Connecting the fragments of a broken book

Part of the English and Theatre Studies seminar series

Dr Rose Faunce
Centre for Digital Humanities Research
Australian National University

The collecting of single leaves snipped from medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts can be traced to the 15th century. This seminar highlights some of the medieval manuscript fragments that have found their way into Australian and New Zealand collections. It explores the opportunities presented by the digital research laboratory Fragmentarium launched in 2018 to map and exchange data, and facilitate international collaborations to locate and virtually reconnect related fragments dispersed around the globe.

Dr Rose Faunce has a background in the study of the history of the illustrated book. She has worked in the rare book and antiquarian print trade in Australia and North America, specialising in natural history illustration. An encounter with the 14th century fragmentary Cocharelli Codex, dispersed in collections in London, Florence and Cleveland, led to a PhD under the supervision of Emeritus Professor Margaret Manion (University of Melbourne, 2017), to reconstruct it, transcribe and translate its text for the first time, and analyse the illustration gracing every page.