Guide to the Medieval manuscripts and documents from the Nan Kivell Calligraphy Collection, c10th century - mid-19th century
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Collection context
Summary
- Collection number:
- MS 4052
- Extent:
- 8 metres
- Language:
- Latin and Latin
- Availability:
- Available
- Access conditions:
- Available for research. Not for loan.
Background
- Content Summary:
- This collection comprises a group of miscellaneous manuscripts and documents which were accumulated by Rex Nan Kivell over a number of years and which span several centuries. The pre-1500 material comprises legal documents and fragments from manuscripts of theological, biblical, musico-liturgical and literary works. The legal documents include deeds of gift, recoveries, leases, marriage settlements, bonds, apprenticeship indentures, quitclaims, financial accounts, letters, and an indenture relating to Drury Lane Theatre. Included in the legal documents are a number dating from 1561 to 1785 relating to property and legal matters associated with the Elliott family from the Salisbury area in Wiltshire.
- Biographical Note:
- Sir Rex De Charembac Nan Kivell, art dealer, collector and cultural benefactor.
- Provenance:
-
The documents in this collection were presented to the National Library of Australia by Sir Rex Nan Kivell in 1969. He referred to it as ‘The Nan Kivell Calligraphy Collection’. The documents were collected by him as specimens of early calligraphy and/or examples of early documentation. He acquired them over a number of years from varied sources which were not recorded. However, it seems likely that the group of legal documents in Series 1 relating to the Elliott family of Salisbury would have a single provenance. Nan Kivell had a country house in Devizes, Wiltshire, which is only a short distance from Salisbury.
- Arrangement:
-
When the Library received the collection a number of the documents were contained in a large album, and the remainder were loose and in no discernible order. There also appeared to be no logical order to placement of items within the album. For preservation reasons, the documents were removed from the album. For the purposes of arrangement, the fragments were divided into three series:
Series 1: Legal documents – arranged by date order, with no reference to location.
Series 2: Documents containing musical notation – order determined by musicologist and medievalist Professor Gordon A. Anderson.
Series 3: Non-legal documents – no logical order was determined and numbers were allocated to create what was intended to be a temporary order. The series was titled ‘T’ to signify this arrangement. It had been anticipated that advice regarding identification would be forthcoming from the Bodleian Library and that the documents would then be placed into a logical order. However, this advice did not eventuate. Because of the time elapsed since the numbers were first assigned and use that has been made of the collection during this time it was decided to retain the original numbering and rename the series as ‘Series 3’.
A fourth series has been added comprising a PDF copy of the unpublished 'Guide to the Nan Kivell Calligraphy Collection' created by Barbara Ross in 1985.
Access and use
- Conditions Governing Access:
- Available for reference. Not for loan.
- Location of this collection:
-
Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: