In this “lavishly illustrated and unfailingly engaging” book – a “love letter to collectors across nearly 10 centuries” (Library Journal) – one of the world’s leading experts on medieval manuscripts introduces us to people and passions behind these remarkable works of art, religion, and literature. Christopher de Hamel and moderator Curt DiCamillo will take us on an illustrated exploration of over a thousand years of history, ending in New York and the collection of J.P. Morgan.
In The Manuscripts Club, Christopher de Hamel introduces us to centuries of extraordinary keepers, makers, collectors, and companions of medieval manuscripts, many of whom have been overlooked in history, but who have been crucial to their survival. De Hamel profiles the fascinating figures who have spent their lives among illuminated manuscripts over the last thousand years: a monk in Normandy, a prince of France, a Florentine bookseller, an English antiquary, a rabbi from central Europe, a French priest, a Keeper at the British Museum, a Greek forger, a German polymath, a British connoisseur, and Belle da Costa Greene, the woman who created the most spectacular library in America—all of them members of what de Hamel calls the Manuscripts Club. Join de Hamel and Curator of Special Collections Curt DiCamillo for their online discussion of this exhilarating fraternity, illuminating how manuscripts have survived and been used by very different kinds of people in many different circumstances. This is a must-read book and a must-attend virtual event for art, history, and literature enthusiasts.
Additional Information
If you purchased the $55 book bundle that includes a signed copy of The Manuscripts Club: The People Behind a Thousand Years of Medieval Manuscripts, the book will be sent through our partners at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA. They will ship via priority mail within the U.S. (media mail to Massachusetts addresses). If you would like to purchase additional copies signed by the author, please order through the bookstore using the code AMINSP23.
To explore our list of upcoming American Inspiration author events, please visit https://www.americanancestors.org/inspire.
To access this event, please use this zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/95553507157
Christopher de Hamel is the author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, winner of both the Wolfson History Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize. Over the course of a long career at Sotheby’s, he may have catalogued more illuminated manuscripts than any other person alive, and possibly more than any one individual has ever done. He is a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and was the former librarian of Parker Library there, which includes many, even most, of the earliest manuscripts in the English language and in history. De Hamel lives in London.
Curt DiCamillo, FRSA, is an internationally recognized authority on English country houses and the decorative art. As Curator of Special Collections at American Ancestors, he provides strategic direction and expert guidance for organizing and exhibiting our extensive collection of family history-related artifacts and fine art. Curt has led highly successful heritage tours to England and Scotland, lectured extensively in the United States and abroad, and taught classes on British culture and art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He was previously Executive Director of The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA.