In addition to many other activities, Special Collections is often host to a variety of classes and instruction sessions, usually led by our primary instructor, Librarian Kimberly Tully.

The Art and Craft of Printing by William Morris, 1902

While certain areas of study, such as history and literature, seem an obvious match for Special Collections instruction, one can also include many areas of the fine arts, such as the history of printing, printmaking and illustration to that list. One area that seems less obvious are the studio classes in the fine arts, but even these students can greatly benefit from the rich collection of materials housed in Special Collections. Having a Bachelor of Fine Arts myself, these classes tend to be my favorite of the bunch, and I sometimes even get the chance to participate in the instruction sessions, as was the case with last week’s visit of an ART 450 Letterpress class led by Steve Garst.

On This Land by Lenora Castillo, 1996

The instruction session started with Kim leading the class through an active show and tell of a variety of Special Collections materials related to printing, papermaking, and bookbinding.

Of Boulders and Bolides, Hamady, 1991

The class then moved onto a small selection of artist’s books, which are unique or limited run handmade works of art in book form. In the past few years we’ve had the pleasure of leading instruction sessions for both letterpress classes and papermaking classes. The students in these classes usually have an assignment to create a book of their own, and a visit to Special Collections gives them the opportunity to view and interact with a wide variety of artist’s books and specialty bindings. The collection of artist’s books housed in Special Collections continues to grow, and we’ve even added copies of the books produced by the visiting classes to the collection.

One of several Art 450 class produced letterpress books donated to Special Collections

Another Art 450 produced book housed in Special Collections

After getting a chance to interact with the materials from Special Collections, the class then moved over to the Preservation Lab to get a hands-on tutorial. I began my half of the instruction session by giving an overview of library preservation, specifically focusing on book repair. Getting to handle and inspect damaged books with broken bindings is a perfect way to learn about the structure of a book, and how that structure can fail with various levels of use. The class then moved onto the hands-on tutorial component, where I lead them through the steps of making a protective phase box.

Library instruction is always an excellent way to introduce students to the materials in Special Collections, and art students are no exception!

Ashley Jones
Preservation Librarian

Gladilshchitsa (Woman Ironing). 1925

Okhota (The Hunt). 1925

Vladimir Lebedev is considered the greatest reformer and the most prolific and successful children’s book illustrator in the Soviet Union. Many generations of Soviet and post-Soviet children were raised on the works of this brilliant and versatile painter.

Illustration wasn’t his only passion. He was also an accomplished and revolutionary (politically as well as creatively) avant-garde painter and poster artist. The part of the André and Catherine de Saint-Rat collection dedicated to Lebedev, however, focuses largely on his illustration work. There are a very large number of children’s books illustrated by Lebedev in Special Collections.

Vchera i segodnia (Yesterday and Today). 1925

Vchera i segodnia (Yesterday and Today). 1925

Vchera i segodnia (Yesterday and Today). 1925

His work, illustrative and non-illustrative, ranges from constructivist and cubist experimentation to socialist realist, almost saccharine renderings of children and animals. The change in his style is amazingly chronological. As one of the few great Russian avant-garde artists, who chose to stay in the Soviet Union, rather than look for creative freedom abroad, he had to adapt to the political climate. It’s interesting to trace and compare his artistic career to those, who chose to take it to Europe and the United States. Lebedev became successful very early in life, before he even finished his education. In the early 1920s he was already an influential figure in Soviet illustration. When the state publishing house opened a children’s book section, Lebedev was a natural candidate to head the department. While spending time with no less distinguished colleagues Mstistlav Dobuzhinskii, Iurii Annenkov, and Kazimir Malevich, he was in the position to reform the entire approach to children’s book illustration, attract the best illustrators of his generation, and raise a new generation of artists, such as Vladimir Konashevich and Iurii Vasnetsov.

Petrushka-inostranets (Petrushka the Foreigner). 1935

Petrushka-inostranets (Petrushka the Foreigner). 1935

His most frequent collaborator was chilren’s writer Samuil Marshak, with whom Lebedev created the majority of the chilren’s books. They were both loyal to the cause of raising a more aware generation of Soviet citizens, using more straightforward and politically conscious subjects, simpler rhymes and shapes, and very bold colors. They became the most powerful creative duo in the first decades of the Soviet Union, constructing the new children’s book standard for the new world. However, not even the strong Soviet political agenda prevented Lebedev from remaining one on the most talented, skilled, and versatile painters. His paintings in the same time period were highly experimental, executed with seemingly effortless skill and fluid colors and lines. His very large body of work shows a wide range of technical skill and experimentation. Regardless of whether or not his style appeals to the viewer, everything about his execution is perfect and has a certain simplicity even in the most complex pieces.

Usatyi polosatyi (Mustached and Striped). 1938

Usatyi polosatyi (Mustached and Striped). 1938

Usatyi polosatyi (Mustached and Striped). 1938

In the mid-1920s and 30s, when most of his peers chose to leave the Soviet Union, Lebedev remained in the country. When the socialist realist style of painting and writing started becoming more prominent and culminated in acquiring the status of state policy in 1934, artists like Lebedev and Konashevich became victims of frequent attacks. His illustration style began to change drastically to highly naturalistic and saccharine renderings of “healthy” Soviet children and animals by the late 1940s. These attacks came as a surprise to Lebedev and he seemed to never recover his creative self-esteem, not even during Khrushchev’s “thaw” of the 1950s and 60s.

Zhivye bukvy (The Living Alphabet). 1940

His legacy, however, whether experimental or naturalistic, is lasting and Lebedev is still considered the high point of Soviet and Russian children’s book illustration. This legacy is very well represented in the André and Catherine de Saint-Rat collection.

Masha Stepanova

Slavic Librarian

Verso of the Codex Justinianus leaf.

About a year ago, I wrote about our discovery of two uncatalogued manuscript leaves. Since then, we have hosted a paleography lecture to a class of French literature. Buoyed by positive feedback from the seminar and with intent to hold similar lectures in the future, we made a point this year to broaden our collection of handwriting examples.

Today, I’m happy to announce a wonderful group of additions to our manuscript holdings. Although there is not the mystery surrounding how we came to possess these new leaves, they are nevertheless a wonder to behold.

Illuminated S on the verso of the Codex Justinianus.

First is a leaf from a circa 1300 AD copy of the Codex Justinianus. The Codex was part of the codification of Roman civil law ordered by Justinian I in the first half of the sixth century AD. This codification, the Corpus Juris Civilis, was the foundation of medieval and modern civil law. Interest in the Corpus saw a huge revival beginning in the 12th century and this leaf is one of a variety of extant examples of a glossed copy of the Codex. The rounded style of gothic writing is commonly called ‘Bolognese’ hand or script, named for the city whose university saw the rebirth of interest in Roman law. This is an example of a medieval ‘glossed’ text, where the original text is bordered on all four sides by commentary.

The most obviously striking feature is the illuminated ‘S’ on the verso (back of the leaf). These stylized characters, decorated with gold, represent one of the pinnacles of medieval calligraphy.

Recto of leaf from the Book of Tobit.

Another new addition to our collection of manuscript leaves is this leaf from a c. 1240 pocket Bible. This leaf is in the same style as the leaf we discovered last year, a remarkably thin piece of vellum with handwriting so minute that an entire Bible could fit into your pocket. In contrast to the other leaf, though, we have a particularly interesting example here for two reasons. Most notable are the illuminated letters on the recto. The recto of the leaf contains the very end of 4 Esdras, the beginning of the Book of Tobit, and, sandwiched between the two books, a copy of Jerome’s prologue to Tobit. In this short prologue (which is actually a letter addressed to the bishops Chromatius and Heliodorus), he describes his translation process. The two bishops had apparently requested this particular book be translated into Latin and Jerome, having only a Chaldean manuscript, found someone who was able to translate the Chaldean to Hebrew which Jerome was then able to translate to Latin. The large illuminated ‘C’ marks the beginning of this prologue.

Illuminated ‘C’ on the verso of the Book of Tobit leaf

Because our other pocket Bible leaf is in the middle of a book, we have no way of knowing if the beginning of each book of that manuscript was marked by similar art as this leaf, and so it is exciting to have such an example of illumination to show to students.

Early 19th century Sanskrit manuscript leaf of the Mahabharata

Not all our new acquisitions, though, are examples of Western manucript tradition. Our final addition to our collection of manuscript samples is actually a published collection itself, called Specimens of oriental mss. and printing: a portfolio of original leaves taken from rare oriental books and manuscripts. I love collections like these – another example is our edition of Pages from the past, a collection of manuscript and print examples spanning the history of human writing – and our newest addition is especially exciting for me because I know so little about many of these styles of writing. The publication, fortunately, contains a brief explanation of what each example is. Other languages found in the publication include Syriac, Japanese, Hebrew, and Armenian – what a collection!

As we continue to increase our examples of varied historic hands, I encourage you all to explore these specimens in person. Happy reading,

Marcus Ladd
Special Collection Librarian

18th century Burmese example of Pali, written on a talipot palm leaf

Valentine’s Day is a perfect opportunity to showcase some of our Valentine postcards from the Charles Shields collection. We have over a thousand postcards celebrating Valentine’s Day. Many themes are represented in these cards: cupid is certainly popular, as are children, animals and flowers. The following cards are the ones that caught my eye or made me smile as I thumbed through them. Please click on an image to enlarge it.

Valentine Greetings

To My Valentine

With my Heart’s Best Love

Valentine Greetings

For the Duration and Ever After

You and You Alone

A Winning Heart

My Valentine I greet thee

Cupid

Mary Ellen

A Night Attack

Cupid with Flag

We’ll be a happy pear

I got all de sym’toms of love!

Fireman Cupid

Ven ever

Two and two

To row you down the stream of life

If you are interested in our postcard collections please visit our growing digital collection Bowden Postcard Collection Online. This digital collection draws from the nearly half a million postcards generously donated by Miami alumni Clyde Bowden and Charles Shields. The collection’s website offers an RSS feed to track new additions and you can also follow the newest items via the collection’s Twitter feed @bowdenpostcards.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Jim Bricker
Senior Library Technician