Visit to Austrian National Library

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David_Knight
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Visit to Austrian National Library

Postby David_Knight » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:31 am

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to pay a brief visit to the Department of Manuscripts at the Osterreich Bibliotek National in Vienna, Austria. My time was unfortunately very limited, but I was able to view Mair's Codex Vindob. 10825 for about an hour. I was not able to take any pictures.

The Codex is massive; its gold leaf-edged pages measure roughly 10x16" and are very firmly bound in thick, ornate leather. The figures on each page are painted in bright blues, greens, yellows and reds using ink and (I believe) watercolor. While I still consider the Dresden codices to be superior artistically, I must admit that the Vienna edition is much more impressive in color than it appears from the black and white images we have online.

The only real revelation I got from seeing the images in color was that the halberds in Halberd 1-11, 14 and 15 had wooden-colored blades that matched their shafts, verifying that they were all-wood training weapons (we could already see they had rounded thrusting tips), while Halberd 12, 13, 16 and 17 clearly showed metal blades and sharp spikes set on wooden shafts.

Unfortunately, I did not have time to view the poleax images in Cod. Vindob. 10826 during this trip.

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Will Adamson
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Postby Will Adamson » Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:24 am

Wow! That is an experience that I'm sure most of us commit the sin of envy towards you for.

Is it easier to do transcription when looking at an original rather than the online reproductions, even photographed, that we usually get when one of these is released? I find myself looking at some of these like they're a Palm Beach County ballot from 2000.
"Do you know how to use that thing?"
"Yes, pointy end goes in the man."
Diego de la Vega and Alejandro Murrieta from The Mask of Zorro.

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David_Knight
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Location: Brooklyn, NY

Postby David_Knight » Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:00 pm

Yes, it is absolutely easier to read the MS in person because one doesn't have to scroll up and down to view the full page at actual size. And since the original pages are much larger than 8.5x11", even printing the digital images out doesn't help.

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Mike Cartier
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Location: USA Florida

Postby Mike Cartier » Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:30 pm

i wll be sure to punish you accordingly at our next bout David :)

you lucky fellow you
Mike Cartier
Meyer Frei Fechter
www.freifechter.com


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