-An academic insight into one of the oldest recipe books in the world -Discover the relevance of this manuscript's physical form to its medieval audience Compositiones Variae is the earliest surviving example of medieval artisanal recipes. Translated into Latin from a Hellenistic source and copied at Lucca, it is thought to preserve technical knowledge extant in Tuscany from around 800 CE, and to have offered practical assistance to the Lucca scriptorium. Studies of the text have examined its historical and liturgical contents; however, its intriguing physical and material features have largely been ignored. As medieval manuscript culture conveyed meaning through textual content and physical object, both should be considered equally. This new publication is among the first to take such a holistic approach. The significance of the Compositiones Variae becomes apparent when its context is reconstructed, using evidence supplied by numerous other texts.
An investigation of functional relationships - production, uses, practices and preservation: in short, what the object's materiality represents - reveals the Compositiones Variae as a social product that can only be approached from a historicist's critical perspective. Compositiones Variae situates this seminal text within the socio-cultural history of medieval knowledge and power.
Table of Contents:
Contents
Acknowledgements
The Compositiones variae: introduction to historical and contemporary approaches
Date and origin
Source(s) of the recipes
Methodological considerations
This book Ch.1. Material and technical description of Lucca, Biblioteca Capitolare Feliniana, Cod.490
Introduction
The parchment Quire structure
Preparing the parchment for writing: pricking & ruling
Binding
Foliation
Boards
Quire signatures
Fly leaves & pastedowns
Evidence of earlier restoration campaigns
Leather covering
Clasps
Placement of writing block on the page & description of inks
Condition
Ch.2. The historical context of the Compositiones variae
Lucca: its significance as a centre introduction
Roman & late antique Lucca
Lombard Lucca
Roman & other roads
The pilgrimage
Early Carolingian Lucca
The cathedral library
Terminology: 'scuola cantorum', clerical or cathedral schools, scribal and chancery schools, scriptoria', workshops
Conclusion
Ch.3. The textual format of Lucca, Bib. Cap. 'Feliniana', Cod.490
Survival of classical technical literature
Formats of ancient & medieval manuscripts
'Oh, how burdensome is script!'
The Lucca compendium: a paradigm shift? a new codex form?
Compendia
Libelli (booklets): fabrication of Cod.490
Format history: a hypothesis
Ch.4. The content of the Compostiones variae unit
Introduction
Early modern interest in the Compositiones variae
Compositiones variae: 'recipes'
Character of the 'recipes'
1. Descriptive entries
2. Incomplete instructions
3. Fuller instructions
4. Recipe series
Quires 29 and 28
Folio 211 verso
The relationship of Compositiones variae and Mappae Clavicula 'recipes'
Ch.5: Artistic, artisanal and architectural context for the reception of the Compositiones variae at Lucca 'Art' in Lombardy
Clerical interest in the Compositiones variae in late eighth-century Lucca
The 'Good Shepherd' miniature
The broader context
Appendix 1: Contents of Lucca, Bibl. Cap. Feliniana, Codex 490
Appendix 2: List of detailed physical characteristics of the text block of Lucca, Bibl.
Cap. Feliniana, Codex 490
Bibliography
Lists of illustrations by chapter with captions
Index
Review :
Burns's work offers a simple, but at the same time fascinating, work hypothesis.
