The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club

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Chapter 21: In which the old Man launches forth into his favourite Theme, and relates a Story about a queer Client

You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. Chapter 3: A new Acquaintance—The Stroller’s Tale—A disagreeable Interruption, and an unpleasant Encounter

Chapter 28: A good-humoured Christmas Chapter, containing an Account of a Wedding, and some other Sports beside/which although in their Way even as good Customs as Marriage itself, are not quite so religiously kept up, in these degenerate Times There was a time when I considered myself more than just an avid reader, but a collector of books. Had I the resources, I have no doubt that I would have collected manuscripts if I'd had the resources (ie money) and so this title really grabbed my attention. I have to admit, though, that I had no idea where this book might go.

public Wi-Fi - this extends to the majority of our public spaces including the Reading Rooms, as well as our study desks and galleries at St Pancras (you won't require a login) The illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages are among the greatest works of European art and literature. We are dazzled by them and recognize their crucial role in the transmission of knowledge. But we generally think much less about the countless men and women who made, collected and preserved them through the centuries, and to whom they owe their existence. De Hamel acquired his first antiquarian book at the age of 15 and promptly defaced it with his signature The earliest member of de Hamel’s notional “Manuscripts Club” is Saint Anselm, an 11th-century Benedictine monk who ran the scriptorium in Bec Abbey in Normandy before becoming Archbishop of Canterbury. De Hamel walks us through Bec Abbey, vividly capturing the collegiate culture of lending and copying that allowed European scribes to produce and disseminate learned texts. You don’t need to know your psalters from your breviaries to be swept away by his scholarly but conversational style. Reading the Posthumous Papers is like taking a walk in excellent company. FOR a priest, there was not much Christian generosity in the Abbé Jean-Joseph Rive (1730–91). La Chasse aux bibliographes, dated 1789, is the most bad-tempered book on manuscripts ever written.” And Christopher de Hamel should know: he has read the others.Our Family Station in St Pancras is open from 10.00-12.00 every Friday and we're continuing to welcome schools, as well as families and adult learners to our courses and access events. All our in-person and livestreamed events are going ahead. Other services Chapter 18: Briefly illustrative of two Points; first, the Power of Hysterics, and, secondly, the Force of Circumstances Chapter 36: The chief Features of which will be found to be an authentic Version of the Legend of Prince Bladud, and a most extraordinary Calamity that befell Mr. Winkle By the time we reach Sir Frederic Madden, of the British Museum (The Librarian), we are used to moving into an imaginative version of the historic present, as when the author tells Madden about progress on this book, and is asked by the librarian for more information on David Oppenheim (The Rabbi), “as he asked the Bodleian in reality in 1865”. Madden “knows more about Simon Bening than anyone in Europe”, but is less impressed by the Duc de Berry (The Prince).

Chapter 38: How Mr. Winkle, when he stepped out of the Frying-pan, walked gently and comfortably into the Fire

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Regular readers of my review blog might recognize that the last person in the book, Belle de Costa Greene, was the subject of the historical fiction novel I reviewed in 2021, The Personal Librarian, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. In passing, De Hamel reveals that one of his Victorian forebears, having come into money, added a “de” to his name to claim a pedigree that was “almost certainly spurious”. Inheriting the pretence, De Hamel outs himself as a fake antique, like the forgeries he exposed during his decades as an appraiser at Sotheby’s. The endearing confession is typical of the man: he speaks of “meeting a beautiful manuscript” rather than reading it and his own book makes you feel you’ve spent time – a very long but absorbing time – in his convivial company. Christopher de Hamel is an Oxford graduate and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. His many books on medieval manuscripts include A History of Illuminated Manuscripts and Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, which won both the Duff Cooper Prize and the Wolfson Prize for History. Booking information Details will be confirmed to registrants ahead of the event. If you have booked to attend online, you will receive a link to the Zoom webinar in the week before the event. Friends of the Bodleian