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Contributeurs : Matthieu Arnold, Marjolaine Chevallier, Gilbert Dahan, Jason Dean, Bernard Gosse, Rémi Gounelle, Christian Grappe, Jean-Claude Ingelaere, Marc Lienhard, Christophe Monnot et Annie Noblesse-Rocher.

Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts were collected in North America from about 1820. Four key sources of them can be identified: 1. Ancestral ownership of books brought by early settlers; 2. Acquisitions by missionaries and scholars; 3. Mementos acquired by elites on European Grand Tours; 4. Purchases by bibliophiles from international sales catalogues, domestic booksellers, and auctions of imported volumes. Examples of such manuscripts are identified in this article, and their early owners are recognized as pioneering collectors. A small but profitable commerce in manuscripts emerged in major cities, chiefly New York, where the firm of Daniel Appleton held an early monopoly. Appleton’s had acquired two chests of illuminated manuscripts in Paris. Selling was a challenge, however. Since medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the New World were unreadable books because of language and script, enterprising booksellers were forced to develop innovative ways to sell them. Appleton’s, for example, used “placement advertising” to sell its manuscripts, publishing articles on medieval topics that mentioned or evoked manuscripts. Two ways of marketing manuscripts came to predominate by the middle of the nineteenth century. The book dealer Joseph Sabin promoted “artifactual reading.” He emphasized the materiality of manuscripts, their possession by fanatic monks, their esoteric rarity, and the possibility of owning the lifetime work of a sensitive, if unschooled, artist. Sabin detailed his ideas in the auction catalogues he authored. George P. Philes, by contrast, published a newsletter called Philobiblion, in which he debunked Sabin’s manuscript mythologies. His marketing was bibliographical. Manuscripts, Philes suggested, were not rare, nor the life-works of religious, nor objects of mystical veneration. He marketed elite collectors who considered themselves New World aristocrats. Philes got his novel ideas from Archives du Bibliophile, a Paris journal published by Anatole Claudin. Philes translated many of its articles and even sold manuscripts that had been offered in Archives. This effort was a rare instance of influence by the Paris booktrade on the New York market. Des manuscrits du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance se trouvaient en Amérique du Nord dans les années 1820. On peut identifier quatre types d’origine : 1. la propriété ancestrale de livres anciens apportés par les premiers colons ; 2. des acquisitions par des missionnaires et des érudits ; 3. des souvenirs acquis par les élites lors de leur « Grand Tour » d’Europe; 4. des achats par les bibliophiles dans les catalogues de vente internationaux, auprès de libraires nationaux et des ventes aux enchères de volumes importés. Des exemples de tels manuscrits sont identifiés dans cet article, et leurs premiers propriétaires y sont considérés comme des collectionneurs pionniers. Un commerce de manuscrits, modeste mais rentable, a vu le jour dans les grandes villes, principalement à New York, où la firme de Daniel Appleton a détenu un premier monopole. Appleton’s avait acquis deux coffres de manuscrits enluminés à Paris. La vente fut cependant un défi. Étant donné que les manuscrits médiévaux et de la Renaissance dans le Nouveau Monde étaient des livres illisibles en raison de la langue et de l’écriture, les libraires entreprenants ont été contraints de développer des moyens innovants pour les vendre. Par exemple, Appleton a utilisé la « Placement Adverstising » pour vendre ses manuscrits, publiant des articles sur des sujets médiévaux qui mentionnaient ou évoquaient des manuscrits. Deux modes de commercialisation de manuscrits ont prédominé au milieu du xixe siècle. Le libraire Joseph Sabin a promu la « lecture artefactuelle ». Il a mis en avant la matérialité des manuscrits, leurs premiers propriétaires – des moines fanatiques – , la rareté de leur caractère ésotérique , et la possibilité de faire l’acquisition des œuvres complètes fabriquées par des artistes sensibles, bien que sans éducation. Sabin a détaillé ses idées dans les catalogues de ventes aux enchères qu'il a rédigés. George P. Philes, en revanche, a publié un bulletin appelé « Philobiblion » et mis en place un marketing bibliographique. Dans ce bulletin, il a démystifié les mythologies manuscrites de Sabin : les manuscrits n’étaient pas rares, ils ne contenaient pas des œuvres uniques de religieux, et n’étaient pas des objets de vénération mystique. Philes a fait commerce avec des collectionneurs d'élite qui se considéraient comme des aristocrates du Nouveau Monde. Il a emprunté ses idées aux «Archives du Bibliophile», une revue parisienne publiée par Anatole Claudin, dont il a traduit bon nombre de ses articles. Il a même vendu des manuscrits qui avaient été offerts aux « Archives ». Cet collaboration est un rare exemple d'influence du libraire parisien sur le marché de New York.

The manuscript collection of Charles Dyson Perrins is well known among scholars, in large part due to the publication of an imposing and detailed catalogue by George Warner in 1920. Perrins has become associated with spending large sums of money on manuscripts and the account of his purchase of the Gorleston Psalter following a visit to a bookshop in search of something to read on the train is a legend of the trade. The first sale of his manuscripts after his death in 1958 achieved a record total. However, like most early twentieth-century collectors, Perrins’ catalogue only contains a selection of the manuscripts that passed through his hands. Reconstructing the larger collection therefore sheds light on the choices made in creating and publishing parts of his manuscript collection. Perrins began collecting manuscripts as an extension of his interest in early printed books and maintained a strong interest in late medieval and renaissance manuscripts. The influence of a small group of collectors and scholars, and in particular Sydney Cockerell, helped shape Perrins’ manuscript collection and publicise it through its use as the basis for the Burlington Fine Arts Club exhibition of illuminated manuscripts in 1908 and the creation of monographs on particular volumes as well as the 1920 catalogue. In contrast, only part of the printed collection ever received a published catalogue. Cockerell may also have been involved in Perrins’ decision to sell some of his manuscripts, anonymously, in 1907. These decisions have had significant consequences for the long-term ownership of and scholarship on these manuscripts, and provide a case study of the impact of early twentieth-century collectors on the development of the study of medieval books.

Les caractéristiques de l'alliance avec David du Ps 89 sont transférées sur les patriarches et leurs descendants dans le Ps 105 ou en Is 41,8. En continuité nous relevons la figure du « serviteur » présentée en Is 42 et 49, dans la mentalité de l'année Mésopotamienne de libération, et il reçoit le don de l'esprit. Mais le titre de –—“•• est transféré sur Cyrus en Is 45,1, également dans la perspective de l'année Mésopotamienne de libération. Le personnage d'Is 61,1 apparaît comme un disciple du « serviteur », mais il reçoit également une onction, verbe–—“•, liée au don de l'esprit. The characteristics of the covenant with David in Ps 89 are transferred to the patriarchs and their descendants in Ps 105 and Isa 41.1. Following up on the latter, especially Isa 42,1, one encounters the figure of the "servant" presented in Isa 42 as well as 49, in terms of the Mesopotamian year of liberation, when the servant receives the gift of the spirit. The title of –—“•• is also transferred to Cyrus in Isa 45,1, similarly from the perspective of the Mesopotamian year of liberation. The figure mentioned in Isa 61,1 appears like a disciple of the "servant, " but he too receives an anointing, described with the verb –—“•, related to the gift of the spirit.

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