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Peter Kidd

@mssprovenance.bsky.social

850 followers 58 following 130 posts

Oxford-based researcher of medieval manuscripts; formerly of the Bodleian and the BL; especially interested in provenance and illumination; currently preparing a catalogue of the medieval and renaissance manuscripts of University College, Oxford.

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

Richard Ovenden @richove.bsky.social · 6d

MLGB is back!! Delighted that Medieval Libraries of Great Britain @bodleian.ox.ac.uk is now back online. We are also working had on plans for the next phase of the resource, enhancing & adding data & functionality. HUGE thanks to my colleagues for their hard & clever work mlgb.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

dan sinker @dansinker.com · 8d

Portland never stops being Portland.

competentposter @competentposter.bsky.social · 9d

wizard frog is insane

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 14d

New to me: a scribe using a piece of scrap parchment for pen-trials. Is he also using it to avoid smudging his newly-copied text, or is he using it to keep the main bifolium flat (as he is not using a knife for that purpose)?

(Context here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommaso...)

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 18d

This "if" is doing a lot of heavy lifting:

“If the Book of Kells was made in Pictland, this rewrites our understanding of early medieval Scotland.”

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 20d

I'm confused!
The April page has the expected layout: Dominical letters, Golden numbers, etc. at the left.
But the first side you posted appears to have the gradings at the left, which is very weird.
Was it written with two months per page, or something?

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 20d

The Scan & Deliver service is one of the many things that makes the Bodleian The Best Research Library in the World™

#UnashamedFanBoy

Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 20d

How far did you get?
And can you share an image of the other side?

Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 20d

Another post about:
"Why it’s time to leave Academia.edu"
substack.com/home/post/p-...

(In a word: enshittification)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshitt...

Why it’s time to leave Academia.edu

Why I'm deleting my account

substack.com

Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 21d

The short answer is: I don't know. (I assumed that the wax was mixed with soot, or something, but the example in the display-case is a facsimile, not the original, so I am reluctant to base anything on what it looked like).

Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 22d

L'expert, Le dupe, & Le faussaire!

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 22d

Anyone interested in medieval fakes should plan a trip to Paris. The Musée Cluny has a show from 7 Oct. to 11 Jan.,
www.musee-moyenage.fr/activites/pr...
and the Archives nationales has one from 15 Oct. to 2 Feb.:

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 22d

I could never really grasp how writing on medieval wax tablets would be legible, until a recent visit to the _Archives nationales_ in Paris: in this example, the stylus leaves a white trace in the black wax:

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

Axel Gelfert @agelfert.bsky.social · 24d

Just deleted my academia.edu account after 17 (!) years -- the company's exploitative new terms of use are outrageous, and it's a shame such a blatant commercial sell-out is able to operate under the .edu top-level domain. If you are still on academia.edu, please consider deleting your account too.

Screenshot of account deletion process on academia.edu

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.bsky.social · 26d

I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose???

This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.

By creating an Account with Academia.edu, you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent for Academia.edu to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, city, institutional affiliations, citations, mentions, publications, and areas of interest) in any manner, including for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting the use or purchase of Academia.edu's Services.

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 26d

For more post-war provenance, see my blogpost here: mssprovenance.blogspot.com/2022/08/manu...

Manuscripts from the Collection of W. Charles Fewtrell

Fewtrell provided a Contents page which begins:

mssprovenance.blogspot.com

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 26d

It took time for Senate House to identify, trace, and make contact with the rightful owner, but the affair has now been brought to a happy conclusion: Senate House has been allowed to keep the manuscript, so it will continue to be available for teaching and research:
www.london.ac.uk/senate-house...

Intrepid detective work by Senate House Library reunites rare manuscript with rightful owner

Intrepid detective work by staff at Senate House Library has resulted in the reuniting of a rare 14th century manuscript looted by the Nazis with its rightful owner

www.london.ac.uk

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 26d

It is listed as the property of 'Comte Chandon de Briailles'. It misdated as 16th-century: presumably simply a typo, substituting the Roman numeral 'XVI' for 'XIV'. Apart from the date, all the details match, and the binding even has the arms of the Comte Chandon de Briailles.

/..

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 26d

A few years ago I recognised a manuscript, now in the University of London's Senate House Library, as being included in the list of goods looted during the Nazi era: Le Répertoire des biens spoliés en France durant la guerre 1939-1945.

/..

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

The Beaverton @thebeaverton.com · Sep 11

Second Amendment activists in shock as Charlie Kirk shot instead of just schoolchildren

OREM, UT - Americans who champion the right to bear arms were shocked Wednesday as controversial commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed, as opposed to the ordinarily acceptable trend of mass shootings in schools.

www.thebeaverton.com

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · Sep 11

For comparison, here are some others:

Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · Sep 11

On the whole the Très Riches Heures exhibition at Chantilly is excellent, but some MSS are astonishingly badly displayed:

#MrGrumpy

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · Sep 5

Ooh-- I wish I were there with you!

Dr Alison Ray @liber-ray.bsky.social · Sep 4

Fun first morning of a medieval group jolly to the incredible Très Riches Heures and library of the Duc de Berry exhibition at Chantilly! 📜🎉

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

Benzie, the puppies Penn & Teller, and Richard @rdaily.medsky.social · Aug 29

Being a doctor in the US in 2025

#Medsky

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

Daniel Carlson @danielwcarlson.bsky.social · Aug 29

We built a calculator that doesn't work, but don't worry, it's also a plagiarism machine that will tell you to kill yourself. It runs on the world's oceans and costs 10 trillion dollars.

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · Aug 28

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