Illuminated manuscripts of devotional texts are highlights of the PSU Library Special Collections rare book collection. A generous endowment from alumnus A. Gordon Hunter provides, through the Oregon Community Foundation, funding to purchase rare and significant materials that support teaching and research at PSU.
"The Gift of the Word" is a collaborative project exploring the history, creation, and significance of a selection of manuscripts from different periods and cultures. Students of Professor Anne McClanan’s art history seminar in Spring 2012 presented their research on these manuscripts in an exhibition which included the catalogue and podcasts collected here.
"The Gift of the Word" celebrates the legacy of Gordon Hunter by representing the active engagement and learning at the heart of Portland State.
-
"Gift of the Word" Exhibit Catalogue
Katherine Bass, Karena Bennett, Jeffrey Brown, Bronwyn Dorhofer, Normandie Holmes, Denise Loncar, Alexandra Park, Darcie Hart Riedner, and Christy Valentine
This is the catalogue for the exhibit "Gift of the Word"
-
Ethiopian Scroll
Karena Bennett
PSU student Karena Bennett presents her research on the creation and meaning of an Ethiopian magic scroll from the 19th century. Scrolls such as this were created for individuals, inscribed with specific prayers and then worn as talismans. The text is in Ge’ez, an Ethiopian liturgical language, and the images depict guardian angels and a priest watching over the supplicant. The scroll is made of vellum and was originally a single continuous piece.
Dimensions: 15 x 192 cm
Portland State University Library, Special Collections, Mss 39
-
Abbasid Qur’an Leaf in Kufic Script Description
Jeffrey Brown
PSU student Jeff Brown presents his research on a leaf from a Qur’an manuscript in Kufic script. This vellum leaf dates to approximately the turn of the tenth century (early 4th century AH), the height of the Abbasid dynasty, and may have been produced in one of the great centers of Islamic culture such as Cairo, Damascus, or Kairouan. Kufic script is common to Qur’ans from this era. This page is from Surah 87 (Al-A’la), verses 11-15 [verso], 16-19 [recto], which warns against the perils of a worldly existence that ignores the path to salvation put forth by scripture.
Dimensions: 13 x 20 cm Origin: Near East or North Africa
Portland State University Library, Special Collections, Mss. 36
-
Coptic Prayer Book Leaves: Overview of Text
Bronwyn Dorhofer
PSU student Bronwyn Dorhofer presents her research on a selection of pages from an 18th-century prayer book, an Agpeya, written in Bohairic Coptic and Arabic. This manuscript on paper was transcribed for the purpose of hourly prayers and hymns and it is likely that the text would have been read and sung by a Coptic priest in a church setting as part of daily ritual. Cresting the top of each prayer page are hand-drawn archways reflecting the interlaced geometric patterns in Islamic designs.
Dimensions: 19.5 x 13.7 cm Origin: Egypt
Portland State University Library, Special Collections, Mss. 40
-
Coptic Prayer Book Leaves: Warrior Saint Images
Denise Loncar
PSU student Denise Loncar presents her research on a selection of illustrated pages from an 18th-century Coptic prayer book. The hand-painted images of Christian saints on horseback (St. George, St. Theodore the Eastern, and St. Mercurius) are similar to equestrian representations seen in Eastern Orthodox, Armenian, and Ethiopian iconography, indicating a complex interplay of cultural influences that is also shown by the Coptic, Arabic, and Greek text.
Dimensions: 19.5 x 13.7 cm Origin: Egypt
Portland State University Library, Special Collections, Mss. 40
-
Coptic Prayer Book Leaves: Video Exploration
Jordan Long
PSU student Jordan Long wrote and narrated this video as part of PSU’s University Studies program for the Medieval Portland Capstone taught by Professor Anne McClanan. This five-minute presentation demonstrates that the hand-illuminated Agpeya in Portland State’s Special Collections is a rare example of a manuscript book created after the rise of printing, describes the technique, materials, and meanings of its illustrations and calligraphy, and identifies its liturgical use as a ritual text.
Soundtrack: Choir of the Coptic Church, "Litugical Hymns," Chants from the Holy Land, vol. 35: Ecumenical Evening.
Portland State University Library, Special Collections, Mss. 40