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Clemens, R. and T. Graham, “Introduction to Manuscript Studies” (London: Cornell University Press, 2007). Sarolea, Charles, “Preface,” Iconografia Dantesca: The Pictorial Representations in Dante’s Divine Comedy (London: H. Grevel, 1899). L. Volkmann, Iconografia Dantesca: The Pictorial Representations in Dante’s Divine Comedy (London: H. Grevel, 1899), pp. 46-64. Quinones, Ricardo, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dante-Alighieri/The-Divine-Comedy Dante Encyclopedia, ed. by RichardContinue reading “Sources”

The binding of this manuscript is composed of gold-tooled red leather over wooden boards. In the book, the process of binding that included wooden boards was that the quires would first be sewn, one by one, onto several sewing supports (thongs or cords). The ends of the sewing supports would go into the wooden boardsContinue reading “Exhibit F: Binding”

Diagrams There are two diagrams that appear in this manuscript that are important to understanding The Divine Comedy. One is a diagram of the sphere of Hell, and the other is a diagram of the sphere of Heaven. Both appear in red ink and occupy their own individual pages. The diagram of Hell appears onContinue reading “Exhibit C: Diagrams & Illustrations”

All of the glossing that occurs in this manuscript is in Latin. It appears throughout the entire book up until f. 146v in Paradiso. The glossing that occurs in this manuscript is primarily lexical glossing in the form of Concordance, which uses paraph marks (as seen below) and is organized in alphabetical order (also seenContinue reading “Exhibit E: Glossing & Commentary”

The illumination work done in this manuscript are attributed to the Master of the Antiphonar of Padua. Illuminations are in gold and appear throughout the entirety of the manuscript. There is illumination in decorated letters, illustrations, and sometimes the text itself. This indicates that this manuscript must have been relatively expensive, in addition to theContinue reading “Exhibit D: Illumination”

Gothic Book Hand This manuscript is written in the Gothic book hand, which consists of three distinct forms: Praescissa, Quadrata, and Semi-Quadrata, with Praescissa being the highest grade of Gothic and Semi-Quadrata being the lowest. The difference between these three forms is that, one, Praescissa does not use what we refer to as “serifs” atContinue reading “Exhibit G: Handwriting & Transcription”

The Text The layout of the text of the poem is “text of the Commedia,” which is one column of 48 lines. The column of text typically appears in the center of the page. Since this is a poem, it contains all of the normal elements that make up a poem, such as verses, lines,Continue reading “Exhibit B: Text & Decoration”

The Egerton Museum of The Divine Comedy is the museum of the medieval manuscript Egerton MS 943 titled La Divina Commedia. The manuscript was originally created in Northern Italy in either Emilia or Padua during the first half of the 14th century. It now resides in the British Library in London thanks to it beingContinue reading “About”

Materials A majority of medieval manuscripts were written on parchment, or a writing surface made of animal skins (Graham & Clemens 9). This was probably made of goat skin since those were the most common in Italy and Greece. This manuscript is primarily made of parchment but also includes some paper. In order to differentiateContinue reading “Exhibit A: Physical Description”