disgusting. infuriating.

It is, though I sort of which we were just using forward slashes. Maybe less logically coherent, but travels across different systems and display environments much more easily.

Newly! ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/n...

Good question. In fact this was very common. At this point -- and for quite a while afterwards -- books were often "finished" by hand after work of the printing press was completed, with the additional of all kinds of decorative elements.

Also typo here. The dimensions of the uncut sheet for this book would have originally been around 56 x 77 cm, not 56 x 70!

This is so great to hear—thank you!!

If I had to guess, I'd say within a couple weeks. Our conservation lab has to do some initial intake documentation. And while we'll do some work to stabilize it, it's otherwise ready for the reading room as-is!

This book was purchased form our excellent colleagues at Maggs in London. Somewhat famous in the incunabula literature, I never thought we'd get a chance to acquire a copy. Happily, it is now BPL pf.Q.407.43 bpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S7...

8/8

This copy had a long life of use, as evidenced by thick drops of candle wax and repairs throughout, often made by gluing pieces of medieval manuscripts over tears. Full leaves of prayers were also added in during the 16th and 17th centuries. 7/8

The large woodcut initials – notable unto themselves – were made specifically for this book and are based on designs by the renaissance artist and cartographer Benedetto Bordone. 6/8

Every recorded copy contains a series of varying hand-made corrections that seem to have been produced in the print shop itself. Often, these corrections are made using white paint to remove or alter notes. But notes are also scraped away, and or altered in pen, or simply reprinted. 5/8

Beyond its highly unusual paper, this book is, as they say, a richly layered textual and typographical object. It was edited by the Franciscan scholar Franciscus de Brugis, whose corrections are found all throughout the book. 4/8

Every 15th-century book was printed on paper stock from one of a handful of fixed sizes. The largest of these measured about 50 x 70 cm. The sheets used to print this book, when manufactured, fell outside that range at a fairly colossal 56 x 70 cm and so thick as to almost feel like leather. 3/8

A gradual is a Christian liturgical book – meant to be used during the Mass – that contains all of the chants to be sung by the choir. Graduals are therefore typically quite large so that they can be placed on a stand, then seen and read by many people at once. 2/8

I once stopped slightly too far into a crosswalk in Harvard Square and Al Gore had to walk around the hood of my car while crossing the street.

Ha, excellent!