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Rare Book Exhibition

The Transmission of a Medieval Text

Bernard of Clairvaux’s Sermons on the Song of Songs

This exhibition, on view in the Edwin and Mary Meader Rare Book Room of Waldo Library May 5-16 (Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.), explores the transmission of Bernard’s text from manuscript to modern critical edition and features two medieval manuscripts and four fifteenth-century editions of the sermons, along with other relevant material. The manuscripts and early printed books, coming from throughout Western Europe, are part of the Obrecht Collection of Gethsemani Abbey, on permanent loan to the Institute of Cistercian Studies Library.

The display was developed by Micah Erwin as a part of his course of study for the MA in Medieval Studies at WMU and focuses primarily on how the physical presentation of the text developed over the centuries from its handwritten form on parchment to its printed form on paper.

Photograph: Gethsemani Abbey, MS 20 (on permanent loan to the Institute of Cistercian Studies Library, WMU), f. 1r