Tag: manuscripts

Women and their Books in Early Modern England and Scotland – Sat. 3 October 2026 – Christ Church, Oxford

On By Georgianna Ziegler
Esther Inglis self-portrait in Bodleian Library, MS Bodl 990. Dedicated to the Earl of Essex, 1599.

Programme – Details:

The recent acquisition of a sixteenth-century manuscript containing copies of Katherine Parr’s Praieres or meditacions (1545) and other devotional works prompted a new look at women as book producers and owners in early modern England and Scotland as represented in Christ Church Library’s collections.

In this study afternoon our speakers will explore the ways in which women and their books were part of devotional, intellectual, and cultural landscape and the material evidence of women’s book ownership and production.

During the event there will be a chance to view a special display which includes a sixteenth-century manuscript containing copies of Katherine Parr’s Praieres or meditacions (1545) and other devotional works, a 1599 book of Psalms in French, written out in a large variety of scripts by the Franco-Scottish calligrapher Esther Inglis, many other books and medical works donated to Christ Church in 1567 by Mildred Cecil, Lady Burghley.

Katherine Parr, Praiers or meditacions, 1545

10:30am: Registration and opportunity to see display

11.30am: Welcome

11.35am: Sophie Bacchus-Waterman (Christ Church, Oxford), ‘A Queen’s Monogram?: The Boleyn Family and the Horenbout Workshop’

12.05pm: Professor Tamara Atkin (The Queen’s College, Oxford), ‘Christ Church MS 715: Some Unresolved Questions’

12.35: Q&A with Sophie Bacchus-Waterman and Professor Tamara Atkin

1-2pm: Lunch**

2pm: Professor Micheline White (Carleton University), ‘Queen Katherine Parr’s Prayers or Meditations: Origins and Afterlife in Christ Church MS 715’ [Online]

2.30pm: Dr John McCallum (University of Edinburgh), ‘Setting the scene: Religion and Culture in Late Sixteenth-Century Scotland’

3pm: Q&A with Professor Micheline White and Dr John McCallum

3.30pm: Tea break

4pm: Dr Georgianna Ziegler (Folger Shakespeare Library), ‘Psalms Fit for a Queen: Esther Inglis’s 1599 gift for Elizabeth I’

4.30pm: Anna-Nadine Pike (University of Kent), ‘“I have written in as many diverse styles as anyone else”’

5pm: Q&A with Dr Georgianna Ziegler and Anna-Nadine Pike

5.30pm: Summing up and drinks reception

* We regret that access to the Upper Library is by a large spiral staircase only and may cause difficulty for anyone with limited mobility.

** Lunch is not provided but can be easily found in the city centre.

Showtime! More Celebrations for Esther @400!

On By Georgianna Ziegler

Late October saw the unveiling of two new exhibitions on Esther Inglis – one virtual and permanent at Edinburgh University Library, and the other actual at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, on view from October 25 through early February.

Design by Ruth Nichols-Pike, Edinburgh

The splendid online exhibition, Rewriting the Script: the Works and Words of Esther Inglis, was developed by Anna Nadine Pike at EUL. It brings together an amazing collection of images of Esther’s manuscripts, along with videos talking about some of them, and audio readings of others. It invites the visitor to dig more deeply into examining her self-portraits, her use of embroidery, the various kinds of script she wrote, her use of printed materials, and much more. It’s a fabulous site for students to explore, so be sure to pass them the link!

Case Designs by Studio A, Alexandria, Virginia. Photo by Heather Wolfe

“Little Books, Big Gifts: the Artistry of Esther Inglis” on display in Washington, DC combines manuscripts from the Folger Library and from Harvard’s Houghton Library. These two institutions together hold the largest number of her manuscripts in the US: 6 at the Folger and 8 at Harvard. Twelve of these are now on display, in addition to several facsimile pages.

Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library, photo by Tim Tiebout

The exhibition creates a jewel-like setting for these beautiful books in cases titled: “Selfie Star”, “Gift Giver,” “Networker,” “Embroiderer,” “Illustrator,” and “Calligrapher.” It’s hard to realize how tiny some of these manuscripts are until you actually see them – no bigger than a matchbox. These seen below are two of the larger ones at 4.5 ” high and 6″ wide when closed.

“Illustrator” Case showing Folger MSS V.a.91 and V.a.92. Photo by G. Ziegler

The exhibition also features an exact reproduction of the embroidered binding Esther made for Folger MS V.a.93, a gift for Prince Maurice of Nassau in 1599. Professional embroiderers Christy Baty and Erin Moody painstakingly re-created the velvet and seed-pearl binding, while the Folger’s Conservation Lab made a tiny reproduction of the manuscript to size to fit into the binding. This manuscript is just under 4″ high and about 2.5″ wide when closed.

Reproduction of V.a.93 – text block on left. Photo by G. Ziegler

If you can’t make it in person, then enjoy the video about Esther’s “Selfies” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK7QYU3YkaU and see a gallery of Esther’s manuscripts on the main exhibition page.  Want more? go to the page on this website for Locations of digitized manuscripts: https://estheringlis.com/ms-locations/ and enjoy!

Esther’s “selfies” used in Folger exhibition video. Photo from Folger website.