From: owner-scribes@castle.org (scribes digest) To: scribes-digest@castle.org Subject: scribes digest V1 #48 Reply-To: Sender: owner-scribes@castle.org Errors-To: owner-scribes@castle.org Precedence: bulk scribes digest Monday, February 9 1998 Volume 01 : Number 048 In this issue: [scribes]: New Medical Illuminations Book Re: [scribes]: leftover gold [scribes]: Speaking of bargain books... [scribes]: Field trips ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 08:58:02 -0800 (PST) From: William Gembala Subject: [scribes]: New Medical Illuminations Book One of the few books to detail illuminated manuscripts dealing with medieval medical practice is being reprinted. Excellent for a chirurgeon award! Antonio Pecoraro An Tir - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 11:24:58 +0000 From: Peter.Jones@kings.cam.ac.uk To: caduceus-l@list.umaryland.edu Subject: new book Peter Murray Jones, Medieval Medicine in Illuminated Manuscripts (The British Library by arrangement with Centro Tibaldi, Milan). This is a revised edition of Medieval Medical Miniatures (British Library and University of Texas Press, 1984), which has long been out of print. It includes additional colour photography and new illustrations from Italian manuscripts. In North America, it will be available from University of Toronto Press in March 1998. It is published in the UK in February 1998. Price in US and Canada is $40. Price in UK is =A320. Orders for all countries outside N. America from Turpin Distribution, Blackhorse Road,=20 Stevenage, Herts SG6 1HN, UK. Centro Tibaldi, Milan, have published an Italian edition of the work under the title Materia Medica. >From the dust jacket : Drawing on the wealth of medical illustration to be found in medieval manuscripts, Peter Murray Jones traces the history of medieval medicine, the artistic traditions which shaped its depiction, and the changing attitudes and beliefs of both medical and artistic practitioners. Some of the manuscripts illustrated are famous because of the quality of their design and splendour of illumination. But most medical illustration was not work of such refinement, and consequently has been largely ignored by historians of art. For the historian of medicine, however, these ordinary manuscripts are just as interesting as the select few, because they tell so much of what it must have been like to study and practise the healing arts in medieval times, as well as providing evidence of the changing role of the book in medicine. The colour reproductions presented here reveal the extraordinary range and diversity in subject-matter and style of these illustrations. Peter Murray Jones provides the context, considering each picture as an integral part of the manuscript in which it is found, and interpreting it as a document of medical history.=20 Peter Jones, Librarian, King's College, Cambridge, CB2 1ST, UK Tel. (0)1223-331337; Fax (0)1223-331891 email : pmj10 @ cam.ac.uk ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 09:15:34 -0800 From: "Carolyn Richardson" Subject: Re: [scribes]: leftover gold It's possible to grind it to powder for shell gold but *not* easy. I've never tried it myself but I think Cennini repeats the instructions to grind it with salt (dry) and then remove the salt by adding water and pouring off the liquid and letting it dry. Add gum arabic to make it into shell gold. You can't grind gold by itself - too soft, it'll just mash into one lump. Tetchubah of Greenlake Kingdom of Caid ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 09:21:07 -0800 From: "Carolyn Richardson" Subject: [scribes]: Speaking of bargain books... I was in Super Crown the other day and picked up a copy of "Painting and Illumination in Renaissance Florence" by the Metropolitan Museum of Art for $24.99 (This was selling the in the museum catalog for around $60). It's primarily on illumination - lots of good stuff. I also got a copy of "The Ashenkazi Manuscript" which is a Hebrew illuminated manuscript for $34.99. Both are hardcover and were found in the Super Crown in Torrance, CA. And on the subject of "Scribes and Sources" I got a copy a couple of years ago from Powell's Bookstore in Portland, OR. I think I paid about $30 for it, but if I recall correctly it's autographed. You might check Powell's online catalog (sorry, I don't have the address with me). Tetchubah of Greenlake Kingdom of Caid ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 12:05:07 -0700 From: "Lisa Loftin" Subject: [scribes]: Field trips Greeting to the list! This past weekend, our local scribes group took a field trip to the Athenaeum, a small Catholic college and seminary in Cincinnati. There, we had the opportunity to look at and handle (yikes!) actual, honest-to-God medieval books! The collection is small, only a dozen or so volumes, ranging from a 12th century "Sentences of Thomas Somebodyorother" to a 16th century gradual. I was amazed at how thin, almost transluscent, real vellum is, yet so strong! And I never appreciated how small so many of these things actually are, despite the fact that measurements are usually listed in books of reprints. I would encourage any scribes out there who haven't had the opportunity to really study actual period items to do so. Most librarians welcome the chance to share them with folks who truly appreciate the time and effort that went into making them so many centuries ago. I suspect that there are a lot of colleges out there, particularly Catholic or Hebrew institutions, with a few of these stashed away in the archives. Just a phone call or two and you might be pleasantly surprised at what you may find! In service, Elisabeth, Flaming Gryphon (Lisa Loftin, Dayton, OH) Free web-based e-mail, Forever, From anywhere! http://www.mailcity.com ------------------------------ End of scribes digest V1 #48 ****************************