Tag Archives: Rare books

Woodson Research Center acquires new illuminated manuscript leaves

Posted on by 0

The Woodson Research Center recently added 2 illuminated manuscript leaves to its collections. The “Beatus” leaf from a Latin psalter has a beautiful historiated initial B showing scenes from the life of King David and with a decorative border including a hunting scene. The text is from Psalm 1:1-2:8. The upper compartment of the initial contains of miniature of King David harping in his palace and the lower compartment shows the young David about to behead the giant Goliath.

The second leaf is also from a Latin Bible with an illuminated initial showing King Ahasuerus, Esther, and Mordecai all connected by a hangman’s rope. The text is from the opening through the first three chapters of Esther. Both leaves are dated around the late-13th century.

 

New Music Acquisitions

Posted on by

Cartier's L'Art du Violon

The Library recently acquired two rare French violin treatises. The first is Jean-Baptiste Cartier’s L’Art du Violon, originally published in 1798. Fondren’s copy is an expanded third edition from c. 1803 and is bound in beautiful marble boards. Grove’s music dictionary describes the importance of this treatise: “This imposing volume  contained a comprehensive selection of sonatas and single movements composed by Italian, French and German masters of the 17th and 18th centuries. Cartier included both manuscripts and early editions, and he salvaged a number of masterpieces from oblivion.”

 

Corrette's L'Ecole d'Orphee

The second acquisition is a much rarer item and the only known copy in a library outside of Paris. Michel Corrette’s L’Ecole d’Orphée Méthode Pour Apprendre facilement a jouer du Violon dates from 1738 and was the most advanced method on violin playing to appear in France up to that time. Corrette would go on to write a number of additional treatises on string playing, and this particular book, which details both French and Italian styles of playing,  provides valuable insight in the historical methods for playing the violin as well as the development of the instrument and its repertoire.