Introduction to the Late Medieval Miscellany

In the first half of the fifteenth century, sometime between 1425 and 1450, a manuscript was made in or around Florence. It was small enough to fit in one hand and would have been inexpensive, at least as far as handwritten manuscripts go. It would have been intended for personal use by its owner, who would have used it like a single-volume library. Because unlike most books with which we are familiar today, this manuscript is a miscellany, meaning it contained a collection of largely unrelated texts. It is now called the Late Medieval Miscellany or MSS 01020, held at the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library at the University of Toronto.

This book was produced in the context of an expansion of book making seen across Europe, including in Florence, which allowed for more ordinary people, middle-class workers who were increasingly literate, to be able to own their own books. Books, even very small ones like MSS 01020, still would have been expensive, and so miscellanies grew in popularity. Because they functioned as single-volume libraries, their contents reflected the interests and priorities of their owners.

This exhibit explores the practices of late medieval secular book making and the content of MSS 01020, allowing for in insight into its now anonymous owner.

By Maura Quinn