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fragmentarium.bsky.social
Fragmentarium
@fragmentarium.bsky.social
2.1K followers 260 following 150 posts
Laboratory for Medieval Manuscript Fragments: https://fragmentarium.ms
posts currently by William Duba.
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fragmentarium.bsky.social
Well, the whole spine is on the site. It's just that someone decided to crop the spine to get rid of the black space, and, as a result, the default viewer (and bsky) give it a crappy rendition. The bad news is that someone put the shelfmark sticker directly over the key part of the dating.
The spine of the book in question. at the top a black label reads "Seb. Franc. Handbüchlin. 1539 (or 1589) with a big red R later stuck on the spine. At the bottom is another black label "CS (some character)738", the shelfmark. Underneath the labels one can read "-bergensis ecc<les>ie C** / <a>nno domini M. CC. And then the shelfmark hides the critical date.
November 3, 2025 at 1:55 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
I've updated the record. The fun is that now the text under the paper pastedown becomes legible (the left column is the continuation of the Daniel passage with the column break op en|de). Also, those stubs are formed by folding the leaf over itself and glueing it, since r/v are the same columns.
Middelnederlands lectionarium (Fragment), Antwerpen, Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience, C 41193. A paper pastedown on the back of a book. Some classmarks and ownership marks have been written on there, and the cover has been folded over the pastedown. Underneath the pastedown can be seen the thin outline of a manuscript leaf used as a hooked endleaf guard. A ruler is at the bottom of the picture.
September 25, 2025 at 4:08 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
For those having trouble accessing e-codices, we're working on it. But look on the bright side, training the next-generation AI models is much cheaper when you distribute the costs.
September 17, 2025 at 10:11 AM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
Breaking news out of e-codices. We will keep you continuously updated and extended.
Partial Screenshot of the e-codices banner, showing 3000 manuscripts published. The text, set against a background of a manuscript illumination, reads: e-codices - Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland the goal of e-codices is to provide free access to all medieval and a selection of modern manuscripts of Switzerland by means of a virtual library. At the moment, the virtual contains 3000 manuscripts from 100 different collections. The virtual library will be continuously updated and extended.
August 21, 2025 at 10:09 AM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
On the backend, coming up on a milestone.
Snippet of a screenshot with the Fragmentarium Logo, the text CMS/Documents and then Documents (9999), showing that there are 9999 documents in the system. At the bottom, the first line of an entry "Toronto / Pontifical Institute of Medieval" can be seen.
August 11, 2025 at 4:59 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
Update on Fragmentology (www.fragmentology.ms ): the journal's back online. Submissions at the moment can be made directly to fragmentarium@unifr.ch. In other news, Wesleyan UL has published their Ege "Oriental" leaves. We're always happy for help decolonizing them. fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-d...
[F-d720] Anthology of Poetry (Fragment), Middletown, CT, Wesleyan University Library, Z113 .E33 1900z, No. 8. A manuscript leaf mounted in a frame with a label "Anthology of Poetry". The leaf is in Persian. The caption says (in part) "This work is from a book containing the poems of three hundred poets. The manuscript is in a well-written Nastaliq script. This leaf has small decorative elements and ruled lines of washed gold and color. With amazing skill and perfection each of the fine hairlines in the border is exactly superimposed on the corresponding one of the reverse side, thereby insuring perfect register on both sides of this fine, transparent paper. In the Islamic world, calligraphy was the most important art and examples in this fine Nastaliq script is greatly honored. Beauty was more important than legibility. This script was usually reserved for writing poetry because of its great beauty. This slanting manner of writing gave it the name of hanging writing." Just to be clear: Admittedly, like the author of the description, I don't read Persian either, but the script seems to me eminently legible. Perhaps I'm just ignorant. If you have an opinion based on experience, please let us know.
July 16, 2025 at 4:36 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
Update on the Fragmentology Journal: We were just informed that maintenance on the SOAP2 Platform will last through the end of the week. Never fear! This is just an opportunity to put all of Fragmentology in Fragmentarium: fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-6...
A screenshot of a page from the platform Fragmentarium showing an entry for the Online, Open Access Journal Fragmentology. In the top left is a thumbnail of the table of contents for Issue 1 (2018), with a CC-BY image rights statement below it. In the center is the title "Fragmentology (Electronic Journal) - Codex, with a list of the issues, and on the right, clipped is a summary of the journal. Please submit.
July 15, 2025 at 11:38 AM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay: This 8C Rhaetian survivor was recovered in Donaueschingen and is now in Stuttgart. Marina Bernasconi Reusser virtually reconstructs this John Cassian with leaves from Frauenfeld, Solothurn, and Sarnen: fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-p.... Have you seen other fragments? #fragmentology
[F-pp5u] Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Cod. Don. B III 13: Iohannes Cassianus, De institutis coenobiorum (Fragment). A leaf with a single column of 23 lines in Rhaetian minuscule: it kinda looks like a Northern Beneventan. There is an ornate initial I.
July 14, 2025 at 2:14 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay: This breviary leaf was used to wrap a 1481 print. For those of you unsure, the book was kept in the house of Austin Canons of Kreuzlingen. It looks like Martha, edition AH 28 #19. fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-d... #Fragmentology
[F-dmut] Frauenfeld, Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau, X 82, Wrapper. A parchment cover for a book, taken from a breviary. Two columns of 14th-century script can be seen, with red rubrics. On the bottom, in the middle, is the large embossed ownership mark/seal reading: Colleg: Can: Reg: Creuzling. on what used to be the spine is the shelfmark sticker X 82 Thurgau, indicating the current location in the Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau. Enjoy Leeds y'all!
July 8, 2025 at 2:34 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay: 14C, Commentary on the De Interpretatione - #Perihermeneias, incipit: Secundum Simplicium loyca est instrumentum intellectus... bifolium bisected and glued to a binding. Any idea who wrote it? #Fragmentology fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-x...
Frauenfeld, Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau, X 96, front and back pastedown-flyleaf. Virtual reconstruction of two parts of a bifolium that are still in situ in an incunable, revealing two columns of text per leaf, in a fourteenth-century scholastic script. On the left (verso) leaf, a rubric over the second column reads "Quotuplex sit futurum". On the right (recto) leaf, at the top, in the middle, is the title (in blank ink) P(er)eiar(meneias). The Recto A column begins with a five-line rubric lombard S for the incipit: Secundum Simplicium loyca est instrumentum intellectus dirigens ipsum in omnibus suis operationes; operationes autem sunt tres, ut patet tertio De anima.
July 3, 2025 at 6:48 AM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay: This printed #Bloodletting Calendar can be dated to 1531 by combining the date of Easter with the phases of the moon. This is hugely important, using it on any other year could have unpleasant side effects. Pair with a Petite Sirah. #Fragmentology fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-j...
Frauenfeld, Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau, FRG 216: A printed piece of paper, rolled on the side, folded in, missing the top and a woodcut in the top left corner. Some text describes when the major movable feasts occur, followed by a list of lunar-solar conjunctions and oppositions for the year, and then a list of opportune times for medical procedures January through December. At the bottom, a woodcut shows a figure holding a book and a ribbon, on which is written "Fortunate puer celi cui celi parent. Expectate venis"
July 1, 2025 at 4:28 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay: fragments appear in pre-industrial bookbindings. Fragment covers and pastedowns usually signify a cheap binding. But secrets lurk on the unseen spine. 10C rule of St. Benedict from Madonna del Sasso, Ticino. #Fragmentology fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-y...
Orselina-Locarno, Biblioteca Madonna del Sasso, MdS 51 Aa 4/F1-4. The exposed spine of a 16C book, showing four strips of Caroline bound in there. A colorchecker classic and a ruler are also in the plane of the picture.
June 23, 2025 at 3:43 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay: Another Frauenfeld find. Wrapping Josse Clichtove's 1523 chart-topper Opusculum on War and Peace, this Passion is sure to please your friends who dig early #mensuralNotation and #polyphony. Late, early, or just on time, it's guaranteed to please. fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-6...
Frauenfeld, Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau, CL 8438, Wrapper (https://fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-6vbs). A book, octavo-sized, that has been wrapped in a piece of parchment, half of which is visible here. Five sets of five staves, each with red lines and funky mensural notation, mostly what looks like maxima and breve.
June 20, 2025 at 2:44 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay: This glorious early-9C lectionary from a box in the Cantonal Library of Thurgau. Pair the closed and open As, looping, straight and inverted Ts with a 2020 Quintessenz Pinot Noir Gächlingen Reserve, AOC Schaffhausen. fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-m... #Fragmentology
Lectionary (Fragment), Frauenfeld, Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau, FRG 209 (https://fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-mnm7). A bifolium with orange rubrics, single column text, 22 lines per page. Plain initials between two and three lines in height. The script is early Caroline, and the influence of the earlier, Alemannic script can be seen, notably in the -ri ligature. The inverted T can be seen on the other side, verso (left), lines 7-8, where the abundant goes submarine at the end. Lines 8-9 have an abundat, but that one stays Caroline. Have fun!
June 19, 2025 at 3:56 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay: Somehow the latest batch from the University of Chicago HHG SCRC slipped into the couch. Here's a ca.-1200 fragment of a Latin poem on Simony. Anyone seen anything like it? #Fragmentology
fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-a...
Chicago, University of Chicago Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, Codex Ms 686, Box 2, Ms 55. A leaf from a medieval manuscript next to a color control card. The leaf has been ruled in dry point with writing above the top line. In something that looks like an Upper Rhineland early-13th century script, a series of poetic lines with some literal glosses to the right. Rubrics are to the left, and two initials are set off. Also, a rubric to the left marks some of the rhyming couplets.
June 10, 2025 at 3:12 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
Photographer said, "But you didn't ask me to bring the MSI equipment". So, here's Photoshop. It's the preface to the Common of the Mass, and that's a big-ol' monogrammed UereDignum in the middle! It begins Across the top you can read "PER OMN"[IA]. It's easy to read when you know what it should say.
That same back pastedown, flipped and with the colors enhanced, where the alternating colors start at the top with the rubric "PER OMN" [IA SAEC] "ULA" and then black "SAECULORUM AMEN".
June 4, 2025 at 3:39 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
The back pastedown only has writing at the top, and that's in a later, XIII-c. hand, and containing part of Good Friday (the Trisagion, various chants that can be better found in nearby Einsiedeln). But what's that bleeding through? A yellow frame and a large illumination?
Frauenfeld, Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau, X 525, Back Pastedown. Only the top half has writting, and it's in a poor thirteenth-century script. But traces of a yellow frame and a massive illumination bleed through the parchment.
June 4, 2025 at 3:33 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay:
The front pastedown from a Frauenfeld incunable looks like it comes from an XI-c. Sacramentary, but the back one holds a surprise. fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-k...
Sacramentary (Fragment), Frauenfeld, Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau, X 525, Front Pastedown. A leaf from an eleventh-century sacramentary for Epiphany and the Sunday after Epiphany, pasted down against an incunable board. Rubrics indicate the various parts.
June 4, 2025 at 3:30 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
So, with the aid of image editing software, the original bifolium could be reconstructed from 13 photos. fragmentarium.ms/view/page/F-...
https://fragmentarium.ms/view/page/F-emld/10876/79500 A digital reconstruction of a bifolium, where the comb fragments have been separated and flipped, so that the top left and bottom right corners are blank. Three strips have been added to the top, somewhat segmented as they were originally twisted around.
May 30, 2025 at 11:36 AM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay: This thing was in Frauenfeld. A bifolium was cut up and used in the binding of a book. When the book was rebound, they removed this piece, and three strips. Unrestored, this is what it looked like: fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-e...
Frauenfeld, Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau, ALT FRG 57, bifolium front (detail 1). An 11th-century hand on a partial bifoium - the leaf on the right is cut off, and wholes for the sewing stations are visible. A ruler and colorchecker are in the picture.
May 30, 2025 at 11:31 AM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay: A large initial D on this fragment, the first on Fragmentarium from the Konviktsbibliothek Wilhelmsstift in Tübingen. May we have many more. #Fragmentology fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-x...
Tübingen, Konviktsbibliothek Wilhelmsstift, KH 3214, back cover. book wrapping made of a fifteenth-century Missal. The center of the book is dominated by a large initial D, blue against a gold background in an alternating green and red frame. A floral motif runs across the top and the left. Above the initial D is the rubric: Dominica prima post octavas Penthecosten. to the right of the D the rest of the incipit appears vertically in alternativing red and blue letters, so that we read "Domine in tua". The text then begins on the line below the initial with "misericordia speravi" (although abbreviated), and there are five lines of text in total.
May 28, 2025 at 1:19 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
#FragmentOfTheDay: From the exciting collection of Frauenfeld fragments, this paper bifolium contains a list of lunar and solar eclipses predicted to be visible in Germany from October 24 1436 to February 3 1440. Why Germany? Who celebrates St. Columban on October 24?
Frauenfeld, Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau, FRG Y 229, front – Eclipse calendar. Detail of part of a page, written in a 15th-century German hand, with four entries visible. For each entry, there is text in German, specifying the year, the month, and the day of the eclipse, along with a prompt for the viewer's evaluation to specify hour and minute (Stund and minuten). There is then a diagram of the predicted eclipse's extent (the top is totality, the others are partial). A column next to the diagram is either blank (for Solar eclipses) or "Mon" for lunar eclipses.
May 27, 2025 at 4:24 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
E-codices update: 21 #manuscripts newly online: e-codices.ch/en/list/all/...
Detail of a manuscript, showing the top of the left column of the recto of a twelfth-century manuscript. A large Red-and blue initial H dominates the view. The first two lines are rubric, reading "Incipit sermo primus domini Bernardi clarevallensis abbatis in adventu domini". Then the H begins the text with: Hodie fratres adventus initium caelebramus (sic). The excessive and incorrect use of the e-caudata tells us that we're towards the end o fthe twelfth century. Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, B VII 8, f. 2_0001r – Texts ascribed to Bernard of Clairvaux; Stimulus amoris (https://www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/ubb/B-VII-0008)
April 3, 2025 at 2:06 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
Another day, another Rijmbibel. #Fragmentology
A manuscript fragment, reused in a book binding and then detached. 9 lines of verse are visible. The text is Dutch; I'd put it in the early 14C. In the right column there is a red Lombard S that is two lines high for Samson. Bleeding through one can see a larger initial on the other side. Jakob van Maerlant, Rijmbibel, 1 Kings.
March 18, 2025 at 4:49 PM
fragmentarium.bsky.social
Good times nev|
Detail Image of an incunable opened so that the interior top board and the flyleaf are visible. Between the two, a manuscript leaf that wraps around the spine has become unglued from the board. A rubric initial P and a funky-decorated F that marks the beginning of a reading from 1 Cor 12 are visible, along with some early-11ish Caroline.
March 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM