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Language is a fundamental sphere in which humans become and act as humans. In addition to cartography, vernacular languages and literatures became another major device whereby individuals and communities staked out their positions vis-à-vis both history and the larger world around them. What role can you see vernacular language and script, both actual and imagined, play among the emerging worlds on display?
Many of William Shakespeare’s plays were published in varying quality and distributed during his lifetime in smaller, more ephemeral, quarto editions. However, a more authoritative and generally higher quality folio of his dramatic works was collected and published as the “First Folio” in 1623, after the playwright’s death. This printing, from 1632, is styled on the First Folio.
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies: published according to the true originall copies by William Shakespeare. (1632).
Printed in 1572, the Melichioris showcases a variety of early modern printing techniques. Characteristics such as the numerous fonts, embellished header and highly decorated first letter draw on the aesthetics of illuminated manuscripts, which were more expensive than printed texts. Look closely for the nude ladies hiding in the foliage of the drop cap who illustrate the often playful nature of early printed works. Melchior Guilandino was an itinerant Italian herbalist journeyed to the east in hopes of finding new botanical specimens. The treatise analyzes Pliny’s Natural History in an attempt to revitalize the materia medica. It includes a discussion of papyrus and Egyptian flora.
Melchioris Guilandini Papyrus, hoc est, Commentarius in tria C Plinij maioris de papyro capita: accessit Hieronymi Mercurialis Repugnantia, qua pro Galeno strenuè pugnatur: item Melchioris Guilandini assertio sententiae in Galenum â sepronunciatae by Melchior Guilandinus. (1572).
Though the organ is associated with various forms of religious music today, most of the songs contained in this codex represent secular music. The numerous types of song included here such as the madrigal and the balleta were composed for multiple singers. Consider the interplay between the poem on the left, and the musical notation on the right, which would have combined to become a sung song. The inclusion of lyrics and music together is reminiscent of modern album liner notes.
Il codice Squarcialupi: MS. Mediceo Palatino 87, Biblioteca laurenziana di Firenze by F. Alberto Gallo, editor. (Facsimile 1992).
The Codex Nuttall is one of few Mixtec records that survived the Spanish Conquest of meso-America. Scholars believe it was made in the 14th century. It is one of a few codices that uses native pictography dating to pre-Hispanic times. It has 47 sections of animal skin that fold like a screen. Broadly speaking, the codex contains the story of the wars, alliances, and conquests of 11th and 12th century rulers. Featured prominently is Lord Eight Deer Jaguar Claw and his military conquests. Not meant to be “read,” in a traditional sense, these pictographs were aids to Bards well-versed in Mixtec oral histories. The stories begin in the upper right corner of the page and continue to the left. The scenes depicted here show Eight Deer’s military prowess.
Codex Nuttall: Facsimile of an Ancient Mexican Codex Belonging to Lord Zouche of Harynworth, England by Zelia Nuttall, author of introduction; Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, publisher. (Facsimile, 1902).
The ideal society in Thomas More’s Utopia has its own created language, a small sample of which is displayed here. As with the cartographic representation of Utopia, it is unclear whether the language is representative of earnest or satirical sentiment. Utopia was originally composed in Latin, and the idealized Utopian language shares more similarities with that language than with English.
De optimo reip. statu, deque noua insula Vtopia libellus uere aureus, nec minus salutaris quàm festiuus clarissimi disertissimiq[ue] uiri Thomae Mori inclytae ciuitatis Londinensis ciuis & vicecomitis; Epigrammata clarissimi disertissimiq[ue] uiri Tomae Mori pleraq[ue] è Graecis uersa. Epigrammata Des. Erasmi Roterodami by Thomas More and Desiderius Erasmus. (1518).
Featuring fanciful kanji that mimicked the style of Japanese writing, the image displayed here represents one of the challenges of capturing encounters with unfamiliar rituals and customs. Amida Buddha (the Buddha of the Western Paradise) is depicted here as a dog riding a many-headed horse. While Amida Buddha was an important figure to pray to when approaching death so as to be reborn in his paradise, his portrayal as a canine here appears to be either a mistake or a product of fancy, though a nineteenth century image produced in Italy shares much of the iconography depicted here.
Atlas Japannensis: being remarkable addresses by way of embassy from the East-India Company of the United provinces, to the emperor of Japan: containing a description of their several territories, cities, temples, and fortresses; their religions, laws, and customs; their prodigious wealth, and gorgeous habits; the nature of their soil, plants, beasts, hills, rivers, and fountains: with the character of the ancient and modern Japanners. Collected out of their several writings and journals by Arnoldus Montanus and John Ogilby. (1670).
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