St Cuthberts Link

I managed a flying visit to the British Library on the 30th - insufficient time to see the main exhibition 'Writing the World' but long enough to see the most expensive book ever purchased by the British Library -
£9 million for the pocket book St Cuthberts Gospel (see blog from 8th May: Texts at the BL).

For those of you who have completed City & Guilds Embroidery at some point in your 'career' you will almost certainly have looked at Opus Anglicanum - more particularly St Cuthberts stole and maniple

I hadn't made the connection - but this little book, for some time, shared coffin space with St Cuthberts stole - so if you are looking for a link with embroideries - this is it...

The oldest embroideries to survive date back to the Anglo Saxon period, including St Cuthbert's stole and maniple embroidered in gold thread circa 10th century. They are currently on display at Durham Cathedral.

Opus Anglicanum (English Work) was famed for its fine goldwork, underside couching and use of spiral stitch.

The greatest period of Opus Anglicanum 1250-1350 saw embroidery exported all over Europe as gifts to Kings. It coincided with the height of English illuminated manuscripts, and manuscript illuminators were probably involved in embroidery designs.

The exhibition includes a short video of the process of marking vellum before writing, and the way this little book is lit in its glass case you can clearly see the lines after many hundreds of years.


Oh and whilst I was there I came upon a new word (well to me anyway) 'Gauffered' referring to the tooled leather on the covers. It just strucka chord - thought I might start a glossary...

Consider other cultures:

Mandalas: vividly depicted manuscripts, often ephemeral but still relaying information.

www.mandalaproject.org

Jain - invitation scroll or Vijñaptipatra

A highly decorated formal letter inviting a leading monk of a certain monastic group to spend the next rainy season in a certain place.

These invitations take the form of long scrolls with text and paintings. The text consists of poetical description and praises.

 An example of an invitation scroll may be seen below

  

Aspects to think about:

Qumran jar that held dead sea scrolls

There is often a box in which records are stored; a shoe box in the attic or an elaborately decorative form of protection?

The form the documents took?

Records took several forms in early history and the ones you see will vary.

Was there a scroll? They are lovely things that you unroll ahead and roll up behind as you read.

Consider Devotional scrolls:  

Ancient parchment scrolls raise many questions   Who wrote them? Why? What function did they serve?  How were they used? Are they personal devotional scrolls used prayer? Could they have been for personal study? Are they something else entirely? Many fragments exist of a wide variety of styles, age, and content representing a myriad of ideas hopes and purposes.

 

See images and read a review by clicking on:  Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times exhibition recently held in Times Sq New York.  The exhibit featured items dating back nearly 3000 years ago to the time of King Solomon.

Book Art - using archival material?

Bugs on Books


Thomas Allen cut book art

Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee

all these images and links are courtesy of colossal

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/

British Library

Trish Reeve from West Bridgeford branch has identified a very interesting article in today's times (12th May)  in the review part about a new exhibition in the British library, London SW1 showing until September 25th.  

Click here to link to the British Library site

'An exhibition covering a timespan from Geoffrey Chaucer to J.G. Ballard and displaying letters, photographs, song lyrics and manuscripts.  It looks at how profoundly a sense of the British landscape has permeated the nation's literary works.'

Suella Postles also from West Bridgford branch says she is an enthusiastic  long term user of archives for both historic and genealogical research in her former museum employment (now retired).
Suella feels that 'Archive' as an introductory description is very incomplete. It doesn't identify the plethora of  things like maps, broadsheets, family trees, building plans, photographs, artwork, diaries etc. Essentially archives are about people,  and their histories as well as the institutions that influenced their lives.

Nottinghamshire Archives has an online exhibition which changes regularly click here to view the latest indenture

Grateful thanks to Suella and Trish and please keep your ideas and suggestions coming

Texts at The British Library

NEW The St Cuthbert Gospel, recently purchased by the Library, is on display until 17 June 2012. Read about the St Cuthbert Gospel (PDF).
Click here to link to Sacred texts at the British museum

The Sir John Ritblat Gallery at the St Pancras building hosts a permanent free display of many of our greatest treasures. See over 200 beautiful and fascinating items: sacred texts from many faiths, maps and views, early printing, literary, historical, scientific and musical works from over the centuries and around the world.
Discover some of the world's most exciting and significant books, from Magna Carta and the Gutenberg Bible, to Handel and the Beatles. Marvel at t the genius behind the Leonardo notebooks, and see the earliest versions of some of the greatest works of English literature, including Alice's Adventures Under Ground and Shakespeare's First Folio.

Look at the British museum website further for other inspirational ideas about text, books, archives....


Devout Christian Kurt Geiler never went anywhere without his Bible - and that faith paid off in 1917 when the precious leather-bound book saved his life.

ARCHIVE - the latest Kickstart programme is launched

Officially introduced by Toni Stanford at the Festival of Stitch in April, and now that the previous Kickstart exhibition is hanging at Mansfield Museum and Art Gallery, the latest Kickstart programme can begin.

An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archived documents may have accumulated over the course of an individual 's lifetime.

This year’s work will be based on a study of medieval documents held in your county archives.

Manuscript, parchment, vellum are three words that evoke a sense of past glory. They are surfaces that took months to prepare. The materials required for paint and ink being transported by horse and boat from across the world.

You are invited into your local records offices to see some of these beautiful, ancient documents and to learn their history from the County Archivists.

We have asked for documents, indentures, scrolls and contracts to be available with a high visual impact from the medieval period (produced around 1200 to 1500AD), although Archivists may choose others to show particular skills or subject matter.

This year we have changed the entry requirements slightly - you do not have to purchase the book. You can pay for a printed copy if you wish, or you can view it here on this blog. I will also send out a Kindle version or a pdf if you prefer and for all but the printed version there is no charge.

In order to exhibit your work participants are expected to attend one of the ‘Inspiration and Education’ days. It does not have to be in your own county, you may travel to whichever venue you choose, and you may attend as many as you wish.

 The morning will consist of a group visit to the county archive office with a talk and introduction by the archivist.

The County rules will vary but most have said that we may take photographs and make drawings.

The visits will last between 1 and 3 hours.

The afternoon will be spent in a nearby venue with this year’s artists.

Aspects of the mornings visit will be explored with ink, paint and words.

click for info -  calligraphy workshop in Derbyshire

This is not part of the Kickstart programme but an opportunity none-the-less?