About CULTIVATE MSS
The magnet by J. Udo Keppler, 1911
Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, Puck Building, 1911 June 21.
LC-DIG-ppmsca-27747 (digital file from original print)
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
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The CULTIVATE MSS project (2019-2024), funded by the European Research Council, explores how the trade in medieval manuscripts between 1900 and 1945 affected the development of ideas about the nature and value of European culture. It examines the impact of collectors of medieval manuscripts, experts and dealers on the formation of collections and the development of scholarship during this period, which saw a growing market for medieval books, with record prices at auction in the 1920s, before the global depression of the 1930s. Yet some manuscripts were considered more desirable than others, fetching higher prices and attracting more attention in publications. CULTIVATE MSS analyses the impact of the values of those involved in the early twentieth-century manuscript trade on the long-term locations of books and the study of the Middle Ages, with repercussions still being felt today.
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Bringing together a multidisciplinary research team working in partnership with the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts, the project reassesses medieval manuscripts’ place in twentieth-century culture and asks how this has continued to influence perceptions of the Middle Ages.
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CULTIVATE MSS is based at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Click on the link below to visit our webpage and learn more about the project and the team of researchers.
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