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Zürich, Braginsky Collection, S91 : Megillah Esther (מגילת אסתר) / Esther scroll
No full textInfluenced by the Islamic culture of North Africa, this megillah (on three sheets with 19 columns of text) dispenses with figurative representations and uses the formal language of Islamic art with its manifoldly varied ornaments. The text is adorned by an arcade that extends over the entire scroll. The decoration most closely resembles that of some ketubot from the city of Meknes in Morocco.Online Since: 2020-12-1
Porrentruy, Bibliothèque cantonale jurassienne, MP 8 / A2678 : Diary of Jean Jacques Joseph Nicol
No full textJean Jacques Joseph Nicol, a Porrentruy shoemaker (1733-1822), wrote this diary, which is divided in two parts, the first running from 1760 to 1771 (pp. 7-71), the second from 1795 to 1809 (pp. 73-88), two completely different periods from a political perspective (belonging to the Bishopric of Basel and the French period). This diary’s interest lies in Nicol’s profession as an artisan, which allows us to see, alongside major historical events, more mundane ones. This manuscript is a copy of Nicol’s diary made by Joseph Trouillat (1815-1863) as the label on the cover declares. A teacher at the Collège de Porrentruy, Trouillat was in charge of the library. Undoubtedly, it was in the course of his historical research that he copied this journal, which was printed with the title Notes et remarques de Jean-Jacques-Joseph Nicol (Porrentruy, Société typographique, 1900).Online Since: 2022-12-1
Zürich, Braginsky Collection, S26 : Megillah Esther (מגילת אסתר) / Esther scroll
No full textThis scroll (on five sheets with 13 columns of text) opens with an impressive sun disk surrounded by the signs of the zodiac. The month of Adar is particularly emphasized, since it was in this month under the sign of Pisces that the extermination of the Jews took place. Each column begins, if possible, with the word ha-melech (the king), which designates the king Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther, but is also an allusion to the never explicitly mentioned and yet omnipresent God. The silver case from around 1800 is crowned by a bouquet of flowers and leaves, which can be found in a similar way on Torah finials (rimmonim) and other Judaica metalwork of the Ottoman Empire.Online Since: 2020-10-0
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 728/3 : Śrīyogarāja, Guhyaṣoḍhā
No full textThis is a text called Guhyaṣoḍhā written by Śrīyogarāja [this honorific title means « Glorious king of yoga », and is an honorific title rather than a proper name], and it is in part based on the very ancient tantric text called the Rudrayāmal. Guhya[kālī]ṣoḍhā / Guhyaṣoḍha means a text featuring a sequence of mantras that a tāntrika would need to recite in order to "purify" himself and the mantra that precedes the recitation of the root-mantra of the deity. This text traverses the religious space at the intersection of Hinduism and Buddhism.Online Since: 2017-09-2
Zürich, Braginsky Collection, S77 : Megillah Esther (מגילת אסתר) / Esther scroll
No full textCut-out decors are typical for Esther scrolls from Ancona and Lugo. These can also be found on ketubbot (see K96 and K105) and other decorative sheets. The upper ribbon of cutout designs on this megillah (on three leaves with 12 columns of text) has peacocks, butterflies and deer interwoven with flower, tendril and latticework ornaments, while the lower one shows the signs of the zodiac. The turned wooden roller is 54.8 cm high.Online Since: 2020-10-0
Zürich, Braginsky Collection, K41 : Ketubah (כתובה), Rome, 22 Sivan 5558 (6 June 1798)
No full textThe ornamentation of this ketubah, which commemorates a wedding between two important families of the Roman ghetto, Toscano and Di Segni, reflects the golden age of ketubah decoration in Rome. The decorative frame is divided into inner and outer borders. Panels adorned with flowers on painted gold fields flank the sides of the text. In the outer frames, crisscrossed micrographic inscriptions form diamond-shaped spaces, each of which contains a large flower. The design in the inner and the outer frames are surrounded by minuscule square Hebrew letters, presenting the entire four chapters of the book of Ruth.Online Since: 2017-03-2
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1413 : The <i>Diarium Sangallense</i> – Diary of Abbey Librarian P. Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger from March 10 to August 31, 1798, with copies of letters and documents from the period of the occupation of the Princely Abbey of St. Gall
No full textThis volume, initiated and probably for the most part written by Abbey Librarian Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger (1756−1823), contains diary entires and a large number of copies of letters and documents about the events at St. Gall Abbey and in the territory of the princely abbey between March 10 and August 31, 1798. The contents mirror the chaos reigning at the time: the invasion of St. Gall by French troops, the precipitous events at the monastery and in the territory of the princely abbey, the evacuation of the abbey library and the monastery archives to neighboring countries, the expulsion and the fate of the St. Gall monks, their contacts with the Helvetic authorities, the hectic diplomatic efforts to avert an inescapable fate, the desperation of some of the monks (p. 228: Domine, salva nos, perimus!). The letters convey both the internal correspondence among the conventuals of the monastery and the external contacts of a monastic community in the process of dissolution; they are written mostly in German, occasionally in Latin.Online Since: 2016-10-1
Porrentruy, Bibliothèque cantonale jurassienne, A2467 : Histoire chronologique du chapitre de Moutier-Grandval
No full textThis manuscript, written in French, tells the story of Moutier-Grandval Abbey: "où sont rapportés les événements les plus remarquables qui sont arrivés dans l\u27Evêché de Bâle depuis l\u27origine et fondation du monastère de M.G.V. jusqu\u27à nos jours". This is followed by a Latin print, "Pièces justificatives" (pp. 103-220). It contains an index (pp. N1-N4), and, at the end of the volume, four pages titled: "Mémoire des liaisons helvétiques du chapitre de Moutier-Grand-Val" (pp. N5-N8). The document was most likely written by Jean Germain Fidèle Bajol, who was largely inspired by the Latin manuscript Historicum insigni ecclesiae collegiatae Monasterii Grandis-Vallis by François Jacques Joseph Chariatte (see A2445).Online Since: 2020-12-1
Wädenswil, Dokumentationsstelle Oberer Zürichsee, LC 11 : Chronicle of the Wädenswil reading society, Volume 1
No full textBeginning in 1797, the Wädenswil reading society, which was founded in 1790, kept a handwritten annal that chronicled all local events of any given year. A member of the society would be designated as chronicler, who had the task of describing, by the end of the year, all events in Wädenswil that, from his point of view, were of importance. Detailed obituaries of individual personages are contained in the chronicle. For most years, it also includes descriptions of the weather, statistics regarding the population and an overview of food prices. In addition to local events, it also touches on cantonal and federal issues (among them the Bocken War, the Ustertag, the Sonderbund War). The chronicle was handwritten until 1886; the handwritten part consists of two volumes in folio-format. Later volumes consist of pasted newspaper clippings (1890 until 1945) and of typed pages, bound by year (1948-1974). The two volumes for the period from 1797 to 1886 are considered one of the most important sources for the history of Wädenswil in the 19th century.Online Since: 2015-12-1
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, B-24.1 : Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, <i>Pour Mr La Rochelle jouant Brid’oison. En cas de bruit à la fin</i>, signed autograph
No full textThe comedy The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro is a vivid satire of society during the Ancien Régime and of aristocratic privileges; it was first performed on April 27, 1784 and presaged the beginning of the French Revolution, which it doubtlessly helped bring about. After the fall of the monarchy in 1792, the comedy was again performed on several Parisian stages, albeit the concluding songs were modified by Beaumarchais. The final stanza of the stuttering judge Don Gusman Brid’oison, which in 1784 had concluded Tout fini-it par des chansons, was adapted to the difficulties of the period: Pour tromper sa maladie, / Il [the people] chantoit tout l’opera : / Dame ! il n’sait plus qu’ce p’tit air-là : / Ca ira, ça ira... However, after the fall of Robespierre and the Thermidorian Reaction, these words roiled young Muscadins just as the previous ones had caused the Sansculottes to react. Since the performances were disrupted by such turbulent audiences, Beaumarchais entrusted La Rochelle, the actor who performed the role of Brid’Oison, with an alternative ending that could be recited en cas de bruit (in case of noise). This variant, which remained unpublished until recently, was a praise of freedom of speech and of the sang froid de la raison (the cold blood of reason) against the stratagème (wiles) of ideological cabals.Online Since: 2017-06-2