This quarter, Latin Manuscripts and Palaeography has 13 students who will be using digital images of manuscripts from other libraries, as well as manuscripts in the collection of Dartmouth’s own Rauner Special Collections Library, to learn not just how to read the basic scripts we find in Latin manuscripts from late antiquity and the medieval period, bit also to understand late antique and medieval book production, from the making of parchment to the binding of the finished book. We’re fortunate to have a variety of guest lecturers coming in, including Dartmouth’s own Tim Baker (Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences for Special Projects and Academic Advising and Senior Lecturer in Religion) and Morgan Swan (Special Collections Librarian for Teaching & Scholarly Engagement) to introduce us to codicology using some of the most interesting manuscripts in the Rauner collection, Beth Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art) to speak to us about manuscript decoration, Deborah Howe (Collections Conservator at Dartmouth College Library). We are also visiting the Book Arts Workshop to join Sarah Marcella Parella (Book Arts Workshop Program Manager) to experiment with the tools of the scribe and binder. A highlight of the quarter will be a visit from parchmenter Jesse Meyer of Pergamena, who will give us an up-close view of the preparation of parchment.
Check back for posts on our activities!