Catherine Ansorge

Researching Middle Eastern collections at Cambridge University Library @theUL Books, manuscripts, archives, objects

[Paul Babinski @Paul_Babinski]

“God’s will is my will”: an entry in Arabic, Syriac, and Danish by a traveler from Denmark, Lauge Christensen, in the friendship album of the English Arabist William Bedwell (c. 1563-1632). Leiden, ms BPL 2753

[David Plummer @davidplummer_]

Islamic manuscript bags are rarely studied—but they hold key evidence for how books were used, valued, and preserved. From embroidered silk to handwoven wool, these enclosures reveal a hidden layer of manuscript culture. Read more https://t.co/cD5tUQ71Fo

[Westminster College, Cambridge @WestCollCambs]

#LibraryTreasures for April:
Using an envelope to mark a place in a book is a time-honoured tradition. This example was found in a copy of Studia Sinaitica Vol XI (1902), and is an envelope addressed to Mrs Agnes Lewis (1843-1926) – the author of the volume!
PJ 3081 .H6

[Westminster College, Cambridge @WestCollCambs]

Lovely session with our Syriac and Coptic language schools - thank you to @GeorgeKiraz and @AlinSuciu1! - looking at some of the manuscripts in the College archives given to Westminster by Mrs Lewis and Mrs Gibson, the #SistersOfSinai.

[Cambridge University Press - Classics @CambUP_Classics]

A new study of a fragmented Sumerian tablet reveals a heretofore unknown myth from early Sumerian mythology. Read on to learn the history of this artifact, and the story it preserves 🧵 1/11

[Catherine Ansorge @CaAnsorge]

Mapping Coptic Manuscripts: A Visit to Cambridge University Library https://t.co/tHZxhjJc1y

[Cambridge University Library @theUL]

Ramadan is approaching! ☪️

This fragment is from an Abbasid Qur’an manuscript (MS Add.1111), likely written in the 9th or 10th century CE.

⬇️

#Ramadan #Quran #IslamicManuscripts #CambridgeUniversityLibrary

[Annabel Gallop @BLMalay]

My new article describing 14 'Qur'an manuscripts from Southeast Asia in German collections', published in the SEALG Newsletter (2024), is now on Academia https://t.co/zoRRJX3oGz

[Manuscript Society @ManuscriptSoc]

Dutch scholar and printer Thomas van Erpe — Erpenius — collected Islamic and Asian #manuscripts. His widow sold his collection to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. In 1632 his widow gave them to @theUL. Where they are now on show. https://t.co/t9kGwSPJPR

[Catherine Ansorge @CaAnsorge]

'Arabian Nights' article just published in the Journal of Islamic Manuscripts...

[Cambridge University Library @theUL]

Image 2: Portrait of Thomas Van Erpe in Illustrium Hollandiae et Westfrisiae ordinum Alma Academia Leidensis (1614) (Cambridge University Library LE.5.26)

[Cambridge University Library @theUL]

Endless Stories, opens on 28 Sep at Cambridge University Library. It showcases the extraordinary manuscripts collected by 17th-century visionary, Thomas Van Erpe. The exhibition includes works in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Malay.
Book your free ticket: https://t.co/W1aZic0y8W

[Paul Babinski @Paul_Babinski]

Qur’an annotated by Cambridge’s first Professor of Arabic, Abraham Wheelock (1593-1653), who studied the text alongside several Latin translations and two Islamic commentaries, in Persian (the "Cambridge Tafsīr") and Arabic (al-Bayḍāwī). Cambridge University Library, ms Ll.5.27

[Paul Babinski @Paul_Babinski]

In fact, we have some information that can help identify it: on a flyleaf of his own copy of the Qur’an (today in Oxford), Thomas Erpenius described decoration on the opening pages of Scaliger’s Qur’an. Bodleian, ms Marsh 358

[Kristine Rose-Beers @iamkristinesr]

Historic interleaving 📚

Laid European paper cut to size and inserted to protect the illustrations. I wonder what the original handmade paper looked like…

@theUL MS Nn.3.74, ʻAjāʼib al-makhlūqāt,’ dated 974H/ 1566AD

#CULconservation #ManuscriptMonday

[Catherine Ansorge @CaAnsorge]

Research Visit: Coptic Papyri at Cambridge University Library https://t.co/30rrkBOyAz

[Paul Babinski @Paul_Babinski]

Unpublished notes for Thomas Erpenius's edition & translation of part of the universal history of al-Makīn (d. 1273). Erpenius died before he could finish, & the edition was published posthumously (without notes) in 1625 by Erpenius’s student, Jacob Golius. Bodleian, ms Marsh 160

[Kristine Rose-Beers @iamkristinesr]

A first #MandorlaMonday @theUL thanks to this beautiful 16th century binding 📚

I don’t love the 19th century reback, but the tooling remains exquisite ✨

@theULSpecColl Gg.4.22, Persian, 980H

#CambridgeUniversityLibraries #IslamicManuscript #IslamicBinding

[Westminster College, Cambridge @WestCollCambs]

Current exhibition in the beautiful Parker Library is on women connected with @CorpusCambridge. Treasures include a C10th manuscript, a medieval will, & some of our papers: those of Agnes Smith Lewis & husband Samuel Savage Lewis, Parker Librarian! @ParkerLibCCCC #SistersOfSinai

[Catherine Ansorge @CaAnsorge]

@JillWhitelock @RPShistgroup In 1897 Agnes Lewis had a Frena camera which she regretted leaving behind at the hotel and so had no photograph of her visit to the Cairo Genizah…