A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts of the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College - by David T Gura

About the Book

Gura catalogues and describes the 288 medieval and Renaissance manuscripts held by the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College.

Book Synopsis

David T. Gura's innovative catalogue describes the 288 medieval and Renaissance manuscripts held by the University of Notre Dame (Hesburgh Library and Snite Museum of Art) and Saint Mary's College. Bound manuscripts, leaves, and fragments, which span the late eleventh through the sixteenth century and include bibles, books of hours, calendars, liturgical texts, and much more, are given thorough critical treatment and scholarly description. Organized by repository, each manuscript description is based on Gura's intensive paleographical and codicological analyses, which address features such as material and support, collation, illumination, layout, script types, ownership history, book bindings, and bibliographical references. Scaled diagrams of distinct and variant ruling patterns and border arrangements are included with each catalogue entry to facilitate comparison with each other and with manuscripts outside the collection. Gura's flexible schematic for analytical manuscript description presents the important aspects of particular genres of the manuscripts, distinguishes their uncommon features, and interprets them.

In his introduction to the catalogue, Gura provides a history of the formation of the manuscript collections, a scholarly overview organized by genre, and a detailed explanation of his analytical schematic. Paratextual materials allow readers to browse all manuscripts in the collections by repository, date, country or region of origin, language, and textual contents. Academic librarians, manuscript dealers and collectors, and the community of scholars, curators, and librarians who work with medieval and Renaissance manuscripts will find this an accessible and valuable resource.

Review Quotes

"[David] Gura's new catalogue literally renders the Corbett's 1978 catalogue of Notre Dame manuscripts obsolete (albeit only for pre-1600 manuscripts), since it provides a new system of shelfmarks . . . obtaining this new catalogue is essential for any institution that already possesses Corbett's catalogue, and indeed every library with a commitment to collecting manuscript catalogues ought to obtain this volume. . . . On a broader level, Gura's catalogue stands as a model for what a modern catalogue of a small collection can be." --The Medieval Review

"A catalogue remarkably well done and detailed, conceived and executed according to the user." --Scriptorium, Bulletin Codicologique

"David T. Gura's fastidious and comprehensive treatment of the manuscripts he catalogues ranks among the very best scholarship I have ever encountered. Both the originality and exceptional detail of this catalogue convey its potential to be a model for similar cataloguing endeavors in the future. This is no mere 'catalogue, ' in other words; on the contrary, it represents the future of manuscript taxonomy, a departure from anything I know of for any American collection of manuscripts." --Scott James Gwara, University of South Carolina

"In an informed introduction, Gura does not only give an account of the history of the three collections, but also includes a sub-chapter on their respective utility, highlighting that recently manuscripts have been acquired to further scholarly education. . . . Gura presents a concise, neatly arranged, and detailed catalogue that will become a starting point for future research." --Medievalia et Humanistica

"The 288 medieval and Renaissance manuscripts held at the University of Notre Dame's Hesburgh Library, the Snite Museum of Art, and Saint Mary's College's Cushwa-Leighton Library described in this catalog are a very welcome addition to the growing number of American catalogs of such material. It replaces and extends James Corbett's Catalogue of the Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts of the University of Notre Dame. . . One of the ways to fully appreciate David Gura's remarkable accomplishment is to compare the description of the same manuscript in the earlier catalogue." --Speculum

"This catalogue has given me a firm understanding not just of what texts are represented in the collection, but of the codicological, paleographical, historical, artistic, and provenance contexts of each codex. The careful compilation of all the data included here allows the reader not just to learn about the contents and material contexts of each codex; it also facilitates an understanding of the collection's wider thematic, generic, book historical, and artistic contexts." --Eric J. Johnson, Ohio State University

"This is a welcome guide to a significant U.S. collection, by a scholar who knows its holdings better than anyone. In addition to making the Notre Dame manuscripts more accessible to potential users, it will stand as a model to anyone setting out to catalogue or describe later medieval codices." --Gregory Hays, University of Virginia

"The Catalogue is comprehensive, professional, and utterly reliable. The remarks on the uses to which the collection can be put will interest teachers and lecturers at tertiary academies." --Parergon

About the Author

David T. Gura is Curator of Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts in the Hesburgh Library and concurrent associate professor in the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame.