Textmanuscripts - Les Enluminures
Welcome to the Medieval Text Manuscripts Blog! This blog highlights what makes our text manuscripts particularly interesting and appealing to us – and (we hope) to you too! Here we explore what these books can tell us about how they were made and used. We also share what we know of their most fascinating and unusual contents, makers, and owners. Some of our discoveries are quite significant, some merely amusing, and some bizarre. All medieval manuscripts have much to reveal to their attentive modern audiences. Follow our blog to learn more about them.
January 19, 2021
I collect works by Dora Maar. She was the mistress of Picasso from 1936 to 1945. Before meeting Picasso, she was a surrealist photographer of considerable renown, but Picasso disdained photography as “not art,” and so in his formidable presence she turned to draftsmanship (her “dessins d’après les maîtres”) and eventually to painting. At this point you are wondering: What does this have to do with Joel ben Simeon?
December 23, 2020
I've said this before, but it is worth saying it again -- everyone at Les Enluminures believes that teaching with actual medieval manuscripts is a transformative experience–one we want to share with as many people as possible.
October 23, 2020
Like good parents, we love all our updates equally, but we are particularly excited about the 34 “new” manuscripts that were added to the text manuscripts site on October 1. Here are two of my favorites.
July 16, 2020
What do you think of when you hear the expression “a sleeper”? Perhaps you think of adorable babies and toddlers safe and warm in their sleepers? Or maybe...
June 08, 2020
If you are like me, you’ve probably visited WebMD more than a few times trying to figure out if your headache is just a headache or an early stage of brain cancer. Or, if you’re more old school, you may have one of those enormous home health compendiums sitting on a shelf somewhere in your house.
April 24, 2020
Medieval Books of Hours have many hidden stories to tell us, as we will find out in the following tales of three books and three women: Françoise, Marguerite and Catherine...
March 31, 2020
Recently, it struck me that the sudden move toward a work-from-home culture feels rather like entering into a monastic lifestyle. It’s a perfect time for contemplation, long delayed home-maintenance, and even some handcrafting...
February 10, 2020
Bibliography Week in NY this year was January 21-25. I’m sure some (many?) of the readers of this blog were in NY that week enjoying the various bookish events...
January 08, 2020
Japan and Europe, two regions whose paths crossed only in 1543. Paris and Kyoto, two cities separated by 5,970 miles. Can they have something in common? Let’s try to see how and to what degree...
December 02, 2019
Humans have always had a special relationship with horses. In practical terms, horses have provided the brawn to build human societies, the swiftness to travel, and the courage to wage wars. But there is something more...
