Tag: exhibit

March 24, 2017

4:50 pm

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book of kells, exhibit, Heritage Room, lindisfarne gospels, McHugh Special Collections, rare books, special collections

A selection of rare materials from McHugh Special Collections is currently on view in the Library’s 5th floor Heritage Room. This week we are highlighting two fine art facsimiles from the exhibit “From Medieval to Modern”: The Book of Kells and The Lindisfarne Gospels.

In 1997, Special Collections acquired a fine art facsimile of the Book of Kells, donated by the estate of Charles J. Buckley, a dean emeritus who served the University in a variety of academic and administrative positions for 46 years.

Folio 34r contains the Chi Rho monogram, which serves as the incipit for the narrative of the life of Christ. Chi and rho are the first two letters of the word Christ in Greek.

The original Book of Kells is believed to have been created around 800AD on the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland. Since the 17th century, it has been stored in the Library of Trinity College in Dublin. It is one of the world’s most famous illuminated manuscripts and is considered one of the greatest artistic productions of the Medieval period. The Book of Kells is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination. It is also widely regarded as Ireland’s finest national treasure. The illustrations and ornamentation of the Book of Kells surpass that of other Insular Gospel books in extravagance and complexity. The decoration combines traditional Christian iconography with the ornate swirling motifs typical of Insular art. Figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts, together with Celtic knots and interlacing patterns in vibrant colors, enliven the manuscript’s pages. Many of these minor decorative elements are imbued with Christian symbolism and so further emphasize the themes of the major illustrations.

Only 1,480 copies of the facsimile of the Book of Kells were produced by the Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland. The facsimile is owned by some of the most prestigious institutions in the United States, including New York’s Morgan Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The facsimile edition took 10 years to produce and is considered to be indistinguishable from the original under museum viewing conditions. This accuracy extends to duplicating any damage and holes that appear in the original. The pages of the facsimile are identical in size and shape to the original manuscript pages. Of most importance to the viewer, however, is the impeccable color reproduction of the photographs. A special photographic book cradle was manufactured to hold the original safely. Kodak Ektachrome color transparencies were color corrected electronically, then passed to a lithographer who made additional color corrections by hand using as many as 10 printing inks per page. As the lithographer perfected the color balance, examples of the pages were compared with the original to fine-tune the color. After the pages were duplicated, they were sewn into gatherings hand-bound in a white skin, a book construction similar to the original.

On display in the Heritage Room: Folio 129v, the Evangelist symbols for the Gospel of Mark.

On display in the Heritage room: Folio 130r, the celebratory opening of the Gospel of Mark.

The Weinberg Memorial Library Special Collections recently received an extraordinary gift in honor of the 20^th anniversary of the Library. Dr. Midori Yamanouchi, Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library Board Member, provided funding for the acquisition of a fine art facsimile of the Lindisfarne Gospels. The original Lindisfarne Gospels is at the British Library in London and it is one of the most important and one of the best-preserved early medieval manuscripts.

The Lindisfarne Gospels is an Illuminated manuscript gospel book created approximately 715-720 AD in a monastery at Lindisfarne off the coast of England. It is considered one of the best early versions of St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate. The Lindisfarne Gospels also includes an interlinear Old English translation of the Gospels. This word-for-word English gloss was added to the Gospels around 950-970 AD. It is the oldest known translation of the Gospels into English.

The fine art facsimile of the Lindisfarne Gospels was produced in 2002 by Faksimile Verlag of Luzern Switzerland, a company that specializes in the highest quality reproductions of liturgical medieval manuscripts. The facsimile was produced in cooperation with the British Library using state of the art digital photographic technology.

On display in the Heritage Room: Folio 138v, the Carpet Page of the Gospel of Saint Luke.

On display in the Heritage Room: Folio 139r, the opening of the Gospel of Saint Luke.

Dante’s Divine Comedy and the Complutensian Polyglot Bible (1514)

March 22, 2017

1:45 pm

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exhibit, Heritage Room, McHugh Special Collections, rare books, special collections

A selection of rare materials from McHugh Special Collections is currently on view in the Library’s 5th floor Heritage Room. This week we are highlighting two recent special acquisitions from the exhibit “From Medieval to Modern”: a facsimile of La Divina Commedia Di Dante Alighieri: Manoscritto Pal 313 and the fifth volume of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible.

La Divina Commedia Di Dante Alighieri: Manoscritto Pal 313 Inferno, Canon XXII The Pilgrim, Dante’s alter ego, and the spirit of Roman poet Virgil are escorted by demons in the first realm of Hell, the Inferno.

Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of Weinberg Library, McHugh Special Collections was able to purchase a fine art facsimile of the 14th-century manuscript of Dante’s Divine Comedy. The original manuscript is preserved at the Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence.

The Divine Comedy (written c. 1308-1320) is widely considered one of the greatest works of both Italian literature and world literature. The poem describes Dante’s (c. 1265 – 1321) travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven in its three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, but on a deeper level is an allegorical representation of the soul’s journey towards God.

Written in littera textualis (also known as “book hand” or Gothic script), the original manuscript dates between 1333 and 1345 and is known as the Dante Poggiali, after Gaetano Poggiali, the scholar who discovered it in 1800. It is considered the first illustrated Divine Comedy ever produced and is the only surviving manuscript of its kind before 1350. This illuminated version contains 37 precious miniatures for the Inferno by the Florentine workshop of Pacino di Buonaguida. A lesser-known artist in the 14th century, Pacino took inspiration from fellow Florentine artist Giotto in his compositions for the Inferno scenes. In addition to altarpieces, Pacino painted miniatures and decorations for illuminated manuscripts. He is now considered the inventor of miniaturism, a style distinguished by a clear organization of the painting surface into multiple small-scale scenes. The Getty Museum has described Pacino’s work as having “a strong sense of expressiveness and drama.” The miniatures for the Inferno were created using tempera, gold leaf, and ink on parchment. The book also features textual glosses by Dante’s son Jacopo Alighieri whose Commento is a commentary of the text of the Inferno.

La Divina Commedia Di Dante Alighieri: Manoscritto Pal 313 Inferno, Canon XXIV The Pilgrim and Virgil journeying through the mountains of Hell.

La Divina Commedia Di Dante Alighieri: Manoscritto Pal 313 Inferno, Canon XXV Witnessing the punishments of Hell along their journey, the Pilgrim and Virgil come upon serpents coiling around the body of a sinner.

McHugh Special Collections received an important rare book donation from Paul Swift ’75 who donated the fifth volume (containing the New Testament) of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible printed in 1514 at Complutense University in Madrid for Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (also known as Ximenes de Cisneros).

This New Testament is from a landmark six volume Bible printed in multiple languages. The Complutensian Polyglot was the first multi-lingual Bible printed in Europe and portions contain Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Aramaic. Work on the polyglot commenced around 1502 but it took until 1517 for printing to be completed. It then took until 1520 to gain papal approval. The donated volume is the first Greek language New Testament printed in Western Europe (also printed in Latin). Mr. Swift donated it in memory of his great aunt Nellie Brown, who purchased the bible in 1931. She was the first woman to take an evening course at St. Thomas College in 1938 and went on to become a medical doctor. He also donated it in memory of his cousin Frank Brown who taught in the history department.

Cover: The Fifth Volume of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, 1514.

Incipit: The opening page of the Fifth Volume of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, 1514.

Cicero’s Rhetorica ad Herennium (1481)

March 3, 2017

3:29 pm

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exhibit, Heritage Room, rare books, special collections

A selection of rare materials from McHugh Special Collections is currently on view in the Library’s 5th floor Heritage Room. One of the books highlighted in the exhibit “From Medieval to Modern” is Marcus Tullius Cicero’s Rhetorica ad Herennium.

Cover: Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Fons eloquentiae studiosae juventuti patens, sive, Explanatio rhethoricae / acommodata candidatis rhetoricae. Cui adjicitur Analysis rhetorica omnium orationum M.T. Ciceronis, quâ ars ejusdem, & methodus dicendi eruitur, & cuivis etiam docoto oratori ad imitandum proponitur. R.P. Martino du Cygne: Apud Henricum Rommerskirchen, 1481.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC) was a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, consul, and constitutionalist credited with introducing Romans to Greek philosophy and being the innovator of what became known as Ciceronian rhetoric.

This book, printed in Venice in 1481 by Baptista de Tortis, and in its original blind-tooled (uncolored decoration) binding, has a wealth of information on its provenance (history of ownership). Nicholai Risi, about whom nothing is currently known, likely originally owned the book. He was responsible for the amateurish initial letters and the marginal annotations. Books printed during the first decades after Gutenberg’s printing press usually omitted the large opening paragraph initials expecting the owner to have them supplied by a scribe following the medieval manuscript tradition. Nicholas decided to write them himself (See image below). One might guess that he was a poor student and could not afford to pay for the work to be done but the book is in a fairly elaborate binding which would have been fairly expensive.

The book was later owned by the Honorable Frederick North. This Frederick North was the 5th Earl of Guilford (1766-1827), governor of Ceylon, and a significant book collector. (His father, Lord Frederick North was prime minister of Britain during the American Revolution.) Books bearing our Frederick’s book plate can be found in a number of libraries and his personal library was dispersed at eight London sales between 1828 and 1835. Finally, the book was owned by W. W. Scranton who purchased it in 1871 apparently for the price of $17.50 which would have been about three week’s wage for a laborer at the time. Where the book resided between the dispersion of North’s collection and William Walker Scranton’s acquisition is unknown.

On the right, W. W. Scranton’s signature can be seen on the flyleaf along with being dated Oct. 1871. On the left is the bookplate containing the price of $17.50, apparently the price W. W. Scranton had paid for the book in 1871.

Incipit: The opening page of the commentary to Cicero’s rhetoric. The text on the left side and most on the right are commentary while only the handful of lines following the handwritten “S” is from the text of Cicero. This book is as much a commentary on Cicero as the text itself. Clearly seen are the amateurish initial letters and marginal annotations by the owner Nicholai Risi.

Athanasius Kircher’s Ars Magna Sciendi Sive Combinatoria (1669)

February 24, 2017

2:35 pm

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exhibit, Heritage Room, rare books, special collections

A selection of rare materials from McHugh Special Collections is currently on view in the Library’s 5th floor Heritage Room. One of the books highlighted in the exhibit “From Medieval to Modern” is Athanasius Kircher’s Ars Magna Sciendi Sive Combinatoria (1669).

Athanasius Kircher, S.J. (1602-1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published approximately 40 major works in a wide range of fields, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, medicine, technology, music, and Egyptology. Because of his enormous range of interests, Kircher has been called the “last Renaissance man” and “Master of a Hundred Arts.”

His Ars Magna Sciendi Sive Combinatoria (Amsterdam, 1669) was an attempt to use logic to categorize all knowledge under the nine attributes of God, an expansion of the “Combinatoric Art” of Ramon Lull, the thirteenth-century Majorcan philosopher. Kircher argues that these nine ideal attributes are the pattern for all creation and that to completely understand the universe, it must be organized in the mind according to this pattern. Consequently, Kircher designs a system for teaching all disciplines in the style of the encyclopedic movement. However, Kircher’s work is not pedagogical, but rather advocates a scientific method to finding truth, a logic applicable to all divisions of learning. In the book, Kircher applies this to numerous disciplines such as theology, medicine, and logic.

Title page: Kircher, Athanasius. Ars magna sciendi: in XII libros digesta, qua nova & universali methodo per artificiosum combinationum contextum de omni re proposita plurimmis & prope infinitis rationibus disputari, omniumque summaria quaedam cognitio comparari potest. Apud Joannem Janssonium à Waesberge, & Viduam Elizei Aeyerstraet, 1669.

On view in the Heritage Room is a page from Ars Magna Sciendi containing a volvelle, or wheel chart, which is a type of slide chart constructed of paper with rotating parts. It is considered an early example of a paper analog computer. Volvelles have been used to accommodate organization and calculation for a variety of subjects.

From Medieval to Modern: Rare Book Exhibit Now on Display

February 15, 2017

8:28 am

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exhibit, free, medieval manuscripts, rare books, special collections

The exhibit will be on display during normal library hours through Tuesday, April 25. On Tuesday, April 11th, Special Collections Librarian Michael Knies will discuss the exhibit at 6 p.m. in the Heritage Room of the Library. A reception will immediately follow the talk. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please email michael.knies@scranton.edu or call 570- 941-6341.

Castello, Alberto, and Luca-Antonio Giunta. Biblia Cum Concordantijs Veteris Et Noui Testamenti e Sacrorum Canonum. Venetijs: Per Lucamantonium de giunta, 1511.

Domínguez de Toledo, Julián. Oracion panegyrica de las virtudes, y milagros del B. Juan Francisco Regis, sacerdote professo de la Compañia de Jesus, Impressa por Eugenio Antonio García, 1716.

Illuminated Leaf from a Book of Hours with Inhabited Borders, France, ca. 1440

Reception and Exhibit Talk Tonight at the Library

October 25, 2016

8:51 am

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Events, exhibit, free, Heritage Room, scranton, special collections, weinberg memorial library

Tonight at 6pm the Weinberg Memorial Library will host a reception and exhibit talk in the Library’s fifth floor Heritage Room. The exhibit on display features the work of local artist Don Murray. Comprised mainly of pen and ink drawings, the works on view depict the historic architecture and landmark sites of Scranton and the surrounding northeast Pennsylvania landscape. These works are considered by many to contribute to the preservation of Scranton’s architectural heritage.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Special Collections Librarian, Michael Knies. michael.knies@scranton.edu, (570) 941-6341. The exhibit will be on display during normal library hours through Friday, December 9, 2016.

Exhibit on Display: “Illustrating Scranton: The Drawings of Don Murray”

September 8, 2016

9:05 am

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architecture, art, exhibit, free, Heritage Room, historicscranton, McHugh Special Collections, Reception, scranton, special collections, Special Collections Exhibit, weinberg memorial library

Now through December 9th, the Library’s fifth floor Heritage Room will feature an exhibit on the work of local artist Don Murray. Comprised mainly of pen and ink drawings, the works on view depict the historic architecture and landmark sites of Scranton and the surrounding northeast Pennsylvania landscape. Marked by a sophisticated ability to render architectural detail, Murray’s works demonstrate his technical skill in pen and ink that he acquired through professional training as a draftsman while serving in the Armed Forces in the 1940s. Through the G.I. Bill, Murray was later able to enroll in the Murray School of Art in Scranton where he further refined his artistic ability. Murray’s faithful reproductions of Scranton’s landmarks are considered by many to contribute to the preservation of the city’s architectural heritage.

murray_001-blog — Don Murray, *Municipal Building,* pen and ink, 2006

Among the works on view is a pen and ink drawing of the Municipal Building, which has been the seat of municipal government in Scranton since the 1890s. Designed by local architect Edwin L. Walter in 1888, Scranton City Hall borrowed the Victorian Gothic style of the Lackawanna County Courthouse. In 1981, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

murray-drawing_002 — Don Murray, Scranton Cultural Center, watercolor and graphite on paper, undated

Also on view is a watercolor painting of the neo-Gothic façade of the Scranton Cultural Center, formerly known as the Masonic Temple. Built in 1927, the Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral was designed by architect Raymond Hood, whose best-known works include the Tribune Tower in Chicago and Rockefeller Center in New York City.

murray_002-blog — Don Murray, *Electric City Building,* pen and ink, 2009

murray_003-blog — Don Murray, *Albright Memorial Library,* pen and ink, 2009

ics techincal drawing_001 — Page from an International Correspondence School textbook. *Pneumatics analytic geometry*. Scranton, Pa: International Textbooks Co., 1950. Print.

For 17 years, Murray served as chief illustrator at the International Correspondence Schools (ICS) in Scranton where he produced technical drawings for instructional texts on a variety of subjects, including mechanical drawing. While unattributed, the mechanical drawing shown here serves as an example of the type of drawing Murray prepared for ICS course books. Later in his professional career, Murray worked on specification drawings for product manuals in the drafting department at Ingersoll Rand.

The exhibit will be on display during normal library hours in the fifth floor Heritage Room through Friday, December 9, 2016. On Tuesday, October 25th at 6pm the Weinberg Memorial Library will host a reception and exhibit talk. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Special Collections Librarian, Michael Knies. michael.knies@scranton.edu, (570) 941-6341.

University of Scranton Alumni Authors Exhibit

June 2, 2016

8:45 am

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alumni, alumni authors, exhibit, free, Heritage Room, special collections, university archives

Throughout the month of June, The University of Scranton Alumni Authors Exhibit is on display in the Library’s 5th floor Heritage Room. The exhibit showcases books by more than a hundred alumni authors.

Covering a wide range of subjects, the exhibit encompasses alumni who became authors in their academic fields, nonfiction writers, novelists, children’s literature writers, and historians. The earliest alumnus featured is Clarence Walton, ’37, 10th president of The Catholic University of America and the first layman to hold the position. The youngest graduate featured in the exhibit is Sarah M. Piccini, ’07, G’10, whose local history book, Framing Faith, provides a pictorial history of former churches in the Diocese of Scranton. Also included in the exhibit is Jason Miller, ’61, H’73, who received the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play That Championship Season.

The exhibit also features a collection of books by alumna and children’s literature writer, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, G’82, who has written a Newberry Honor Book and a Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winner. She is also the recipient of 2013 Friends of the Weinberg Library Royden B. Davis, S.J., Distinguished Author Award.

A recent addition to the collection is a book by retired NASA engineer, Glynn Lunney, ’55, H’71. Lunney was an employee of NASA from its creation in 1958 until 1985 and was the flight director during the Gemini and Apollo programs. He was on duty during historic events such as the ascent of Apollo 11 and the pivotal hours of the Apollo 13 crisis.

We encourage you to explore this exhibit and celebrate our alumni and their important contributions to the publishing world. The exhibit is on display during normal library hours. For a full list of books by alumni authors that are available at the Weinberg Memorial Library visit Scranton.edu/alumniauthors.

For more information about the exhibit, please contact Michael Knies, Special Collections Librarian, (570) 941-6341.

If you are an alum with a published book and would like to donate a copy to the library for display in its annual exhibit, please mail a copy to The Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement, 800 Linden Street, Scranton, PA 18510.

University of Scranton Faculty Scholarship Exhibit