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December 6, 2002|Volume 31, Number 13



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This rendition of Buxheim in the late 16th century is among the images featured on William Whobrey's website about the Bavarian monastery's library.



Researcher aspires to 're-create'
medieval monastery's library

A Yale researcher's goal of gathering together the scattered holdings of a medieval library has inspired both a website and a new exhibition at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

For several years, William Whobrey, director of Yale Summer Programs and assistant dean of Yale College, has brought the power of the computer to bear on the traditional disciplines of bibliography and book history. His website (www.yale.edu/buxheim) is an ongoing attempt to recreate in cyberspace the 15th-century library of the Carthusian monastery in Buxheim, Germany.

The monastery -- known as Charterhouse Buxheim after the Bavarian village where it resided -- was founded in 1402 as one of several Carthusian houses in German-speaking areas. The monastery quickly flourished, growing to include agricultural buildings, vineyards and forests.

Through their own diligence as copyists and authors, as well as through large donations of money and personal libraries, the Carthusians of Buxheim were able to amass books on a previously unknown scale, says Whobrey. By the early 16th century, after the "singularly impressive" donation of a personal collection of some 450 books by Hilprand Brandenburg in 1505, Buxheim could boast a library of well over 1,000 volumes -- something only a few European libraries at the time could match, notes the Yale scholar.

The monastery was secularized in the early 19th century, and by 1883 the library had been dispersed at auction.

"The manuscripts and books from Buxheim now reside in over 50 libraries across Europe and North America, and some remain in private hands, with many still unlocated or unidentified," Whobrey says. "I hope to bring the manuscripts together again, if only in the form of interactive catalogs and databases. The project will take many years to realize, but it has already contributed to our understanding of late medieval and early modern librarianship and codicology."

In addition to information about the Buxheim's historical collections, Whobrey's website includes views of the region as well as historical images of the village of Buxheim and its Charterhouse.

To celebrate the 600th anniversary of Charterhouse Buxheim, Whobrey has brought together all of the Buxheim volumes in Yale's collections for a small exhibition now on view at the Beinecke Library. "A Library Turns 600: Charterhouse Buxheim 1402-2002" will continue through January. Whobrey will give a lecture about the Buxheim Library at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 12, at the Beinecke Library, 121 Wall St.; the talk is open to the public without charge.

The Beinecke exhibition includes both manuscripts and printed books, about 25 items in all. Among the former are 15th-century sermons, a Saints' Lives from the same period and a tiny prayer book that belonged to Heinrich Weyer, who came to Buxheim in 1479. The 15th-century printed books on display include two editions of Thomas Aquinas, an edition of Euclid printed in Venice in 1482 and a copy of Saint Bede's Historia eccelesiastica (Strassburg, ca. 1475) with extensive manuscript notes by a contemporary reader.

The Beinecke also has several examples of Hilprand's ex libris bookplate, which became famous beyond the cloister of Buxheim as one of the earliest bookplates to be printed. Its influence can still be seen in the angel that guards the entrance to Sterling Memorial Library's Arts of the Book Collection, notes Whobrey.

As a group, the volumes exhibit a rich array of binding materials, from pigskin to cardboard, many with original clasps and bosses, notes Whobrey, who points out that identifying marks -- such as bookplates, dedications and shelf-numbers -- link the volumes to Buxheim.

The exhibition also includes a video produced at Buxheim, with commentary by Whobrey.


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Campus Notes


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