In memory of beloved English professor Elisabeth “Lisi” Oliver, who died in a bicycle accident in June, LSU Libraries Special Collections purchased a facsimile of “The Black Hours,” an ornate medieval manuscript admired by the late professor.
When Italian bookseller Giovanni Scorcioni visited Special Collections in the spring with several books for sale, Oliver was taken with “The Black Hours,” said Michael Taylor, curator of books and history subject librarian.
“Lisi came over and was just really excited about that one in particular,” Taylor said. “And since she had wanted it so much, and the nature of the book is its mournful character, that’s the one we decided to get in her memory.”
The book, called a book of hours, is a type of medieval manuscript full of prayers and devotions, typically to the Virgin Mary. It is a facsimile — an exact copy of the original version.
Taylor said a wealthy individual, rather than a leader in the church, would have used the original around 1400 to 1500 A.D. as a personal prayer book or devotional.
Oliver was a “dear friend” of Special Collections and a “dynamic, hands-on teacher,” who frequently brought her class into Hill Memorial Library to peruse its rare books and other materials, Taylor said.
“She would visit with her classes a few times per year,” Taylor said. “We’re all about getting materials into students’ hands, so we had a really good relationship.”
Scorcioni was saddened when Oliver died this summer. Several years prior, the two had met at an annual medieval history conference in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where the pair became fast friends, Taylor said.
The original manuscript is one of a few written and illuminated on black-stained vellum, a fine parchment made from the skin of a calf.
Taylor said in a blog post on the LSU Libraries website that Oliver loved to show her students the collection’s facsimile of the Codex Aureus of Canterbury. The collection is famous for its purple pages, but had never seen black pages before.
Produced in Flanders, a region of north Belgium, by an anonymous artist, the manuscript is housed in the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. It is embellished with silver and gold text and further decorated with blues, greens, whites and golds.
“Ours is a facsimile, but a good one,” Taylor said.
Taylor said he expects the manuscript will honor Oliver’s memory frequently this semester as the art history department introduces a new course on medieval manuscripts.
“This will be used this semester, so it’s a nice thing to get,” Taylor said.
Special Collections purchases these types of facsimiles routinely, though only occasionally with this much meaning, Taylor said. Hill Memorial houses approximately 125 such works.