Zsófi Buda retweeted
In her latest blog post, curator Zsófi Buda explores the Samaritan manuscript collection at the Rylands close up, uncovering hidden messages, unique calendars, and the Samaritans’ ability to switch languages and scripts. ✍️🔍
Read it here: ow.ly/uN5250UyGgF
Zsófi Buda retweeted
The Rylands houses a remarkable collection of Samaritan manuscripts, many of which are now available online. 🖥️✨
Curator Zsofi Buda’s new blog post introduces the Samaritans and the origins of the collection. Read it here: ow.ly/ZP0w50UyFO3
ALT Handwritten letter from Abisha the High Priest to Moses Gaster, dated Shechem, 1926.
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Our festive Solstice and Equinox series event with Jeanette Winterson CBE returns for 2024.
Join @wintersonwords on 5 Dec at @TheJohnRylands , where she will read and talk about her work.
The event is free, with donations to @manchesteryz
Book: ow.ly/GsW150U9XsP
Zsófi Buda retweeted
The Rylands acquired most of its Pali manuscripts in 1915 from Professor Thomas William Rhys Davids (1843-1922), scholar of Buddhist literature, and the founder of the Pali Text Society. For more on the provenance of the collection, see rylandscollections.com/2024/…
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Our conservators have been experimenting with toning Japanese papers using acrylic paints. The toned paper will help reattach loose fragments that we removed from the damaged #rylandsmegillah at the start. A good colour match ensures that the repairs are discrete!
ALT The materials and media used to tone Japanese repair paper.
ALT A small sample of toned Japanese paper being compared to the original silk colour
Zsófi Buda retweeted
The collections at The John Rylands Library never fail to surprise even the most curious curator, with many rare items awaiting rediscovery. Explore the journey of a unique Nahuatl codex that has made its way from the Valley of Mexico to the Rylands: ow.ly/qg3Y50RFuSj
ALT A page of manuscript written in Nahuatl.
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Our conservators have been testing adhesives on a range of materials to devise a plan for treating loose fragments of ribbon on the #rylandsmegillah. Individual threads cast in adhesive will hold pieces in place to prevent loss in the future. @SeeTheTreasures #TextileConservation
ALT An individual polyester thread is tested for strength and appearance under the microscope against a fragment of ribbon
ALT Samples showing what the Conservators have tested: a range of adhesives and techniques on different materials to determine their suitability in the treatment of the Rylands Megillah
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Parchment repair was an important way to secure the sustainability of medieval book production. This 14th-century German Psalter exemplifies how to turn imperfection into embellishment: just look at the stitched wing of this dragon!
ow.ly/GXof50RrX0n
#GreenRylands
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Protecting nature is in our own interest: we are part of it. Thomas Henry Huxley's Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature (1863) was the first book discussing human evolution. Its frontispiece compares the human skeleton to other primates. #GreenRylands
ow.ly/2yVS50RmVuq
ALT Skeletons of the Gibbon, Orangutang, Chimpanzee, Gorilla, and Man. Photographically reduced from diagrams of the natural size.
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Today is Earth Day and the message is not underestimating your power as individuals to be a part of the transformational change needed to reverse the environmental crisis the Earth is facing! #GreenRylands 💚 🌎🌿🌏🌳🌍🦜💚 Image : Darwin's Journal H.M.S Beagle
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Medieval manuscripts can teach us a lot about recycling. Paper and parchment were precious materials and often got reused. Look at this early medieval century codex with a leaf from a musical manuscript in its binding.
Latin MS 104 luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/s… #GreenRylands
ALT Latin MS 104, paste down.
ALT Latin MS 104, waste in binding. Stained and overlaid covering, with large stitches and book plates.
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Worried about changing climate? Learn how climatologists mapped weather and climate in the past and see these beautiful 19th-century maps of winds, storms, and pressure systems. Register for our next lunch time seminar here: ow.ly/klnl50RgrMl #ClimateCrisis #GreenRylands
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Chilling statistics from @ALALibrary @OIF :
New censorship numbers from @OIF are out this morning. The organized campaigns to ban books continue, and the overwhelming swell of censorship attempts that school libraries have been experiencing is increasingly occurring at public libraries.
#UniteAgainstBookBans
ALT ALA reports the highest number of challenged book titles ever documented in 2023. Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association
Zsófi Buda retweeted
If you are in DC on Thursday evening, March 28, come to @librarycongress for an exciting talk on Hebrew scribe Joel b. Simeon.
#hebrewmss #WomensHistoryMonth #Judaicalibrarianship
Zsófi Buda retweeted
News on the #rylandsmegillah! Degraded ink, possible parchment knots, and colourful textile - our rare and precious Esther Scroll has gone under the microscope this week to capture these intriguing photomicrographs. @seethetreasures #CollectionCare #SpecialCollections
ALT Enlarged/close up of white figure with pigments and stitching.
ALT Enlarged image of knot, with pigments in the background.
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Hidden Treasures is looking for a freelance Social Media Manager with experience managing content for galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) or an interest in heritage. Do you know of someone who may be interested? Closing date Thursday 7 March. celebratingjewisharchives.or…
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Do you remember your basics in geometry?
"Two parallel lines never meet..."
Did you know they come from Euclid (300BC)?
Thankfully, Archbishop Arethas purchased this copy @bodleianlibs 1136 years ago from which many others derive.
medieval.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/c…
Zsófi Buda retweeted
"More than 200 kilos of wheat was stolen from my threshing-floor last night. Please, your honour, punish the guilty to prevent others from crime and that I may obtain relief"
Police report from 2050 years ago @bodleianlibs naming the susppects boldly
Zsófi Buda retweeted
Drop into the Rylands on 14 February, 2-4pm, for a live printing of the Tanya, a Jewish philosophical text. Discover fascinating Hebrew manuscripts and take part in an event involving cities all over the world. Free entry, no need to book! Find out more at ow.ly/J56P50QvUFE
ALT Folio 123b from Novellae on the Arbaʾah Ṭurim by Rabbi Löw of Prague (Hebrew MS 55). To access the complete manuscript, visit https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/MS-HEBREW-00055/1
Zsófi Buda retweeted
"I present this petition, and beg you, oh lord, release me from the cultivation of the public lands,...for men are more suitable for undertaking the cultivation"
A woman's voice from 1824 years ago @bodleianlibs in her petition to the governor
