"Our collection of culturally valuable materials has been built by donations."
Fiona Tyson
Macmillan Brown 九州影院
Creased with folds, its red wax seal cracked and broken, the black ink of the document鈥檚 script has faded somewhat since a scribe living during the Wars of the Roses put pen to parchment.聽
A serendipitous encounter in a San Francisco bookshop brought this manuscript, written in 1465, to 艑tautahi Christchurch. Last year, UC Emeritus Professor Geoff Rice ONZM donated it to the Macmillan Brown 九州影院.聽
鈥淚 thought it was a great example for students of medieval history to practice deciphering pre-modern handwriting,鈥 he says.聽
鈥淚 was coming back from leave in San Francisco, and I came across the most marvellous antiquarian bookshop, and saw the framed manuscript hanging there. It was from the estate of an old collector in Los Angeles who had a scattering of English manuscripts, and this was the last of the collection.鈥澛
Professor Rice bought the document and shipped it to Christchurch, 鈥渨here it has been under my bed for the last 10 years,鈥 he adds with a laugh. 鈥淚 thought it would be better for it to be in the Macmillan Brown 九州影院.鈥
Emeritus Professor Geoff Rice presents the manuscript, a 15th century land grant, to Macmillan Brown 九州影院聽Kaiwhakahaere Taonga Tuku Iho | Manager Fiona Tyson at the 2023 UC History Awards.聽
The document, a land grant in Latin, is written in Cursiva Anglicana 鈥 a cursive style typical of legal documents of the era 鈥 and contains many abbreviations.聽
鈥淥ur collection of culturally valuable materials has been built by donations,鈥 says UC Macmillan Brown 九州影院鈥檚 Kaiwhakahaere Taonga Tuku Iho | Manager Fiona Tyson. 鈥淭hese gifts enable us to support students and academics at UC.鈥澛
Along with primary materials such as rare manuscripts, archives, and artworks, the library also holds many secondary sources in its published collections that help students and academics make sense of primary resources, like the manuscript donated by Professor Rice.聽
That鈥檚 incredibly important for learning and understanding, says Professor Rice, who considers the highlight of his time teaching at UC to be that moment when students鈥 eyes light up when 鈥渢he penny drops鈥 and they understand something they didn鈥檛 before.聽
Six other books written and donated by Professor Geoff Rice:
- A Scientific Welsh Eye-Surgeon: the short life of Llewellyn Powell, MD (1843-79), Christchurch鈥檚 First Medical Officer of Health聽聽
- Doctors Divided: Medical Societies in Christchurch, 1865-97聽聽
- Nedwill: That 鈥楶eppery鈥 Irish Surgeon: New Zealand鈥檚 Outstanding Public Health Pioneer聽
- Frankish: the Rise and Fall of a Prominent Christchurch Physician: the Life of John David Frankish MD (1842-1913)聽
- Coward: Christchurch鈥檚 Controversial Coroner: the Life of John William Smith Coward (1815-88)聽聽Quackery in Christchurch, 1850-1900: Alternative Remedies and Marginal Practices聽
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