Blog Posts by Subject: Renaissance Studies

A Banned Book in the Spencer Collection

by Kathie Coblentz, Rare Materials Cataloger, Spencer Collection, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
September 27, 2017

Banned Books Week 2017 is this week (September 24th–30th). With that in mind, I would like to introduce a beautiful book, once banned, now residing in the Library’s Spencer Collection. It is a work of no particular bibliographical significance: an isolated volume (volume 2, the correspondence) from a ten-volume set of the works of St. Augustine.

Inside the Conservation Lab: Three-Dimensional "Seal-Print"

by Denise Stockman, Associate Paper Conservator, PTM
January 28, 2016

Treating and re-housing Coronation of the Virgin by the Trinity.

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Inside the Conservation Lab: Treatment of an Engraving on Silk

by Denise Stockman, Associate Paper Conservator, PTM
August 3, 2015

As a Paper Conservator, most of the objects that I treat are flat paper items, such as documents, maps, and prints. Recently, I worked on a more unusual project: an engraving on silk that came to conservation to be removed from its old mount and get better, updated housing.

Book List: Can't Get Enough of Wolf Hall?

by Nancy Aravecz, Jefferson Market Library
May 14, 2015

Reading (and watching) Wolf Hall was such an engrossing experience that it sent me into a tailspin where I read anything I could get my hands on about England during the Renaissance era. Here are some of the best books I found.

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The Life of Leonardo da Vinci

by Mina Hong, Epiphany Library
November 28, 2011

The performers began the show by asking the audience if anyone knew who da Vinci was. Many audience members had heard of him but did not know exactly what his various accomplishments were. With music, colorful costumes, and eye-catching props, the performers took the audience on a journey exploring the artist's life.

The children were amused by the precocious, thumb-sucking baby da Vinci and admired his creative ingenuity as a young artist. Several audience members delighted in learning about da Vinci's more mischievous endeavors, such as perfecting the stinkball; or his clever

Spencer Collection Book of the Month: A Wotton Binding

by Kathie Coblentz, Rare Materials Cataloger, Spencer Collection, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
February 14, 2011

Volume bound for Thomas Wotton (Detail)After I'd spent four Sunday evenings in January engrossed in the doings of the Earl of Grantham and his household on the PBS "Masterpiece Classic" series Downton Abbey, this month's choice for Spencer Collection Book of the Month was obvious: a book that lingered for more than three centuries in the company of barons and earls, before being exiled from their presence in exchange for cold, hard cash.

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Spencer Collection Book of the Month: Correspondence of St. Jerome

by Kathie Coblentz, Rare Materials Cataloger, Spencer Collection, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
January 10, 2011

When I started blogging last May, I hoped to post frequently, but my "day job" of cataloging the books I'd like to write about kept getting in the way. This year, I made a New Year's resolution to blog more regularly. To get started, I thought I would pick a "Spencer Collection Book of the Month" at the beginning of each month and write a short post about it—just enough to share with my readers some of the things that make it special, because the

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