Illuminated manuscripts from 1300 onwards: continuation

In the course of cataloguing the illuminated manuscripts dating from 1300 (P 15189) onwards in Graz University Library the project, funded by the FWF, revealed that the library`s collection of medieval manuscripts with ornamentation is far richer than the existing catalogues and the 1992/93 photograph documentation suggested. It was originally conjectured that the cataloguing would result in a 5-10 % increase in the number of illuminated manuscripts (150 were known at the time). At this stage in the project the number of books dating from 1300 to be catalogued has risen by ca. 70 % to 259. It has therefore become necessary to divide the forthcoming catalogue into two volumes: the first for manuscripts dating from 1300 (currently 114) and the second from 1400 (currently 145). This unexpected increase in source material has underscored the urgency for a systematic and meticulous documentation of the collection. This should be completed in the first year of the proposed project. The vast majority of catalogue entries for the period from 1400 will have been completed in the preceding project; the new discoveries can be continually incorporated and in this way the volume for the period from 1400 onwards can be submitted at the beginning of the second year of the project. At the same time the cataloguing of the books dating from 1300 and the art historical classification of their ornamentation is to be continued and completed. The research into the collection in Graz University Library promises to provide a more precise picture of the artistic, cultural and educational geography in the region of Austria and South Germany than was hitherto believed.

The purpose of the project Illuminated manuscripts from 1300 onwards in the University Library of Graz is to continue the cataloguing of decorated manuscripts from the middle ages in Austria. The catalogue shall provide access to one of the largest collection of these books in public possession and make this important corpus of visual media from the middle ages accessible to students and scholars by offering descriptions, art historical classification of the ornamentation and reproductions. The descriptive parts will contain information about texts, bookbindings, provenance, and palaeographical and codicological features of the books, but the emphasis is placed on the illumination. The description of the illuminations, miniatures, initials and ornaments is followed by the arguments, which justify there attribution and dating. A large number of reproductions shall illustrate important miniatures and ornaments characteristic of the style or styles in every manuscript and give the reader the possibility to verify the catalogue entries as far as possible. The model of the catalogue entries is given by the catalogues of the series Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationabibliothek. But as most of the medieval manuscripts in the University Library of Graz came from the monasteries of Styria, a different arrangement of the entries is possible. They will be grouped by their provenance and not just chronological. This gives the opportunity to present the contents of several medieval monastic libraries, to compare them and to show, where the monks bought their books, what they could have made themselves and how they used and kept their books over the centuries. The cataloguing will give a more precise idea of the artistic, cultural and educational geography in the region of Austria and make this treasure of visual media known to students and scholars of medieval culture for further investigations as well as to the public.