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Academic papers of Albinia C. de la Mare

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The papers comprise index cards relating to libraries, manuscripts, scribes and related topics; correspondence and reference files relating to de la Mare's roles at the Bodleian Library and King's College London, and to her research, including preparatory work for publications and lectures, images of manuscripts, transcripts and notes; research papers of de la Mare and Laura Nuvoloni for A.C. de la Mare and L. Nuvoloni, Bartolomeo Sanvito. The Life and Work of a Renaissance Scribe (The Handwriting of the Italian Humanists, II), eds. A.R.A. Hobson, C. de Hamel (Paris: Association internationale de Bibliophilie, 2009); and images of manuscripts in the form of slides and microfilm.

Dates

  • Creation: 1930-2007

Extent

32.1 Linear metres (292 boxes)

Language of Materials

  • English
  • Latin

Conditions Governing Access

Some material is closed.

Preferred Citation

Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark, e.g. MS. 18746/1].

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Full range of shelfmarks:

MSS. 18746/1-292

Collection ID (for staff)

CMD ID 18746

Abstract

Academic papers of Albinia C. de la Mare (1932-2001), librarian and palaeographer

Biographical / Historical

Albinia Catherine de la Mare, known as 'Tilly', granddaughter of the poet Walter de la Mare, was born in London in 1932. She studied History at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and in 1954 was registered as a postgraduate student at the Warburg Institute, University of London, beginning an M.A. thesis on Vespasiano da Bisticci, the Florentine bookseller, based on his Vite di uomini illustri, and aiming to trace as many as possible of the manuscripts that he published. The M.A. was converted to a Ph.D thesis under the supervision of Ernst Gombrich. It was formally presented in 1965-1966 as 'Vespasiano da Bisticci, Historian and Bookseller' and remains unpublished.

In the early 1960s, de la Mare began work as a temporary cataloguer of the collection of medieval manuscripts of James Lyell at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and she continued the work from 1964, following her appointment as an Assistant Librarian. It was published as Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, by James P.R. Lyell (Oxford, 1971).

De la Mare's particular study was of Italian Renaissance manuscripts and humanistic scribes, an area in which she became a world authority. She analysed and discussed the handwriting of famous humanists like Petrarch and Coluccio Salutati, assessed evidence concerning the transmission of classical, patristic, and humanistic texts, and drew together information on Italian centres of fifteenth century manuscript production. She contributed numerous papers to journals and other publications from 1965 but much of her research, notably the reconstructions she proposed of the careers of hundreds of named and anonymous scribes writing the new script of humanism, remains unpublished.

In 1973, her major work, The Handwriting of Italian Humanists Vol. I, fasc. 1 (Oxford, 1973), describing the lives and writing of Petrarch, Boccaccio, Coluccio Salutati, Poggio, Niccoli and others, was published. Further work in this area culminated in the publication of 'New Research on Humanist Scribes in Florence, 1440-1525', in A. Garzelli ed., Miniatura fiorentina del Rinascimento, 1440-1525: Un Primo Censimento (Florence, 1985). Her study of the work of Bartolomeo Sanvito was unfinished at the time of her death and was continued by her collaborator, Dr. Laura Nuvoloni. It was published as A.C. de la Mare and L. Nuvoloni, Bartolomeo Sanvito. The Life and Work of a Renaissance Scribe (The Handwriting of the Italian Humanists, II), eds. A.R.A. Hobson and C. de Hamel (Paris: Association internationale de Bibliophilie, 2009).

De la Mare was a member of the Comité Internationale de Paléographie, and a Fellow of the British Academy from 1987. She succeeded Julian Brown as Professor of Palaeography at King's College London in 1989, retiring in 1997. In 1993 she was appointed O.B.E. She died in Oxford on 19 Dec 2001.

Arrangement

The present catalogue is based on 'The Archive of the Scholarly Working Papers of A.C. de la Mare: A Finding List', compiled between 2002 and 2012 (edited 2014-2015) by Dr. Xavier van Binnebeke, a former research assistant to de la Mare.

The archive is described in van Binnebeke's Finding List in series of index cards, correspondence and reference files, slides, and microfilm, and this arrangement has been preserved in the present catalogue. In 2003 most of the materials relating to de la Mare's research on Bartolomeo Sanvito were temporarily deposited in the British Library for further study by Dr. Laura Nuvoloni for the publication of A.C. de la Mare and L. Nuvoloni, Bartolomeo Sanvito. The Life and Work of a Renaissance Scribe (The Handwriting of the Italian Humanists, II), eds. A.R.A. Hobson, C. de Hamel (Paris: Association internationale de Bibliophilie, 2009). In 2012 these were returned to the Bodleian Library. They were not included in van Binnebeke's finding list and have been added here as a separate series (Research materials of Albinia de la Mare and Laura Nuvoloni). Their arrangement for transport to and from the British Library has largely been retained.

The sorting process for the compilation of the 2014-2015 Finding List entailed the relocation of certain items. This is occasionally marked by notes of the new locations inserted in files or boxes. Titles of well-known classical works are abbreviated throughout, e.g. 'Livy, Dec. I' for Livy, Decades I. Box references used in van Binnebeke's 'Finding List' are given in descriptions as 'Former reference'.

Custodial History

Following de la Mare's departure from the Bodleian Library for King's College London in 1989, many of her papers remained in storage at the Library. The whole of her papers were bequeathed to the Library and in 2002, papers that had been stored at de la Mare's home joined the materials already at the Library.

In 2003 most of the materials relating to de la Mare's research on Bartolomeo Sanvito were temporarily deposited in the British Library for further study by Dr. Laura Nuvoloni for the publication of A.C. de la Mare and L. Nuvoloni, Bartolomeo Sanvito. The Life and Work of a Renaissance Scribe (The Handwriting of the Italian Humanists, II), eds. A.R.A. Hobson, C. de Hamel (Paris: Association internationale de Bibliophilie, 2009). In 2012 these were returned to the Bodleian Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Bequeathed by Albinia de la Mare

Bibliography

  • A.C. de la Mare, 'Messer Piero Strozzi, a Florentine Priest and Scribe', published in A.S. Osley ed., Calligraphy and Palaeography. Essays Presented to Alfred Fairbank on his Seventieth Birthday (London, 1965)
  • J.G.G. Alexander and A.C. de la Mare, Italian Manuscripts in the Library of Major J.R. Abbey (London, 1969)
  • A.C. de la Mare, Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, by James P.R. Lyell (Oxford, 1971)
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'Florentine Manuscripts of Livy in the fifteenth century', published in T.A. Dorey ed., Livy (London, 1971)
  • A.C. de la Mare, The Handwriting of Italian Humanists Vol. I, fasc. 1 (Oxford, 1973)
  • A.C. de la Mare and D.F.S.Thomson, 'Poggio's earliest manuscript?', published in Italia Medioevale e Umanistica XVI (1973)
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'The Shop of a Florentine cartolaio in 1426', published in B. Maracchi Biagiarelli and D. Rhodes eds., Studi offerti a Roberto Ridolfi (Florence, 1973)
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'The Return of Petronius to Italy', published in J.J.G. Alexander and M.T. Gibson eds., Medieval Learning and Literature. Essays Presented to R. W. Hunt (Oxford, 1976)
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'The library of Francesco Sassetti (1421-1490)', published in C.H. Clough ed., Cultural Aspects of the Italian Renaissance. Essays in Honour of P.O. Kristeller (Manchester - New York, 1976)
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'A fragment of Augustine in the hand of Theodericus Werken', published in Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6. 5 (1976)
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'Humanistic Script: The First Ten Years', published in F. Krafft and D. Wuttke eds., Das Verhältniss der Humanisten zum Buch (Boppard, 1977)
  • A.C. de la Mare and L. Hellinga, 'The First Book Printed in Oxford: The Expositio Symboli of Rufinus', published in Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, VII. 2 (1978)
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'New Research on Humanist Scribes in Florence, 1440-1525', published in A. Garzelli ed., Miniatura fiorentina del Rinascimento, 1440-1525: Un Primo Censimento (Florence, 1985)
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'Duke Humfrey's English Palladius', published in Bodleian Library Record, 12, 1985
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'Cosimo and his books', published in F. Ames-Lewis ed., Cosimo il Vecchio de' Medici, 1389-1464. Essays in Commemoration of the 600th Anniversary of Cosimo de' Medici's Birth (Oxford, 1992)
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'A Palaeographer's Odyssey', published in J. Onians ed., Sight and Insight: Essays on Art and Culture in Honour of E.H. Gombrich at 85 (London, 1994)
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'Vespasiano da Bisticci as producer of classical manuscripts in 15th century Florence', published in C.A. Chavannes-Mazel and M.M. Smith eds., Medieval Manuscripts of the Latin Classics: Production and Use. Proceedings of the Seminar in the History of the Book to 1500, Leiden 1993 (Los Altos Hills, California, 1996)
  • J. Ruysschaert, A.C. de la Mare and A. Marucchi eds., I codici latini datati della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, I, Nei fondi Archivio S. Pietro, Barberini, Boncompagni, Borghese, Borgia, Capponi, Chigi, Ferrajoli, Ottoboni (Vatican City, 1997)
  • A.C. de la Mare, 'Marginalia and glosses in the manuscripts of Bartolomeo Sanvito of Padua', published in V. Fera, G. Ferraù and S. Rizzo eds., Talking to the Text: Marginalia from Papyri to Print. Proceedings of a conference held at Erice, 26 September-3 October 1998, as the 12th Course of International School for the Study of Written Records (Messina, 2002)
  • A.C. de la Mare and X. van Binnebeke, 'A List of Books from the Florentine Braccio Martelli', published in Tributes to Jonathan J.G. Alexander: The Making and Meaning of Illuminated Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Art and Architecture, eds S. L'engle and G.B. Guest (London, 2006)
  • A.C. de la Mare and L. Nuvoloni, Bartolomeo Sanvito. The Life and Work of a Renaissance Scribe (The Handwriting of the Italian Humanists, II), eds. A.R.A. Hobson and C. de Hamel (Paris: Association internationale de Bibliophilie, 2009)
Title
Catalogue of the academic papers of Albinia C. de la Mare
Status
Published
Author
Chrissie Webb. Based on a 'Finding List' compiled by Dr. Xavier van Binnebeke.
Date
2024
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Edition statement
First edition.

Repository Details

Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository

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