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Discussion of Rare Medieval Bible to The Aldus Society

October 31, 2013

Discussion of Rare Medieval Bible to The Aldus Society

Eric Johnson with medievailists at the RBML
Rare OSU Medieval Bible to be discussed at The Aldus Society on November 14, 2013
 
The Aldus Society, a local bibliophilic society, will host a presentation by Eric Johnson, Assistant Professor and Curator of Early Books and Manuscripts at Ohio State University Library. This program will take place Thursday, November 14, 2013, at the Thurber Center, 91 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH. Dr. Johnson’s talk is entitled “Deconstructing and Reconstructing a Medieval Bible.” Dr. Johnson describes his talk, which will feature many images from the text, by beginning with a question we all ask; “What is the value of a book?” When it comes to medieval manuscripts, this question invites many answers. At the basest level, of course, we have its monetary value. But beyond pecuniary worth, manuscripts also embody intellectual, artifactual, cultural, social, and talismanic value. In this presentation, Dr. Johnson will discuss the competing and sometimes complementary notions of “value” or “worth” that underlie our modern understanding and appreciation of medieval manuscripts by examining the life of the Hornby-Cockerell Bible (OSU MS.MR14). An example of a rare “proto-Paris” Bible likely produced in a Parisian workshop sometime in the early 1220s, this Bible survived intact until 1981 when it was sold at auction and promptly broken by its purchasers to be sold off leaf-by-leaf.
 
Johnson will discuss the manuscript’s original value as a witness to the dynamic transitional period of early thirteenth century biblical packaging and production, its subsequent revaluation down the centuries as an objet d’art (as opposed to a utilitarian—if deluxe—text), its "destruction" and "re-packaging" into 440 constituent units of sale, and the slow, methodical process of reconstructing both the manuscript itself (physically and digitally) and its original textual, artifactual, and intellectual significance at The Ohio State University. For more information about the Hornby-Cockerell Bible please visit:http://library.osu.edu/innovation-projects/omeka/exhibits/show/the-king-james-bible/sections/item/64 For more information about the program, please call 614-299-1980 or visit www.aldussociety.com