Aimed at students, educators, librarians, and collectors, this volume explores the discipline of Fragmentology—the study of medieval manuscript fragments ranging from the smallest initials to substantial remnants. Like the medieval books they come from, fragments are unique cultural artifacts offering opportunities for innovative teaching and research. The introduction conveys the history of manuscript fragmentation and its motivations: obsolescence, scholarship, and commerce. Individual chapters focus on fragment theory and the practical skills required to study fragments: forensic description, textual identification, provenance research, and palaeographical and codicological analyses. Digital tools are presented as complementary means to traditional approaches. Through case studies, the authors focus on the medieval genres most commonly encountered, such as bibles, books of hours, and liturgical books.

Table des matières :

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

General Introduction

Part 1. Fragment Theory and Theories of Fragmentation

Chapter 1. What is a Fragment?

Chapter 2. Types and Stages of Fragmentation

Chapter 3. Motivations for Fragmentation

Chapter 4. Cultural Value of Fragments

Chapter 5. Reunification of Fragments

Part 2. The Fragment Trade: A Case Study of Collectors and Breakers

Chapter 6. Manuscript Markets: Two American Collectors

Chapter 7. Two Breakers

Chapter 8. A Biblioclast’s Legacy

Part 3. Forensic and Technical Skills: Fragment Description

Chapter 9. Getting Started

Chapter 10. The Basics of “Basic Information”

Chapter 11. Collecting Complex Forensic Data

Chapter 12. Contents and Their Contexts

Chapter 13. Ownership and Provenance

Part 4. Advanced Applications: Identifying and Describing Genres

Chapter 14. Calendars

Chapter 15. Liturgical Fragments

Chapter 16. Books of Hours Fragments

Chapter 17. Bible and Scriptural Fragments

Chapter 18. Legal Fragments

Part 5. Advanced Provenance Research Skills: Databases, Deep Provenance, Network Theory

Chapter 19. Using the Schoenberg Database

Chapter 20. Sorting and Managing Results

Chapter 21. Deep Provenance

Chapter 22. Connoisseurship and Network Theory

Part 6. Putting It All Together: A Case Study of a Broken Book of Hours

Chapter 23. The “Before Times” and Biblioclasty of a Breton Book of Hours

Chapter 24. A Complex Provenance and Continuity of Misinformation

Chapter 25. Forensics and Contexts

Chapter 26. Reconstructed Contents

Chapter 27. Afterlife

Appendix 1. Data Collection Worksheet for Fragments

Appendix 2. Additional Data Fields for Books of Hours

Bibliography

Index of Manuscripts Cited

General Index

Informations pratiques :

Fragmentology and the Medieval Book. Describing, Analyzing, and Interpreting Manuscript Fragments, éd. David T. Gura, Scott J. Gwara, Leeds, ARC Humanities Press, 2027 ; 1 vol., 372 p. (Medieval Media and Culture). ISBN : 978-1-80270-282-8. Prix GBP 166,00.

Source : ARC Humanities Press