Libraries in the Manuscript Age

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2023

Libraries in the Manuscript Age

Edited by: Nuria de Castilla , François Déroche and Michael Friedrich
Funded by: European Research Council (ERC)

Volume 29 in the series Studies in Manuscript Cultures

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110779653

Overview
Contents

About this book

Open Access

The case studies presented in this volume help illuminate the rationale for the founding of libraries in an age when books were handwritten, thus contributing to the comparative history of libraries. They focus on examples ranging from the seventh to the seventeenth century emanating from the Muslim World, East Asia, Byzantium and Western Europe. Accumulation and preservation are the key motivations for the development of libraries. Rulers, scholars and men of religion were clearly dedicated to collecting books and sought to protect these fragile objects against the various hazards that threatened their survival. Many of these treasured books are long gone, but there remain hosts of evidence enabling one to reconstruct the collections to which they belonged, found in ancient buildings, literary accounts, archival documentation and, most crucially, catalogues. With such material at hand or, in some cases, the manuscripts of a certain library which have come down to us, it is possible to reflect on the nature of these libraries of the past, the interests of their owners, and their role in the intellectual history of the manuscript age.

Author / Editor information

Nuria de Castilla, EPHE, Paris; François Déroche, EPHE, Paris, France; Michael Friedrich, University Hamburg, Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Towards a Comparative Study of Libraries in the Manuscript Age Nuria de Castilla, François Déroche and Michael Friedrich Open Access Download PDF	1
The Islamic World
The Islamic World John Seyller Open Access Download PDF	17
Princes’s Readings: The Poetry in Mūlāy Zaydān’s Collection at El Escorial Nuria de Castilla Open Access Download PDF	39
Collecting Books in Eighteenth-Century Morocco: The Bannānī Library in Fez François Déroche and Lbachir Tahali Open Access Download PDF	63
East and South Asia
Two Libraries of the Tang Capital Jean-Pierre Drège Open Access Download PDF	107
Institutional Libraries in Japan’s Classic Court Age (Heian Period, 794–1185) Ivo Smits Open Access Download PDF	123
Palm-leaf Manuscript Libraries in Southern India Around the Thirteenth Century: The Sarasvatī Library in Chidambaram Gérard Colas Open Access Download PDF	135
Byzantium
How Many Books Does It Take to Make an Emperor’s Library? Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus and a Chapter of History of the Manuscript Book Luciano Bossina Open Access Download PDF	161
Byzantine Libraries: The Public and the Private Inmaculada Pérez Martín Open Access Download PDF	183
Western Europe
How Private Libraries Contributed to the Transmission of Texts Donatella Nebbiai Open Access Download PDF	211
Libraries and Teaching: Comments on Western Universities in the Middle Ages Jacques Verger Open Access Download PDF	225
An Ideal Library for an Ideal King? Showcasing the Collection, Organization and Function of the Royal Louvre Library in Late Medieval Paris Vanina Kopp Open Access Download PDF	243
Index of Manuscripts Open Access Download PDF	265

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars and students in the field of book history, intellectual history, library studies, bibliography
Pages
- Front matter: 6
- Main content: 267
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 4
- Coloured Illustrations: 20
- Tables: 16
Keywords: Written culture; private collections; archives; history of scholarship

eBook

Published: February 20, 2023
ISBN: 9783110779653

Hardcover

Published: February 20, 2023
ISBN: 9783110772104