NYPL, Exhibitions at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library

NYPL, Exhibitions at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library:

The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at The New York Public Library
From October 21, 2005 through February 12, 2006
D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall (First Floor)
Humanities and Social Sciences Library, 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788 (directions)
Hours: Click here for schedule


Historiated Initial B, depicting scenes from the Life of David. Psalter (The Tickhill Psalter), in Latin. England, Workshop Priory, Notts., after 1303-ca.1314. (NYPL SP 26)
Related Online Resources

The New York Public Library possesses one of the finest collections of medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts in North America, yet its manuscript holdings are scarcely known to scholars, much less to a wide public audience. Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts are vehicles of the collective memory of western European culture, and provide a material connection between the scribes, illuminators, and patrons who produced these works and the audiences who view them today. The works represent diverse genres, from Bibles and missals to romance literature and science texts. Drawn entirely from the Library's Spencer Collection and the Manuscripts and Archives Division, the 100 medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the exhibition will focus on the 9th through the 16th centuries -- seven hundred years of profound political, ecclesiastical, social, and intellectual change in Western Europe and the world.