(in Polish) Manuscript in the centre: making, reading, collecting, analyzing, and editing 1500-SDN-MITC
This interdisciplinary course provides a comprehensive introduction to manuscript studies, offering an overview of the fundamental aspects of manuscript production, transmission, and use across a wide range of historical and cultural contexts. Students will examine a diverse array of writing supports – including paper, stone, palm leaves, papyrus, parchment, birch bark, metal plates, wax tablets, wooden slips, silk, and cloth – considering their manufacture, physical properties, preservation, geographical distribution, and historical relevance.
The course emphasizes how the materiality of a manuscript contributes to its secondary levels of meaning, beyond the textual content. By exploring the interplay between physical form and cultural function, students will develop critical awareness of the manuscript as a complex historical artifact.
Students will also acquire foundational skills and tools for reading and analyzing source texts within their original manuscript contexts and in relation to selected editions. The course introduces key concepts in textual criticism, palaeography, and fragmentology, with particular attention to the transcription and editorial treatment of manuscript witnesses. Topics include the relationship between text and image in illustrated manuscripts – especially in Asian traditions – and the principles of narratology. Students will also learn how to describe and catalogue manuscripts based on physical features, contents, and paratexts, and will be introduced to TEI/XML standards for digital cataloguing.
The course is structured around thematic modules taught by specialists in various fields of manuscript research. Sessions will include hands-on workshops held at the Special Collections of the University of Warsaw Library (BUW), providing practical exposure to traditional codicological methods and contemporary techniques such as multispectral imaging and computational analysis. Throughout the course, students will also develop academic English skills, with an emphasis on the effective use of scholarly language in both spoken and written form.
Topics
An Overview of Writing Supports: Paper and Parchment in Focus. A case study on Tibetan manuscript culture
From Codices to (Digital) Editions. Exploring medieval English manuscripts and their modern transformations
Critical Analysis of Source Texts: Textual criticism through selected examples from Mongolian traditions
Text and Image: Illustrated Books in Asia: Narrative and visual interplay in selected manuscript traditions
Analysing Manuscripts with Computational Linguistics: Digital methods and tools in manuscript research
Manuscript Fragments and the Perspectives of Fragmentology: Theory and practice of working with incomplete manuscript material
Manuscript Catalogues and Cataloguing Methodologies: Standards, formats, and descriptive strategies
Codicology and Cataloguing in Practice: Workshop with medieval and early modern Latin manuscripts (Special Collections, BUW)
Material Analysis of European Historical Documents: Scientific approaches to the physical study of manuscripts
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Term 2024L:
This course is an introduction to manuscript studies. It offers an overview of the basic aspects of manuscript production, copying, and use based on examples from different cultures and times. During the course, students will learn about different writing supports (e.g. paper, stone, palm leaves, papyrus, parchment, birch bark, metal plates, wax tablets, wooden slips, silk, cloth) in the context of their usage, manufacture, physical characteristics, preservation, geographical location, and history. They will also learn about the appropriate use of various papers and other materials and forms to mediate the second level of meaning transcending the ‘meaning’ of a given text through the choice of material. This course is also intended to introduce students to basic skills and tools required for reading and examining the source texts in their natural manuscript context and the light of selected editions. Students will be introduced to the foundational concepts underlying critical analysis of texts, transcribing and editing manuscript witnesses, and fragmented manuscript data. They will learn about narratology through the example of illustrated books from Asia and the relation between text and image. They will also learn how to describe and catalogue manuscripts based on their physical features, contents, and paratexts. They will be presented with the application of TEI/XML standards in manuscript cataloguing. Classes will be divided into modules taught by specialists in manuscript studies from various domains and disciplines. The meetings will include workshops at the Special Collections in BUW (University of Warsaw Library). Students will be acquainted with the practical aspects of research in selected areas of manuscript studies, including traditional codicological methods and contemporary analytical techniques, such as computational linguistics and multispectral analysis. Classes will involve extensive practice in the use of spoken and written English for academic purposes. Topics |
Type of course
Course coordinators
Bibliography
Andrist, P., Canart, P. and Maniaci, M. 2013. La syntaxe du codex. Essai de codicologie
structurale. Turnhout.
Bak, J. M. 2017. Introduction to Working with Manuscripts for Medievalists. Gorgias and
Press.
Buzi P. and Witakowski, W. (eds.). 2015. Cataloging, in: A. Bausi (general ed.), Comparative
Oriental Manuscript Studies. An Introduction. Hamburg. pp. 467-530.
Clemens, R. and T. Graham. 2007. Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Cornell University
Press.
Helman-Ważny, A., 2014, The Archeology of Tibetan Books, Brill.
Kara, G. 2016, Books of Mongolian Nomads, Indiana University Press.
Mass, P. 1958. Textual Criticism. Oxford University Press, New York.
De Hamel, Ch. 2016. Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts. Allen Lane.
Tarrant, R. 2016. Texts, Editors, and Readers. Methods and Problems in Latin Textual
Criticism. Cambridge University Press.
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Term 2024L:
Andrist, P., Canart, P. and Maniaci, M. 2013. La syntaxe du codex. Essai de codicologie |
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: