscript Library of Columbia University and four pub-lished articles written by Clark between 1918 and 1919 about the consequences of the Treaty and, more generally, the future of Europe. The main ideas emerging from this material are that Clark supported the Trea-ty because he thought that given the threat of a resurgent Germany, only a League of Nations including the U.S. could be able to maintain world peace. On the other hand, he also criticized it because he shared with Keynes the view that the very harsh provisions imposed on Germany would generate another World War in the near future. Finally, Clark saw the union among European countries as a tool for preventing another war.

The Distribution of Wealth in Alexander Pope’s Epistle to Bathurst

Abstract This article examines Pope’s treatment of financial inequality in the Epistle to Bathurst through a reading of the process of composition and revision recoverable from the manuscripts and editions published in Pope’s lifetime. In the 60 years since the publication of Earl Wasserman’s reading of the poem and edition of the Huntington Library manuscripts, the Epistle to Bathurst has been one of the poems by Pope that has been regularly revisited by critics. Perhaps for this reason there has been a striking lack of consensus about the way the poem treats its announced theme—the use of riches. This lack of consensus in its reception is complemented by the poem’s complex textual history. Close attention to the process of composition and revision reveals the difficulties Pope faced in incorporating his address to Lord Bathurst, with its tautologous image of ‘oeconomy’ joined with ‘magnificence’, within a poem that abounds in grotesque examples of noble misers and spendthrifts and of the corruption of financial skulduggery and luxurious consumption. By this means, the Epistle can be shown to be not so much a ‘manual of capitalist piety’ as a critique of specious justifications of extreme financial inequality.

A bibliometric analysis of international publication trends in manuscript libraries research 2011-2020

Writing and printing have come a long way throughout our history and thus emerged the manuscript culture. Preserving archives is the need for us to stay close to the creators of our accessions. It keeps the throb of the past and preserves the literary, linguistic, artistic, and cultural heritage. The present study aims to provide a summary of research publication lined with manuscript libraries and characterize its most important aspects. The study result shows the United States of America exceeds in the area of research in manuscript libraries. Several outcomes regarding the annual trends, top collaborators in terms of journal and institute levels, language, country, and the keyword distribution indicating the impact of the advancement by utilizing the new trends and recent technologies to meet the expanded landscapes of digital humanities and scholarly communications. The challenge is how to best approach the publications coupled to manuscript libraries around the world.

Reading Dives and Pauper in Lisbon, 1465

This essay discovers new contexts for a manuscript of Dives and Pauper copied, according to its colophon, in Lisbon in 1465. I connect the making of this Middle English book (now New Haven, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, MS 228) to the Lisbon confraternity of Santa Catarina, which counted six English merchants among its members. First, I consider the book as an artifact of the culture of lay religious reading and book charity in these merchants’ ports of origin, London and Bristol. I then contextualize the making of the book in the resident English community of fifteenth-century Lisbon. Membership in Santa Catarina brought these merchants into contact with the bureaucrats and chroniclers of new Portuguese ventures of settlement and enslavement along the African coast. These contexts open up new questions about how this work of Middle English instruction in Christian charity and obedience served those of its late medieval readers visiting Lisbon, a place periodized as the launching point of transatlantic modernity.