What has been accomplished this summer

Of the roughly one hundred Lyonese books viewed earlier this year, thirty volumes have traces of use. Screening the books and entering the data into Devonthink resulted in some 80 tags which specify the traces of use. Having finally made the time to find my way into the program, Devonthink is a godsend; it calls itself 'Your Smart Information Assistant' and that it is! Entering the data is a matter of concentration and getting it done. For once no computer-glitches! As I go along the tagging will become more specific, joining some tags together and pulling some apart.

The screenshots below show some of the possiblities within the Devonthink interface.

Above: a selection of annotated pages.

  Below: copious annotations on the endpapers of Petrus Tateretus, Expositio etc. 

(Lugduni: Claudius Davost, ca. 1509) UvA callnumber OTM: OG 6-4.

Above: a selection of manuscript ownership, usually found on paste down, front endpaper or title page.

Below: detail of multiple ownership marks in Joan. Ludoc. Vivaldo, Opus regale. 

Lugduni: Stephanus Guyenard, 1509. UvA call number OTM: 973 F 31.

Manuscript ownership: ’Pertinet fratribus sancte crucis in Embrica Ex donatione magistri Arnoldi Holt Oretur pro eo.’ The words ’fribus sce crucis’ have been crossed out and ’pastori’ written above. The ownership stamps are those of the University of Amsterdam and of Jacob Buyck (1549-1599). Through the years the University of Amsterdam has used different stamps, by which, theoretically, it should be possible to roughly  date the acquisition of the book by the UvA library. Bibliophile pastor Jacob Buyck has been mentioned earlier in this blog. Thirty years after his death a large part of Buyck's books ended up in the Amsterdam 'Stadsbibliotheek'. Former UvA bookhistorian Kees Gnirrep has reconstructed the extraordinary story of the formation and survival of Buyck's library. 

Devonthink will accommodate serendipity.