Eric J. Johnson
@ejjohnson.bsky.social
Professor & Head of Thompson Special Collections, Ohio State University / Curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts / Medieval MSS nerd / Fragmentology / walking / puro RGV, y que
New acquisition just in time for today: 1st ed. of the works of St. Patrick, edited by Sir James Ware (1594-1666), London: John Crook, 1656, w/ Patrick's Confessio & Epistola to the soldiers of Coroticus & the canons of the Synodis Patricia and various other synodal decrees Happy St. Patrick's Day!
March 17, 2025 at 5:07 PM
New acquisition just in time for today: 1st ed. of the works of St. Patrick, edited by Sir James Ware (1594-1666), London: John Crook, 1656, w/ Patrick's Confessio & Epistola to the soldiers of Coroticus & the canons of the Synodis Patricia and various other synodal decrees Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Excited to introduce the first of our two newest #MedievalManuscript codices at Ohio State: Fantastic mid-15th century pastoral miscellany, complete w/ a dazzling illustration of the Scarlet Beast of the Apocalypse! We're still determining the complete contents of the thick MS, but included are: 1/6
March 12, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Excited to introduce the first of our two newest #MedievalManuscript codices at Ohio State: Fantastic mid-15th century pastoral miscellany, complete w/ a dazzling illustration of the Scarlet Beast of the Apocalypse! We're still determining the complete contents of the thick MS, but included are: 1/6
This was not a sign we needed when I first got to Ohio State and started figuring out how to grow our #MedievalManuscripts collection. A fun concern we now deal with...
March 6, 2025 at 2:29 PM
This was not a sign we needed when I first got to Ohio State and started figuring out how to grow our #MedievalManuscripts collection. A fun concern we now deal with...
Superb #ManuscriptFragment at Ohio State: an 11th-century Italian Homiliary, w/ sermon on Luke 5:17-26 on Jesus's miraculous cures, w/ a lovely decorated initial "D". Previously owned by Bernard Rosenthal &, later, Martin Schøyen. #fragmentology Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.472 #MedievalManuscripts
February 28, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Superb #ManuscriptFragment at Ohio State: an 11th-century Italian Homiliary, w/ sermon on Luke 5:17-26 on Jesus's miraculous cures, w/ a lovely decorated initial "D". Previously owned by Bernard Rosenthal &, later, Martin Schøyen. #fragmentology Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.472 #MedievalManuscripts
One of my favorite #ManuscriptFragments in Ohio State's collection: bifolium once recycled as a pastedown w/ text from Adam of Aldersbach's Summula Pauperum, ca. 1300, w/ glosses in multiple hands covering topics like menstruation, wives, the status of priests and sacraments ##fragmentology
February 27, 2025 at 5:40 PM
One of my favorite #ManuscriptFragments in Ohio State's collection: bifolium once recycled as a pastedown w/ text from Adam of Aldersbach's Summula Pauperum, ca. 1300, w/ glosses in multiple hands covering topics like menstruation, wives, the status of priests and sacraments ##fragmentology
Just finished teaching about Don Quixote & printing through the centuries, including great stuff from OSU's collections, from our 1605 edition, to modern children's adaptations, 19th- & 20th-century trade ephemera, and one of my favorite items: the 2005 Quechua edition set in the Andes. Fun time!
February 25, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Just finished teaching about Don Quixote & printing through the centuries, including great stuff from OSU's collections, from our 1605 edition, to modern children's adaptations, 19th- & 20th-century trade ephemera, and one of my favorite items: the 2005 Quechua edition set in the Andes. Fun time!
Another new #ManuscriptFragment just acquired by Ohio State: folio from the late-13th century Peter Lombard MS I posted about earlier, this one w/ text from Bk. IV, Dist. 14-15. I love the informal beastie faces added to descenders at the bottom of the text block. #fragmentology #MedievalManuscripts
February 25, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Another new #ManuscriptFragment just acquired by Ohio State: folio from the late-13th century Peter Lombard MS I posted about earlier, this one w/ text from Bk. IV, Dist. 14-15. I love the informal beastie faces added to descenders at the bottom of the text block. #fragmentology #MedievalManuscripts
Newest #ManuscriptFragment at Ohio State: folio, once recycled as a binding fragment, from John of Bologna's Quaestiones de Anima Humana, produced in Italy, 14th century. The leaf once belonged to the famous bibliographer, A. N. L. Munby #fragmentology #MedievalManuscript Spec.Rare.MS.MR.524
February 25, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Newest #ManuscriptFragment at Ohio State: folio, once recycled as a binding fragment, from John of Bologna's Quaestiones de Anima Humana, produced in Italy, 14th century. The leaf once belonged to the famous bibliographer, A. N. L. Munby #fragmentology #MedievalManuscript Spec.Rare.MS.MR.524
Pop-up exhibition of travel and exploration materials at my library to correspond with today's Ohio State Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies symposium on the maritime humanities. From cartography and pilgrimage, to legal statutes, navigational aids, and pirates!
February 21, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Pop-up exhibition of travel and exploration materials at my library to correspond with today's Ohio State Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies symposium on the maritime humanities. From cartography and pilgrimage, to legal statutes, navigational aids, and pirates!
Discovered this in the stacks last week; it was acquired in 1989 but never catalogued: Sebastian Münster's 16thC "Die neuwen inseln...", the first map to show the Americas in their (approximately) true continental forms (& the 1st printed map to show Japan--immediately to the left of North America).
February 19, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Discovered this in the stacks last week; it was acquired in 1989 but never catalogued: Sebastian Münster's 16thC "Die neuwen inseln...", the first map to show the Americas in their (approximately) true continental forms (& the 1st printed map to show Japan--immediately to the left of North America).
Yet another new #OttoEge #ManuscriptFragment find in a private Ohio collection: leaf from a lectern Bible (HL 44) produced in Germany or Bohemia, 1507; text from IV (II) Kings 11:18-13:14. Ege incorporated sister leaves as MS 44 in his famous 50 Original Leaves portfolio. #fragmentology
February 18, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Yet another new #OttoEge #ManuscriptFragment find in a private Ohio collection: leaf from a lectern Bible (HL 44) produced in Germany or Bohemia, 1507; text from IV (II) Kings 11:18-13:14. Ege incorporated sister leaves as MS 44 in his famous 50 Original Leaves portfolio. #fragmentology
Another new Otto Ege #MedievalManuscript find in a private Ohio collection: leaf from an Italian pocket Bible (HL 11), one of the MSS included in the Fifty Original Leaves portfolio. Text = Isaiah 43:13-44:19. #fragmentology #ManuscriptFragment #OttoEge
February 12, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Another new Otto Ege #MedievalManuscript find in a private Ohio collection: leaf from an Italian pocket Bible (HL 11), one of the MSS included in the Fifty Original Leaves portfolio. Text = Isaiah 43:13-44:19. #fragmentology #ManuscriptFragment #OttoEge
Inspired by a research request today, here are OSU's 2 folios from the so-called Breviary of Bertrand de Chalençon, Bishop of Rodez from 1457-1495. Later owned by Louis de Rochebaron, Duke of Aumont (1709-82). #ManuscriptFragment #BookHistory #fragmentology #provenance #MedievalManuscripts
February 10, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Inspired by a research request today, here are OSU's 2 folios from the so-called Breviary of Bertrand de Chalençon, Bishop of Rodez from 1457-1495. Later owned by Louis de Rochebaron, Duke of Aumont (1709-82). #ManuscriptFragment #BookHistory #fragmentology #provenance #MedievalManuscripts
New add to Ohio State RBML's collection: #ManuscriptFragment from a late-15th century Rouen Book of Hours w/ text from the end of Matins & opening of Lauds w/ an illumination of the marriage of Mary & Joseph. Nifty bird in the margins, too. #MedievalManuscript #fragmentology Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.509
February 6, 2025 at 5:56 PM
New add to Ohio State RBML's collection: #ManuscriptFragment from a late-15th century Rouen Book of Hours w/ text from the end of Matins & opening of Lauds w/ an illumination of the marriage of Mary & Joseph. Nifty bird in the margins, too. #MedievalManuscript #fragmentology Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.509
Nice #ManuscriptFragment find in Ohio: leaf from a ca. 1300 copy of De Judiciis Astrologiae by the 11th-century Tunisian astrologer Haly Abenragel (Abu I-Hasan Ali ibn Abi I-Rijal). The leaf was recycled as a binding support in a later, now unknown, book. #fragmentology #MedievalScience
January 27, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Nice #ManuscriptFragment find in Ohio: leaf from a ca. 1300 copy of De Judiciis Astrologiae by the 11th-century Tunisian astrologer Haly Abenragel (Abu I-Hasan Ali ibn Abi I-Rijal). The leaf was recycled as a binding support in a later, now unknown, book. #fragmentology #MedievalScience
Yesterday's program on the Luxeuil Prophets #ManuscriptFragment attended by over 45 people--including the leaf's owner--was such a success, and our student presenter, Jessica Crabtree, did such a good job that the fragment's owner donated this early-8th century treasure to Ohio State on the spot!
January 24, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Yesterday's program on the Luxeuil Prophets #ManuscriptFragment attended by over 45 people--including the leaf's owner--was such a success, and our student presenter, Jessica Crabtree, did such a good job that the fragment's owner donated this early-8th century treasure to Ohio State on the spot!
Just arranged for the acquisition of 3 new #MedievalManuscript codices for Ohio State. Details and images to come in due course, but some key words to whet your appetites: Occitan. Diagrams. Sicily. 7-headed beast of the Apocalypse. Architecture. Classical literature. Can't wait to receive these!
January 23, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Just arranged for the acquisition of 3 new #MedievalManuscript codices for Ohio State. Details and images to come in due course, but some key words to whet your appetites: Occitan. Diagrams. Sicily. 7-headed beast of the Apocalypse. Architecture. Classical literature. Can't wait to receive these!
If you're in Columbus today: Join us for a special lecture by OSU grad student Jessica Crabtree, "An 8th-Century Manuscript in Ohio: Examining the Daniel Fragment of the Luxeuil Prophets," focusing on a superb #ManuscriptFragment loaned to us last fall for use in our Manuscript Studies course.
January 23, 2025 at 2:24 PM
If you're in Columbus today: Join us for a special lecture by OSU grad student Jessica Crabtree, "An 8th-Century Manuscript in Ohio: Examining the Daniel Fragment of the Luxeuil Prophets," focusing on a superb #ManuscriptFragment loaned to us last fall for use in our Manuscript Studies course.
Exciting pair of fols. from a German Choir Psalter produced for use at St. Stephen's Abbey in Würzburg in 1499 by the scribe Mattheus Hartung, w/ 19thC ownership by Leander van Ess & Sir Thomas Phillipps, & later broken by Otto Ege (HL 42). #fragmentology #MedievalManuscripts #ManuscriptFragments
January 21, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Exciting pair of fols. from a German Choir Psalter produced for use at St. Stephen's Abbey in Würzburg in 1499 by the scribe Mattheus Hartung, w/ 19thC ownership by Leander van Ess & Sir Thomas Phillipps, & later broken by Otto Ege (HL 42). #fragmentology #MedievalManuscripts #ManuscriptFragments
First trip across the harbor and nabbed this image of the Vancouver skyline with a lovely, cloud-distorted sun overhead.
January 15, 2025 at 8:13 AM
First trip across the harbor and nabbed this image of the Vancouver skyline with a lovely, cloud-distorted sun overhead.
Another recent NE Ohio #ManuscriptFragment find: leaf from an illuminated pocket Bible, Paris, ca. 1250, broken by Bruce Ferrini & associates in the early 1980s, this leaf w/ Mark 15:21-16:20 & the prologue text for Luke, w/ a pair of lovely inhabited initials. #fragmentology #MedievalManuscripts
January 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Another recent NE Ohio #ManuscriptFragment find: leaf from an illuminated pocket Bible, Paris, ca. 1250, broken by Bruce Ferrini & associates in the early 1980s, this leaf w/ Mark 15:21-16:20 & the prologue text for Luke, w/ a pair of lovely inhabited initials. #fragmentology #MedievalManuscripts
December 30, 2024 at 5:52 PM
Leaf from a ca. 1250 English pocket Bible, another #MedievalManuscript broken by Bruce Ferrini in the early-1980s; this fol. w/ text from John 9:36-12:15, complete w/ nifty large hole of split scar tissue and a lengthy provenance w/ known owners back to the 16th century #fragmentology
December 27, 2024 at 8:02 PM
Leaf from a ca. 1250 English pocket Bible, another #MedievalManuscript broken by Bruce Ferrini in the early-1980s; this fol. w/ text from John 9:36-12:15, complete w/ nifty large hole of split scar tissue and a lengthy provenance w/ known owners back to the 16th century #fragmentology
Another NE Ohio #ManuscriptFragments find: pair of fols. from a ca. 1230-40 English Bible w/ parallel text of Jerome's Latin translations of the Psalms from the Hebrew and Gallican (Greek) versions & textual variants from the Old Latin alongside & from IIII Kings #MedievalManuscripts #fragmentology
December 23, 2024 at 5:58 PM
Another NE Ohio #ManuscriptFragments find: pair of fols. from a ca. 1230-40 English Bible w/ parallel text of Jerome's Latin translations of the Psalms from the Hebrew and Gallican (Greek) versions & textual variants from the Old Latin alongside & from IIII Kings #MedievalManuscripts #fragmentology
4 #MedievalManuscript folios from a 14th-century illuminated English Psalter once owned by Thomas Huckell Lee, Justice of the Peace for the county of Devon (died in 1822), & possibly his father, Matthew(?). Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.392 #ProvenanceHistory #fragmentology #ManuscriptFragments #BookHistory
December 17, 2024 at 5:09 PM
4 #MedievalManuscript folios from a 14th-century illuminated English Psalter once owned by Thomas Huckell Lee, Justice of the Peace for the county of Devon (died in 1822), & possibly his father, Matthew(?). Spec.Rare.MS.MR.Frag.392 #ProvenanceHistory #fragmentology #ManuscriptFragments #BookHistory