A Legacy Inscribed: The Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection of Manuscripts
March 11 - August 16, 2013
The Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection of Manuscripts, donated to the Penn Libraries by Libraries Board members Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Schoenberg (C'53, WG'56), embodies the great scientific and philosophical traditions of the ancient and medieval world.
The manuscripts in the current exhibition document the extraordinary achievements of European, Arabic, and Jewish scholars, philosophers, and the practitioners of science, medicine, and law.
Recent acquisition
Likely produced in London in the third quarter of the fifteenth century, the Genealogical Chronicle of the Kings of England, to Edward IV, known as UPenn Ms. Roll 1066, is a compilational tour de force of the greatest hits of medieval historians, assimilating the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth, William of Malmesbury, and Ranulf Higden, among others.
The roll is an imposing physical presence: a staggering thirty-seven feet and thirteen membranes long; it chronicles the lineage of Yorkist king Edward IV beginning with Adam and Eve and ending with Edward IV (1461). This Chronicle also has a complex illustrative schema.
View the online transcription.
