For #CoffeeWithACodex on April 23 (12pm Noon ET, on Zoom), Schoenberg Curator of Manuscripts Nick Herman will bring out Ms. Codex 688, a small, delicate book of hours from 16th century Italy. #medievalsky
Register here: https://bit.ly/47KDkg0
A blast from the past! Back in 2013, Penn English Department PhD Candidate Marie Turner and Manuscripts Cataloger Amey Hutchins scrolled through our copy of a genealogical chronicle written to celebrate the reign of Edward IV of England (UPenn Ms. Roll 1066) #medievalsky
🔗: https://bit.ly/4mmhCoI
This is Ms. Codex 1057, a Ferial Psalter - that is, it contains prayers in addition to psalms. It was copied in Italy, probably Trento, around 1350, although the binding is not original - it’s a late 16th-century blind-stamped pigskin with two brass clasps.
🔗: https://bit.ly/40BoBzJ
For #CoffeeWithACodex on April 16 (12 Noon ET, on Zoom), Judaica Special Collections Cataloging Librarian Louis Meiselman will bring out CAJS Rar Ms 720, Marcus Hartig's alphabetization of the Hebrew Psalms, in his 1876 manuscript.
Register here: https://bit.ly/4sjWykb
Bientôt de l' #ASMR spécial #manuscrits médiévaux pour les médiévistes un peu tendus
But who among us hasn’t spent hours watching the light play off of an illuminated initial? Ms. Codex 1056 is a Book of Hours for the use of Rouen, and this initial O on fol. 18v is a particularly good example of the kinds of decorative labor that went into it. #medievalsky
🔗: https://bit.ly/4m0SpP7
Did you miss yesterday's #CoffeeWithACodex or did it miss you? Either way, it's now on YouTube so you can watch it at your leisure.
youtu.be/kvC2oER7G1o
That's not terribly dissimilar to what my maths exercise books looked like when I was in high school. All I got was a note scribbled on them saying "Pencil only!" I wonder if this scribe was bored too.
... I think scribes were often bored, but don't quote me on that!
He rocks in the treetops all day long! No treetop? Our rockin' robin* will accept the bottom margin of Ms. Codex 724 f. 324v, a 13th century illuminated Bible. #medievalsky
*probably not actually a robin
🔗: https://bit.ly/4tvVpqu
How to make learning math fun? Frame your arithmetical tables with ornamental borders! In this 16th c. handbook of commercial arithmetic, written in Lombardy, the charts include addition, subtraction, and four different methods of multiplication. (UPenn Ms. Codex 468)
🔗: https://bit.ly/3OcBSfA
For #CoffeeWithACodex on April 9 (12pm Noon ET, on Zoom), @leoba.bsky.social will bring out LJS 478, a collection of astronomical treatises, with a particular focus on the astrolabe. The copy was completed in A.H. Jumādá al-Ākhirah 625 (May 1228). #medievalsky
Register here: https://bit.ly/4d0PPYh
If you weren't able to make this week's #CoffeeWithACodex featuring a collection of Middle English devotional works, you can watch it now on YouTube!
youtu.be/-P0B2DdlOF0
Sign up now for the next SIMS Online Lecture!
Grid as Ground: Ruled Lines and Manuscript Images
Hanna Vorholt, University of York
Friday, April 17, 2026, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EST
Open to the Public
More information and register at the link below
🔗: https://bit.ly/3MolB6t
Ink & Innovation: the earliest printed books of the RIA Library. Visit the @rialibrary.bsky.social exhibition showcasing 15th C books printed in Europe. Learn about early printing technology and wide-ranging interests of Renaissance readers.
Info & opening hours: https://shorturl.at/vYvgX
The bursary application deadline for this is 7 April 👇 #MedievalSky
palaeography.uk/study/short-...
Welcome to April! Every month in 2026 we give you the gift of calendar pages from several of Penn's books of hours - illustrating the variety of books we have in our collection. Enjoy! #medievalsky
As curator Nicholas Herman says, "Really, how many books of hours do you need? And sometimes it's just not worth the cost to maintain ratty old books with no aesthetic value." The sale is today only, so place your orders now! Check out the list here: tinyurl.com/SIMSmss4cheap
SIMS Flash manuscript sale! In an effort to create efficiencies in our collecting practices and to clear some space off the shelves, SIMS is selling off duplicate manuscript copies of texts, including bibles and books of hours among others, as well as manuscripts of generally low production quality
Folks! I'm teaching a one-day workshop for DMSI in Leeds. If you're already planning to attend the conference, consider sticking around for one more day to learn all about Manuscript Materiality in a Digital World. We'll look at manuscripts from Leeds' collections and then we'll talk digital!
For #CoffeeWithACodex On April 2 (12pm Noon ET, on Zoom), curator @leoba.bsky.social will bring out Ms. Codex 196, a collection of three devotional works in metrical verse in Middle English and Latin. Written in England, circa 1400. #medievalsky #manuscriptsky
Register here: https://bit.ly/3NIssbv
Hey #medievalsky, I have a friend who is looking for information on Jewish import-export businesses in 1300s Germany, or European trade in general around 1350. Not my niche at all but I figure someone here might be able to help. Any suggested readings?
Today we're scrolling through an illustrated Ethiopian protective roll, made in the 1700s. It contains numerous prayers against a variety of illnesses and conditions caused by negative forces, such as smallpox, colic, and malaria. (UPenn Ms. Roll 2059)
🔗: https://bit.ly/4sNhgJt
For #FragmentFriday we have a bifolium (a parchment sheet representing two leaves) from a book of hours. Includes portions from the Gospel of Matthew and the matins of the Office of the Virgin. France, 15th c. (UPenn Manuscript Fragment Collection, Folder 23)
🔗: https://bit.ly/46gsyxH
If you missed this week's #CoffeeWithACodex, no fear! It's now been posted to YouTube and you can watch it at your leisure.
youtu.be/JJR2FZJdq4M
The doggy in the bottom margin of Ms. Codex 724 f. 324r, a 13th century illuminated Bible, doesn't have a name as far as we know, but he's definitely a Good Boy who deserves all the love! 14/10 h/t @weratedogs.com
🔗: https://bit.ly/4lzFtAO
SIMS Approved
Watch now! Javier del Barco (Complutense University of Madrid) explores the unique features of two manuscripts housed at the Library at the Katz Center that point to the Sephardic Hebrew Bible as a distinct and coherent book category. www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9Ar...
@sims-mss.bsky.social
Collection of medical texts compiled in 1500-1501 during the writer's medical studies. Includes copies of texts in the medical curriculum, at least one copied from a printed edition. The larger writing is the texts; smaller writing is comments (UPenn LJS 424) #medievalsky
🔗: https://bit.ly/4dbbVao
For #CoffeeWithACodex on March 26 (12pm ET, on Zoom), @leoba.bsky.social will show LJS 462, a didactic poem in 284 lines of hexameter concerning integers (including, for the first time in Latin, zero). Spain, first half of the 14th century.. #medievalsky
Register here: https://bit.ly/4rr6uaV
