Cataloguing medieval manuscripts through the history of Oxford's college libraries
The history and methods of cataloguers of the medieval manuscripts in Oxford's libraries represent a centuries-old institutional balancing act between detailed study and basic accessibility. Until the second half of the twentieth century, catalogues rarely include a clear statement of methodolo...
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| Format: | Book section |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford Bibliographical Society
2024
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| Summary: | The history and methods of cataloguers of the medieval manuscripts in Oxford's libraries represent a centuries-old institutional balancing act between detailed study and basic accessibility. Until the second half of the twentieth century, catalogues rarely include a clear statement of methodology. Many scholars use them as representing the state of knowledge of surviving medieval works, illustration, and provenance; yet it is rarely made clear how hastily some have been assembled or how dramatically approaches have evolved over the centuries. Digital catalogues have the potential to make this history more transparent, but they also risk obscuring the provenance of catalogues. |
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