Bibliodiversity Day was created in 2010 by Latin American publisher members of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers, a professional collective that brings together more than 800 independent publishing houses from over 55 countries around the world.
Since then, the event has taken place every year, especially in Latin America where the term “bibliodiversidad” was first coined. On September 21, the first day of spring for the southern hemisphere, publishers, booksellers, book professionals and readers are invited to celebrate independent publishing and bibliodiversity.
Bibliodiversity is the response to the huge imbalance in the publishing market, where commercial logic vastly prevails over intellectual adventurousness, characteristic of small, independent, or unconventional publishers. For academic libraries, the imbalance between commercial and independent publishers is further exacerbated by institutional preferences for digital over print. Faced with the continued prevalence of print publishing in most regions of the world (including Europe), the spectrum of viewpoints collected and preserved by academic libraries risks becoming impoverished without the conscious intervention of librarians and book dealers in charge of such curatorial decisions.
With that here are a few recent acquisitions to showcase from the Romance languages collection on this day of bibliodiversity:
Starting September 15th, Hispanic Heritage Month begins as we celebrate and commend the great works and achievements made by the Latinx community. Find inspiring and excellent recommendations by Latinx authors below and look for more in the UC Berkeley Library’s collection on Overdrive.
This year’s welcome back newsletter for those working in the Romance languages focuses on digital and print resources. For the most up-to-date information on the UC Berkeley Library’s services, please continue to check the Library’s Get Help page.
A substantial run of the Spanish weekly film magazine Cinegramas: Revista Semanal (1934-36) was acquired months before the Covid pandemic hit but can now be consulted in The Bancroft Library. It ceased publication with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936.
Kick off this summer with these fantastic beach reads! From summer scares to beachside romances, check out Overdrive and the selections below for an irresistible read.
Cover art for AOQU III, 2 (2022) by Antonio Possenti.
As serials costs continue to soar and academic library budgets continue to decline, Open Access (OA) remains a viable path for knowledge sharing in different disciplines. In the wake of the $850k serials cancellation project currently underway, here’s one online journal that will emerge unscathed. AOQU (Achilles Orlando Quixote Ulysses). Rivista di epica is published at the Università degli Studi di Milano (University of Milan) and is now in its fourth year.
This biannual peer-reviewed journal aims to be a forum for scholars from multiple disciplines to discuss epics beyond linguistic, cultural and chronological boundaries. Epic poetry will be seen as a cultural, moral and ideological model, defining self-perception in history and society, in relationship with other cultures, ideologies as well as the collective imagination.
Celebrate this year’s Disability Pride Month with these great recommendations from the library. Spanning disability culture, activism, love, and finding yourself, our picks are a must-read for everyone!
Mario Cossío Olavide Universidad de Salamanca/IEMYRhd University of Minnesota/Center for Premodern Studies
Los Lucidarios
Cuando el célebre inspector de bibliotecas Henri Omont realizó el catálogo de los fondos de las bibliotecas públicas de Rouen, anotó que el manuscrito A283 de la Bibliothèque municipale –hoy Bibliothèque patrimoniale François Villon–, era un texto castellano del siglo XV al que le faltaba el título y que comenzaba en medio de la tabla de rúbricas. Tras la tabla, seguía el contenido de la obra, cuyas primeras líneas copió fielmente: “Maestro, yo soy tu discípulo e tú me as enseñado muy bien” (Cataloguegénérale, 184). El texto corresponde con el inicio del marco narrativo del Lucidario (BETA texid 1242).
Imagen 1. Rouen: Bibliothèque municipale, Ms A283, f. 2v
El manuscrito transmite el octavo testimonio conocido de esta obra auspiciada por Sancho IV, al que le he dado la sigla H (BETA manid 6360). Se trata de una copia posiblemente realizada en los talleres napolitanos de los reyes de Aragón y que llegó a Rouen gracias a la compra de manuscritos de Federico I de Nápoles realizada por el cardenal Georges d’Amboise durante el exilio del monarca en Tours (para una descripción completa de su contenido, véase Cossío Olavide, “Un nuevo manuscrito”).
A H hay que sumarle un noveno testimonio, I (BETA manid 3067), que identifiqué hace unas semanas. La existencia de este texto también pasó desapercibida por mucho tiempo. Se encontraba en la Biblioteca Ducal de Medinaceli y de él había dado cuenta Antonio Paz y Meliá con una enigmática nota en su parcial catálogo del fondo, entre los “manuscritos curiosos”: “Libro del rey Sancho IV – Diálogo entre maestro y discípulo (Letra del siglo XV)” (Serie 2: 537). Entre todas las obras de Sancho IV, esta descripción solo puede ser aplicada al Lucidario. Después de la venta de la biblioteca en 1964, el manuscrito pasó a la colección de Bartolomé March en Madrid y, tras la muerte de este, fue trasladado, junto al resto de manuscritos, a la Biblioteca de la Fundación Bartolomé March de Palma (sobre este manuscrito, véase Cossío Olavide, “Un nuevo testimonio”).
Resulta interesante resaltar que se trata de un testimonio tardío del Lucidario, de mediados del siglo XVI por su letra y filigranas, mientras que el cuatrocientos acumula seis testimonios de la obra. Hay dos fechados, A (BNE MSS/3369 [BETA manid 1434]) de 1455 y C (Real Bibl. II/793 [BETA manid 1435]) de 1477. D, el códice Puñonrostro (RAE Ms. 15 [BETA manid 1424]), puede ser datado por sus filigranas entre 1450 y 1460 (Cossío Olavide, “D (RAE 15)”). G (RAH Cód. 101 [BETA manid 2285]) es de finales de siglo, mientras que H (Rouen BM A283 [BETA manid 6360]) es de mediados de la centuria.
El testimonio B (Salamanca BU Ms. 1958 [BETA manid 1433]) fue durante largo tiempo considerado de este siglo, pero sus filigranas y la letra empleada –muy similar a la cancilleresca– apuntan que fue producido entre 1380 y 1410. Esto es reconfirmado por una nota de compra-venta en los últimos folios, acompañada por las firmas de sus antiguos posesores, dos maestros salmantinos de las primeras décadas del siglo XV. Didacus Gundisalvi, Diego González, catedrático de derecho en la Universidad de Salamanca hacia 1433, y un Johanes Gundisalvi, locum tenentem archipresbiter, que bien podría ser Juan González de Segovia, catedrático de derecho canónico, teólogo y representante de Juan II en el Concilio de Basilea.
Imagen 2. Detalle del fol. 104r del ms. 1958 de la Biblioteca General Histórica de la Universidad de Salamanca
Manuscritos hispánicos en colecciones europeas
Un manuscrito recientemente redescubierto por Cossío Olavide y Romera Manzanares (“Nuevos testimonios”) es el Series Nova 12736 de la Biblioteca Nacional de Austria (BETA manid 6409), que transmite un testimonio parcial de la mal llamada Crónica del moro Rasis (BETA texid 1400) y de la Crónica sarracina (BETA texid 1462) de Pedro de Corral, datado entre 1460 y 1480.
Imagen 3. Fol. 1r del ms. Series Nova 12736 de la Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
Además de estos textos, el manuscrito vienés transmite dos romances tempranos en el fol. 36r y la guarda pegada a la contratapa final: Virgilios y ¡Ay de mi Alhama! (o Paséabase el rey moro), según se dará cuenta en Cossío Olavide y Pichel (“Dos romances”).
Otro texto de interés es el ms. 9221 de la misma biblioteca, un manuscrito facticio con doble numeración que transmite un repertorio de inscripciones sepulcrales alemanas (fols. 1r-73r) y un breve texto latino de formato analístico sobre los reyes visigodos (fols. 1rbis-10rbis). Aunque se trata de una copia del siglo XIX, parece estar vinculado con el Cronicón de Cardeña.
Imagen 4. Fol. 2r-bis del ms. 9221 de la Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
El manuscrito B702 de la Biblioteca Nacional de Suecia (BETA manid 4469) transmite la versión C del Fuero general de Navarra (BETA texid 1195), ampliado con disposiciones y textos legales añadidos, como el Amelloramiento de Philippe d’Evreux III (BETA texid 3192), estructura compartida por otros testimonios del fuero (BNE MSS/248 [BETA manid 1370] y MSS/ 6705 [BETA manid 3392], Biblioteca Regionale Universitaria di Catania ms. U009 [BETA manid 4600] y Real Biblioteca ms. II/1872 [BETA manid 3242]). Como estos, transmite en los fols. 114r-116v, una interpolación navarro-aragonesa del título de los retos del Fuero Real (libro 4, título 19), incorporada para cubrir un vacío legal en materia de justicia nobiliaria del Fuero general (véase Utrilla Utrilla, “Las interpolaciones” y Fradejas Rueda, “Una decepción”).
Imagen 5. Fol. 114r del ms. B702 de la Kungliga Biblioteket, Estocolmo
Referencias
Cossío Olavide, Mario y Ricardo Pichel. “Dos romances tempranos en un manuscrito historiográfico del siglo XV: ¡Ay de mi Alhama! y Virgilios (con una nota sobre la lectura del Amadís primitivo).” Actas del VIII Congreso Internacional de la Asociación Convivio, en prensa.
_____. “Un nuevo manuscrito (Rouen, Bibliothèque municipale Villon ms. A283) y una nueva edición del Lucidario de Sancho IV.” e-Spania, vol. 44, 2023. https://doi.org/10.4000/e-spania.46735
Fradejas Rueda, José Manuel. “Una decepción y un hallazgo. Una nueva copia del Fuero de Navarra.” Las Siete Partidas del Rey Sabio: una aproximación desde la filología digital y material, editado por José Manuel Fradejas Rueda, Enrique Jerez y Ricardo Pichel, Iberoamericana, 2021, pp. 138-43. https://doi.org/10.31819/9783968691503-011
Omont, Henri, editor. Catalogue général de manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France. Départaments, t. I. Rouen, Imprimerie nationale, 1886.
Paz y Meliá, Antonio. Series de los más importantes documentos del Archivo y Biblioteca del Excelentísimo Señor Duque de Medinaceli. 2 vols. Imprenta alemana e Imprenta de Blass, 1915-1922.
Romera Manzanares, Ana y Mario Cossío Olavide. “Vieron el escrito y mostráronlo. Nuevos testimonios de la Crónica del moro Rasis y de la Crónica sarracina.” Revista de literatura medieval, vol. 34, 2022, pp. 249-68. https://doi.org/10.37536/RLM.2022.34.1.87619
Utrilla Utrilla, Juan. “Las interporlaciones sobre reptorios en los manuscritos del Fuero general de Navarra.” Prínicpe de Viana. Anejo, no. 2-3, 1986, pp. 765-76.
Celebrate Pride Month this June with novels, essays, romances, and humor by LGBTQIA writers. Browse through our Overdrive collection for even more great picks this month.
This May, celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with our wonderful and diverse collection of works by Asian American and Pacific Islander American authors. Encompassing books penned by Americans with roots from Sri Lanka to India to Hawai’i, with stories of college life, immigrant families, and much more, there are plenty of great novels to pick from. Check out more titles through Overdrive.
We are delighted to announce that PhiloBiblon has received a two-year implementation grant from the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program of the National Endowment for the Humanities to complete the mapping of PhiloBiblon from its almost forty-year-old relational database technology to the Wikibase technology that underlies Wikipedia and Wikidata. The project will start on the first of July and, Dios mediante, will finish successfully by the end of June 2025.
The fundamental problem is to map the 422,000+ records of PhiloBiblon’s bibliographies with their complexly interrelated relational tables to the triplestore structure of Wikibase. A triplestore relates two Items by means of a Property. Thus a Work is linked to an Author by the Property “written by.”
We received an NEH Foundations grant for this project in 2021, as described in detail in PhiloBiblon 2021 (n. 3): PhiloBiblon y el mundo wiki: propuesta de una colaboración. Over the course of the last two years, the pilot project team, consisting of Charles Faulhaber (PI), Patricia García Sánchez-Migallón and Almudena Izquierdo Andreu (doctores por la UCM); Berkeley undergraduate Spanish and data science majors (Julieta Soto, Serena Bai, Tina Lin, Cassandra Calciano, Martín García Ángel); Max Ziff (data engineer); and Josep Formentí (user interface programmer), has analyzed the data structures of PhiloBiblon’s ten relational tables (using BETA for the test cases) and worked out the procedures needed to convert them into triplestore structures.
Almudena and Patricia manually mapped more than 125 BETA records to FactGrid: PhiloBiblon as models for the automated processing of the rest. See for example the records for Alfonso X, BNE MSS/10069 (Cantigas de Santa Maria), and the 1497 edition of the translation of Boccacio’s Fiammeta. These models have been key for establishing the semantic relations between PhiloBiblon’s data fields and the Properties and Items in FactGrid. In many cases appropriate properties did not exist and it was necessary to create them. For example, something as simple as the Watermark property was needed in order to identify the various watermark types set forth in PhiloBiblon’s controlled vocabulary.
Julieta Soto and Martín García Ángel attacked the problem of creating almost 900 FactGrid records for the controlled vocabulary terms in BETA. This meant in the first place a search in FactGrid to make sure that an equivalent term did not already exist, in order to avoid creating duplicate records. Then they had to situate the term in the FactGrid ontology by specifying it as a “basic object” (e.g., fruit) or identifying it as a subclass of an appropriate basic object, for example facsímil impreso as a subclass of facsímil. At the same time they had to link the record to the code in PhiloBiblon, BIBLIOGRAPHY*RELATED_BIBCLASS*FAP, identifying a record in the Bibliography table as a print facsimile, thereby making it possible to search for such items.
The default viewer used in FactGrid, the same as that used in Wikidata, is not user friendly. Therefore Josep has created a prototype user interface, using data from the BETA Institutions table. We encourage you to play with it and tell us what you like or—more usefully—don’t like.
This change to Wikibase technology is designed to allow PhiloBiblon not only to take advantage of the linked open data of the semantic web, but also, and most importantly, to decrease sustainability costs. Because Wikibase is open-source software maintained by WikiMedia Deutschland, the software development arm of the Wikimedia Foundation, software maintenance costs for PhiloBiblon will be minimal in the future. This means that it will no longer be necessary to seek major grant support every five to seven years merely to keep up with technology change.
While this work has been going on, we have not neglected the vital process of cleaning up PhiloBiblon data in order to facilitate the automated mapping nor the equally vital process of adding new information to PhiloBiblon. For example, Pedro Pinto, a member of the BITAGAP team, has recently discovered a “folha desmembrada” (BITAGAP manid 7862) from the Livro 4 of the chancery records of king Fernando I (1345-1383) (BITAGAP manid 3255), separated from the manuscript in the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo. The newly discovered dismembered leaf contains five previously unknown royal documents. It was being used as the cover of the “Livro de Acordãos, 1620-24,” in the archive of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia in Coruche, a small city in the Santarem district on the Tagus river northeast of Lisbon.
The recycling of parchment leaves from discarded medieval manuscripts, presumably for more socially beneficial purposes, such as the protection of administrative records, was common in both Spain and Portugal in the sixteenth and seventeenh centuries. Such leaves have been the source of many unknown or poorly documented medieval texts. Perhaps the most spectacular example was Harvey Sharrer’s discovery in 1990 of the eponymous Pergaminho Sharrer (BITAGAP manid 1817), with musical notation for seven poems of king Dinis of Portugal (1279-1325). This had been used as the binding of a collection of notarial documents (Lisboa: Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo: Lisboa, Cartório Notarial de. N. 7-A, Caixa 1, Maça 1, livro 3).
Mariña Arbor Aldea
Arthur L-F. Askins
Vicenç Beltran Pepió
Álvaro Bustos Táuler
Antonio Cortijo Ocaña
Charles B. Faulhaber
Patricia García Sánchez-Migallón
Ángel Gómez Moreno
José Luis Gonzalo Sánchez-Molero
Almudena Izquierdo Andreu
Filipe Alves Moreira
María Morrás
Óscar Perea Rodríguez
Ricardo Pichel Gotérrez
Pedro Pinto
Maria de Lurdes Rosa
Nicasio Salvador Miguel
Martha E. Schaffer
Harvey L. Sharrer
Cristina Sobral
Lourdes Soriano Robles
