![]() inflexible broken tanned supports, weak board attachment and no board leverage, contraction along the spinefolds causing abrasion/damage to the leaves and pigments, damage to first/last leaves caused by lack of protective endleaves, etc. Option two could stabilize the current structure but was an unacceptable compromise as it did not address the major structural problems, i.e. The first option would not improve access to the manuscripts as they would remain too fragile to be used and their condition would only worsen. Three treatment options were considered for these manuscripts, first leaving them alone, second resewing in situ, reattaching boards and rebacking, and third resewing, reattaching boards and rebacking. It is not known how or when the Greek manuscripts came to Magdalen College it may be they were given to the college library in the fifteenth or sixteenth century when other Oxford colleges, notably Corpus Christi College, began to teach Greek to their students. The three manuscripts contain Homilies and Commentaries by the eminent church fathers John Chrysostom (349-407) and Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390). Greek manuscripts of the Byzantine period are primary source material for the study of classical, biblical and patristic texts they are also essential evidence for the cultural history of Byzantium. Roll XII was in use from 1550 to 1621, according to Gibson. MDS GR 1, Ker’s note to Onions about the roll decoration.Įarly Oxford Bindings (Oxford: Bibliographical Society, 1903) Plate XXXVIII, roll XII (left) central panel MS GR 1 (right). MS GR 1 has a typed note dated 19 August 1947 from Neil Ker to Magdalen’s librarian Charles Talbot Onions, saying that he had looked at MS GR 1 and determined that it was closely related to MS GR 3 and 5 in its decoration, and that the binder’s roll was number XII in Strickland Gibson’s Early Oxford Bindings. MS GR 1, St John Chrysostom, Commentary on Gospel of John: detaching spine covering with losses (upper left) broken sewing and detached right board (upper right) broken endband and loss of headcap (lower left) major structural damage with the manuscript broken in two (lower right).Ī further consideration in discussions about treatment was the fact that the manuscripts were in significant Oxford bindings their conservation had to take into account important recorded early seventeenth-century bindings. We are grateful to the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust and the Marc Fitch Fund for their support of the conservation treatment of these three manuscripts. Manuscripts 1, 3 and 5 are eleventh-century manuscripts with major structural damage – breaks in the sewing, deterioration/loss of the leather sewing supports, loss and damage to the leather covering - making them unsafe to produce for researchers or for display. Towards the end of the project came the three most damaged manuscripts, and the most challenging from a conservation point of view. ![]() Since 2007, 14 manuscripts have been treated (amongst other conservation projects for the college), many requiring in situ repair of the text-block or binding. In 2007, the Oxford Conservation Consortium surveyed the collection and together with Magdalen’s former Fellow Librarian, Dr Christine Ferdinand, prioritised its conservation treatment. Magdalen’s collection of 17 Greek manuscripts is, as a whole, nationally important for its Byzantine integrity as well as for its intriguing provenance. ![]() Greek manuscripts 1, 3, 5 6th October 2016
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