Cultural Values and the International Trade in Medieval European Manuscripts, c. 1900-1945

Project Information

CULTIVATE MSS

Grant agreement ID: 817988

DOI

10.3030/817988

Project closed

EC signature date 16 January 2019

Start date 1 May 2019

End date 31 July 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 832 711,00

EU contribution

€ 1 832 711,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - CULTIVATE MSS (Cultural Values and the International Trade in Medieval European Manuscripts, c. 1900-1945)

Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The CULTIVATE MSS project examined the trade in medieval manuscripts c. 1900-1945 and its impact on the development of collections, on scholarship on premodern books, and on ideas about the Middle Ages and European identity. The early twentieth century saw a boom in the trade in medieval manuscripts, including an exodus of material from Europe to America. It also saw the creation of new libraries, in which manuscripts have remained. The taste of the wealthiest buyers shaped their collections, but also dictated what was available for those with fewer resources. Rich collectors often sponsored scholarship on their books, ensuring that they were recognised as important (raising both their economic and cultural value). Against this backdrop, arguments were made that some books should be in particular countries or collections on the grounds of their national significance. The central hypothesis of the project was thus that the networks of collectors, dealers and scholars of this era played an important and underappreciated role in shaping how and where we encounter medieval books, a key source for the study of the Middle Ages. A reassessment of this activity allowed us to better understand both medieval books and our relationship to the past.

The project developed a multidisciplinary approach to assess the roles of collectors, scholars and dealers in the trade and documentation of manuscripts. It went beyond accounts that focused on isolated figures (typically the most famous collectors and dealers), to understand the networks that facilitated the movement of manuscripts and in particular the contributions of under-represented groups, notably women. It also contrasted the activities of the trade in Britain, America, France and Germany, to understand the impact of regional and national ideas about books and collecting. The team collected and analysed price data, to assess how economic value correlated with the rhetoric used about manuscripts in different contexts. They also examined accounts of manuscripts as objects of "national significance" to explore the importance of medieval manuscripts within concepts of European identity.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The team of PI, 5 post-doctoral researchers and 3 PhD students analysed sales catalogues, newspaper reports, publications about manuscripts and unpublished archival records. They added over 15,000 records to the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts and improved the data in a further 20,000 records. Collecting information from unpublished sources and European catalogues (in particular), contributed to the creation of an unprecedently granular account of the movement of manuscripts. They found that many manuscripts crossed national borders multiple times, that dealers were creative in their abilities to avoid attempts to control the movement of books through taxation and legislation, that members of the trade collaborated to facilitate sales and minimise risk, and that relationships between collectors and dealers played a major role in determining the movements of manuscripts.

In 2022 the major project conference brought together scholars from universities and libraries in nine countries. The resulting publication provides an overview of the state of current research, demonstrating the potential for further collaborative and comparative work.

In 2024 two PhD students successfully completed theses. The first demonstrated that women were active in the trade in manuscripts at all levels, including working in shops and libraries, producing scholarship, and as collectors. This research provides an important corrective to the traditional emphasis on the collecting and study of manuscripts as an overwhelmingly male-dominated activity. The second thesis examined the role of elite bibliophilic clubs in Britain, France and the USA in generating and disseminating information about manuscripts. Despite the exclusivity of these groups, their networks facilitated the movement of books and scholarship, but also demonstrated the increasingly international trade in rare books.

The PI and post-doctoral researchers have published articles and a mini-graph, providing in-depth case studies of the activities of particular dealers and collectors, and the trans-Atlantic trade. In addition the team collaborated to produce a collection of essays on the economics of the manuscript trade, designed to showcase their approach and to make the economic sources more accessible to humanities scholars. The PI is completing a monograph on the trade in manuscripts in Britain c. 1896-1945, which should be published in 2025.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project has produced an unprecedentedly detailed account of the movement of premodern manuscripts in the early twentieth century. Through analyses of price data together with descriptions of manuscripts, it has demonstrated that while medieval manuscripts could be obtained cheaply throughout the period, interest in particular kinds of books, notably the most decorated, but also those with evidence for connections to particular places, were in demand and therefore expensive. Exhibitions helped to consolidate the ideas of manuscripts as works of art and objects of patrimony. Concepts of manuscripts as cultural heritage developed along similar lines in many countries as governments and national libraries sought out books that they believed provided evidence for their national history, even though the boundaries of modern nation states did not map neatly onto medieval political boundaries. While some nations sought to control the trade in books, Britain took no measures in this regard, justifying the trade as a form of soft power, consolidating its cultural ties with the USA. In America different collectors were interested in manuscripts for different reasons, but the press celebrated the formation of new libraries as part of the young nation's rise to economic dominance. However, the publicity for record sales caused problems for the trade in periods of crisis, including wars and economic depression, when buying luxury goods was no longer socially acceptable. Such external pressures also prompted changes both to the trade and the values projected onto books, for example in sales to support the Red Cross. The project has thus demonstrated the varied routes by which manuscripts came to be part of collections in this period, the range of values projected onto them, the extent to which this correlated with the development of scholarship, and the ways in which these phenomena laid foundations for subsequent scholarship.

J. Keppler jr. ‘The Magnet’, Puck Magazine, 1911