Book Series Bibliologia, vol. 62

The Angela Burdett-Coutts Collection of Greek Manuscripts

Annaclara Cataldi Palau

  • Pages: 472 p.
  • Size:216 x 280 mm
  • Illustrations:80 b/w, 102 col.
  • Language(s):English
  • Publication Year:2021

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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-59376-0
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The story of Angela Burdett-Couts'collection of Greek manuscripts is investigated here for the first time; the author has identified and personally examined, described and reproduced her ca. 100 manuscripts in Ann Arbor University Library, in Athens Public Library, in London's British Library and in Providence, Rhode Island, Brown University.

BIO

Annaclara Cataldi Palau was Visiting Professor in Greek Palaeography at King's College (2000-2005), then at Royal Holloway (2011-2016), and is since 2012 member of the Accademia Ambrosiana in Milan.

Summary

Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), descendant of a wealthy and well-known family of bankers, inherited quite young, through a series of unpredictable circumstances, the enormous fortune of Thomas Coutts, her maternal grand-father. She spent most of her long life in London, where she occupied a prominent position in society, becoming well-known not only for her splendid life-style and her important literary and political acquaintances, as, for instance, Charles Dickens and Admiral Nelson, but also for her active role as a philanthropist. This book explores a little-known side of her life; although she did not know Greek, she became the owner of ca. 100 Greek manuscripts, mostly theological, datable between the tenth and the sixteenth century, a part of which she donated to Highgate School. The manuscripts, with all the Baroness's possessions, were dispersed at auction in 1921 and in 1987 and are now mainly divided between American and European University Libraries. This book has identified for the first time the Baroness's Greek manuscripts, located and described them in detail, with special attention to their script style and their origin, adding to their description one or two plates of each codex.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I: History of the collection

Chapter 1: Angela Burdett-Coutts’ life. The formation of her collection of Greek manuscripts

Chapter 2: The sale of Angela Burdett-Coutts collection of Greek manuscripts

Chapter 3: Angela Burdett-Coutts Greek manuscripts

Chapter 4: Provenance of the Burdett-Coutts manuscripts

Chapter 5: List and description of Burdett-Coutts manuscripts from Epirote monasteries

or churches

Chapter 6: Burdett-Coutts manuscripts from the Meteora. Their present location in

various libraries

Chapter 7: Two Burdett-Coutts manuscripts with plaques from the Russian monastery of

Solovki applied to the bindings

Chapter 8: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Library, SCRC, Mich. Ms. 15 (B.-C. III. 5),

a manuscript belonging to the Ferrar Group (‘Family 13’)

Chapter 9: Burdett-Coutts manuscripts with a decoration

Chapter 10: Burdett-Coutts manuscripts with a remarkable decoration

 

Part II: Description of the Burdett-Coutts manuscripts

Description of the Burdett-Coutts manuscripts in Ann Arbor

Description of the Burdett-Coutts manuscripts in Athens

Description of the Burdett-Coutts manuscripts in various libraries

The lost manuscripts

 

Appendix

 

Index of Manuscripts and Illustrations

Index of Names