Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T10:58:16.920Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Exhibiting the Maqdala Manuscripts: African Scribes: Manuscript Culture of Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Eyob Derillo
Eyob Derillo*
Affiliation:
Asian and African Studies Department, The British Library, UK
Get access

Extract

The major purpose of this article is to document the exhibition “African Scribes: Manuscript Culture of Ethiopia” (hereafter “African Scribes”), which opened on 6 February 2018 in the Sir John Ritblat Treasures of the British Library Gallery in London.

Items in the Sir John Ritblat Treasures of the British Library Gallery range from the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus to John Lennon's letters. The display tells the I literary history of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Out of the 240 items on permanent display, there are only two items from Ethiopia representing Africa.

The main objectives of the “African Scribes” exhibition were to pay tribute to unknown Ethiopian scribes and artists and also, to a certain extent, to direct attention to some diverse and significant items in the British Library collection that had never been on display before. The display explored the art, binding and calligraphy of manuscripts of Ethiopia.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Research and Documentation , Volume 135: Special Issue: Archives and Collections for/in Ethiopian Studies , 2019 , pp. 102 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © African Research & Documentation 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

British Library, Asian and African studies blog. (2018). African Scribes: Manuscript Culture of Ethiopia, https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2018/02/african-scribes-manuscript-culture-of-ethiopia.html (consulted 2019, May 27th).Google Scholar
Chojnacki, S. (1983) Major themes in Ethiopian painting: indigenous developments, the influence of foreign models and their adaptation from the 13th to the 19th century, Wiesbaden, Steiner.Google Scholar
Hable-Selassie, S. (1981). Bookmaking in Ethiopia. [S.I, s.n.].Google Scholar
Isenberg and Krapf, Journals of Isenberg and Krapf (London, 1843), at https://archive.org/stream/journalsofrevmesOOisen/journalsofrevmesOOisen_djvu.txt.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, R. (1973) ‘The Library of the Emperor Tewodros II at Mäqdäla’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 36(1), pp. 15-42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Said, E. W. (1978) Orientalism, New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Strelcyn, S. (1978) Catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts in the British Library acquired since the year 1877, London: British Museum Publications.Google Scholar
Valieva, N. (2017) ‘Ms Ethiopic 4 of the Collection of the India Office: a strayed Manuscript of Gadla Lālibalā’, Aethiopica, 20, pp. 190-201.Google Scholar
Wikipedia contributors (2019) Ethiopian manuscript collections from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ethiopian_manuscript_collections&oldid=887734277.Google Scholar
Wright, W. (1877) Catalogue of the Ethiopic manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the year 1847, London: The British Museum.Google Scholar