Heritage et AL

Follow the journey of a rare manuscript, from the curators’ selection to a book conservator's assessment, and finally, to find its place in our Miraculous Medieval Manuscripts exhibition. Learn about what’s required for the care and handling of a medieval manuscript and enjoy a peek into the process of bringing an exhibition to life with Auckland Council Libraries Heritage Collections. Visit the Miraculous Medieval Manuscripts exhibition on Level 2, Central City Library until 11 November 2023 Browse the collection on Kura Heritage Collections Online . Credits Auckland Council Libraries Ngaio Vince-Dewerse – Book Conservator  Renee Orr & Jane Wild – Rare Book Specialists and Exhibition Curators Sue Berman – Project Lead   Popular Ltd Director and Videographer – Benj Brooking Post-Production Director – Juliana Machado   Additional thanks Auckland Council Libraries Heritage Collections and Engagement teams; Digital Assets Team,  Conservation and Preservation Team, ...

One of the inspirations for our current heritage exhibition Miraculous: medieval manuscripts was being able to view our entire medieval manuscripts collection on Kura Heritage Collections Online . Over half of these remarkable books are fully digitised and can be browsed and enjoyed from any device or location.  Explore more from the books that feature in the Miraculous exhibition below, or dive into the full collection of medieval manuscripts here . Rossdhu Book of Hours Medieval manuscripts are often described as “illuminated”, meaning embellished with gold, silver and luminous colours. These illuminations are found in the initial letters of words, and in borders and pictures. As well as being decorative and a pleasure to look at, initials and borders help the reader to find the way through a book of tightly written text with no page numbers or punctuation. They play the role of headings and punctuation by marking the start of a new section and indicating paragraphs, verses...

Popular throughout Europe from the late thirteenth to the sixteenth century Books of Hours were prayer books intended for devout everyday folk who wanted to follow the Church’s programme of daily devotions.  They always included a series of prayers to the Virgin Mary but also varied in the choice of other saints recognized and in the number, size and quality of illustrations. These books could either come readymade or be specially tailored to a person’s own circumstances and interests. Ref: Catholic Church, Rossdhu Book of Hours, 1475-1500, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 7-C1906.

Dunedin City Library's have put images of their  medieval manuscripts from the Alfred and Isabel Reed Collection onto Flickr. The old way of getting the word out meets the new! Find out more about this project. The images include a selection from each bound manuscript, and the front and back (or recto/verso if you want to use the fancy terminology) of each individual leaf and fragment. Images are divided into collections and sets . Ref: View of the Dunedin Public Libraries Medieval Manuscripts' photostream on Flickr  The site was created to promote and provide virtual access to one of New Zealand's largest collections of medieval manuscripts. One of the collection highlights includes a leaf and bifolium from a 9th century Bible in Carolingian script (RMMF 1a and 1b), which are among the oldest manuscript leaves in the country.