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IMC 2012: Sessions

Session 1702: The Secret Lives of Books: Adaptation and Alteration in Medieval Manuscripts, III - Identifying Change in Groups of Books

Thursday 12 July 2012, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews
Organisers:Kathryn Gerry, Department of Art History, University of Kansas
Kathryn M. Rudy, School of Art History, University of St Andrews
Moderator/Chair:Kathryn M. Rudy, School of Art History, University of St Andrews
Paper 1702-aFrom Quires to Commonplace Books: The Uses of Booklets in the Late Middle Ages
(Language: English)
Octave Julien, Laboratoire de Médiévistique Occidentale de Paris (LAMOP - UMR 8589), Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 1702-bThe Sloane Group of Middle English Manuscripts
(Language: English)
Alpo Seppo Santeri Honkapohja, Department of English, University of Zürich
Index terms: Manuscripts and Palaeography, Science
Paper 1702-cPunctuation Marks as 'Signs' of Use in Nicholas Love's Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ
(Language: English)
Francesca Mackay, School of Critical Studies (English Language), University of Glasgow
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract

Medieval books were often intended to last for years, if not centuries. Although usually made for a single primary purpose and often constructed to suit the needs of a single moment in time, manuscripts could be put to new and varied uses over the course of their long lives, thereby departing from the uses intended by their first owners. Such changes in use could entail significant physical alterations to the books themselves, either in the form of adaptations that would better suit the book to its new role, or as the result of a new pattern of usage. The papers in these sessions will examine some of the ways in which books could continue to be functional in new contexts, with particular attention to physical manifestations of such changes in use.