Additional information
by Demeke Berhane (Author), Melaku Terefe (Author), Steve Delamarter (Author)
The Institute of Ethiopian Studies is home to the largest collection of Ethiopian manuscripts in the world. This volume provides a catalog of one subset of the manuscripts: those in Ge'ez and Amharic, which were mostly produced by members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. There are six introductory essays that provide information about the developments and project, which led to the digitization of the collection in 2010; the history of the IES collection; the cataloging approach; the digitization process; the rationale for undertaking this endeavor; and a short description of some of the illuminated manuscripts in the IES. The catalog provides short handlist entries for 1,530 in the IES that were prepared by qasis Melaku Terefe with assistance from Steve Delamarter and Jeremy Brown. The final passes were carried out by Jacopo Gnisci and Jeremy Brown, with special attention to technical matters of cataloguing, lists, and indexing. Back matter includes lists of IES Manuscripts arranged by shelf mark and a concordance with pieces microfilmed by the EMML Project, as well as lists of dated or datable and undated codices and magic scrolls. These are followed by indexes of works, miniatures, names, and places in the manuscripts and an index of names of owners in the magic scrolls. Forty-two plates showcase in full detail some highlights from the collection.
Author Biography
Demeke Berhane served as director of the Manuscript and Archives department of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies for several decades. He and Delamarter were co-directors of the Endangered Archives Programme grant that performed the digitization project there.
Qäsis Melaku Terefe worked as a priest in Ethiopia for several years and now serves the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Saint Mary Church in Los Angeles.
Steve Delamarter is emeritus faculty at George Fox University, directs the Ethiopic Manuscript Imaging Project (EMIP), and is a member of the Textual History of the Ethiopic Old Testament Project (also known as THEOT).
Jacopo Gnisci is lecturer in the Department of History of Art at University College London and a visiting academic in the Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas at the The British Museum. He is also co-principal investigator in the project Demarginalizing Medieval Africa.
Jeremy R. Brown is the Cataloger of Ethiopic Manuscripts at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) and served as the director of digitization for the EAP 286 project that digitized the collection at the IES.
