Psalterium cum antiphonis
BPLDC no.: 09_03_000060
Title: Psalterium cum antiphonis, folio 1, recto
Date created: ca.1475
General format: medieval manuscript
BPL Department: Rare Books Department
Description: This immense, richly illuminated manuscript was created over 500 years ago in a Benadictine monastery in Lombardy, Italy. The pages are not paper: instead, they are made from vellum, animal skin that is soaked, scraped, and stretched. Skins from an entire herd of animals were required to create this thick volume, and many scribes, artists and illuminators contributed countless hours to its decoration. The book is so massive because it was intended to be placed on a tall lectern and read from a distance by choirs.
The monastic binding dates from the 16th or 17th century; the front and back cover, which remind many onlookers of a magical volume from Harry Potter, are heavy wooden boards armored with metal bosses to protect the exterior from wear and damage. Ascribed to the monastery of Monte Casino, the individual portraits of monks are believed to have been modeled on members from their order. The Boston Public Library is home to several hundred medieval manuscripts.
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Uploaded on Oct 27, 2009
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Fitz Globe manufactured by Ginn & Heath
BPLDC no.: 09_03_000029
Title: Fitz Globe manufactured by Ginn & Heath
Creator: Ellen Fitz (b. 1836)
Date created: 1879
General format: globe
BPL Department: Norman B. Leventhal Map Center
Description: Designed for use in classrooms, this 12-inch globe was published by Ginn and Heath, a Boston textbook firm. The globe’s mounting is distinguished by two vertical rings, which demonstrate changing daylight, twilight and nighttime hours any place on the Earth. Ellen Fitz, a governess from New Brunswick, patented this special feature. She was the first woman involved in the design and manufacture of globes.
As one of its specialized interests, the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center collects 19th- and early 20th-century geographic educational materials including globes, text books, and puzzles in support of its educational outreach to school children.
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Uploaded on Oct 27, 2009
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Hagenbeck-Wallace Trained Wild Animal Circus
BPLDC no.: 09_03_000024
Title: Hagenbeck-Wallace Trained Wild Animal Circus
Date created: ca. 1910
General format: chromolithograph
BPL Department: Print Department
Description: Carl Hagenbeck was an internationally-known German animal dealer and trainer who promoted humane treatment of animals with the goal of demonstrating that beatings and other punishment used in animal training were cruel and unnecessary. The Hagenbeck system gradually replaced harsher training methods used in circuses in Europe and North America.
Hagenbeck sold his traveling animal show to Benjamin Wallace in 1906, and the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was the second largest circus in America in the early decades of the 20th century. Red Skelton performed with this circus as a teenager, and Emmett Kelly got his start as “Weary Willy” during the Great Depression.
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Uploaded on Oct 26, 2009
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Birds of America : Snowy Owl
BPLDC no.: 09_03_000051
Title: Birds of America : Snowy Owl
Creator: John James Audubon, artist (1785-1851)
Publisher: R. Havell, printer
Date created: 1829
General format: hand-colored aquatint
BPL Department: Rare Books Department
Description: A self-published masterpiece of American naturalist art, John James Audubon’s Birds of America ranks among the greatest and most valuable printed books ever produced. Audubon drew from life whenever possible, and he spent much of his career traveling the continent observing birds in their natural habitats. This striking print, “Snowy Owl," is Plate 121 from Volume 1 of the massive “double elephant folio” edition of Birds of America, printed in London between 1827 and 1839. The complete work consists of 435 hand-colored prints, with each page measuring more than 2 feet by 3 feet. Audubon gave these beautiful owls one of the few nocturnal settings found in Birds of America.
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Uploaded on Oct 26, 2009
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Houdini Scrap Book : Scene and Prop. List
BPLDC no.: 09_03_000067
Title: Houdini Scrap Book : Scene and Prop. List
Creator: Harry Houdini (1874-1926); Quincy Kilby (1854-1931)
Date created: 1904-1926
BPL Department: Rare Books Department
Description: This highly detailed, pre-printed list was circulated to theaters before Houdini’s appearances to outline the specific requirements the illusionist had for his act. The particulars range from “use of Fire Hose” to “100 gallons of Boiling water (must be boiling)” to “A small, clean looking (mahogany colored if possible) step ladder about 3 feet 6 inches high.”
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Uploaded on Oct 26, 2009
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