A Call Number by any other Name . . .

Pressmark? Or what about shelfmark?  They sound old-fashioned, bringing mental images of cupboards ("presses") and shelves where books are stored.  "Call number" isn't just a modern term; it has geographical implications, too:  the OED cites it as "orig. U.S." and it still seems more common in the United States, while in Great Britain these magical […]

Read More…

599 Years Ago Today

Today, 24 January, five hundred and ninety-nine years ago. The future pseudo-cardinal of S. Onofrio told those guys to pay the wine bill, for pete's sake!  Proof lies in this library's Smith Documents 0300, and here's a picture of it.  (Click on the image to see a larger size.) It's signed, "J., evesque de Saint […]

Read More…

Bertykin’s Books

Libraries care about library catalogues, or, more broadly, lists of books, compiled for all sorts of reasons.  On the back flyleaf of a manuscript of a well-known grammatical text is a list of medical books:  it's in the same hand as that of the grammar, and it ends with a curious statement: The sum of Bertykin, […]

Read More…

Technical vocabularies–serving wine in the Middle Ages

Plimpton MS 160 is a late 14th century manuscript held by this library; its texts are serious and scientific:  Euclid’s Elements, followed by theoretical treatises on astronomy and mensuration.  A while ago, I had noticed a casual drawing on f. 41v, an otherwise blank leaf at the end, but only recently made an effort to […]

Read More…