Module: Johann Michael Vansleb

WorksDocumentsWorksManuscriptsDocuments

Contents

Works

-> For a detailed list of Vansleb’s works see: Bausi, Alessandro. 2015. “Johann Michael Wansleben’s Manuscripts and Texts. An Update.” In Essays in Ethiopian Manuscript Studies: Proceedings of the International Conference Manuscripts and Texts, Languages and Contexts: The Transmission of Knowledge in the Horn of Africa. Hamburg, 17-19 July 2014, edited by Alessandro Bausi, Alessandro Gori, Denis Nosnitsin, and Eugenia Sokolinski, 197–243. Supplement to Aethiopica 4. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

-> Vansleb’s first scholarly works were with Hiob Ludolf in Gotha and with Edmund Castell, whom he worked for in London on the Lexicon heptaglotton. What was the impact of those works?

-> Vansleb published two accounts on Egypt: one on his first travel, originally written in German, but first published in Italian, and one on his second travel in Italian. Both were subsequently translated into different languages. 

  • What does and what does he not describe? 
  • There are manuscript and edited versions of his two accounts on Egypt available. How do the accounts differ and how do the language editions differ?

-> Vansleb also published an important work on the church of Alexandria:

-> After Vansleb’s death a pamphlet circulated under his name: Vansleb (?), Johann Michael. 1679. A Brief Account of the Rebellions and Bloudshed Occasioned by the Anti-Christian Practices of the Jesuits and Other Popish Emissaries in the Empire of Ethiopia Collected out of a Manuscript History Written in Latin by Jo. Michael Wansleben, a Learned Papist. London: Jonathan Edwin.

Manuscripts

->Use this link to search Gallica, the digital viewer of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), for manuscripts associated with Vansleb in the BnF's holdings.

  • What are some of the different languages and times of writing you see represented among these manuscripts?
  • What are some of the places he acquired these manuscripts?
  • View a manuscript of interest to you and see if you can identify any notes left by Vansleb, aquisition stamps or waqf notes (especially on the flyleaves/first or last pages).
  • Respond to the above questions by selecting the text of the question and posting a Hypothes.is comment.

-> Look through Vansleb’s lists of his acquired manuscripts https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105159315

-> Look through the catalog by Vajda (-> links under bibliography) of the Arabic manuscripts, also mentioning Vansleb's manuscripts 

-> Besides his acquired manuscripts, Vansleb also copied several works, like Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Firenze, Magl. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 83, as well as Bern, Burger-Bibliothek, B 49. Have a look at an example in the Bibliothèque nationale de France: Vansleb, Johann Michael. 1670. “Bahayla Mikhael. Le livre des mytères du ciel et de la terre copié par Michel Vansleb (a copy of BnF éthiopien 117 by Vansleb).” Paris. BnF éthiopien 118. Bibliothèque nationale de France. 

Documents

-> Vansleb kept diary for the time prior to his first travel, (not digitalised) ”Notiz- und Tageb. v. Johann Michael Wansleben (Wanschleben).” Weimar. GSA 105/103. Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv Weimar. 

-> Browse through Vansleb’s original letter exchange with de Carcavy and Colbert, including lists of acquired manuscripts here: “Documents sur l’histoire de diverses bibliothèques. Documents sur l’histoire de diverses bibliothèques.” Paris. BnF MS latin 17172. Bibliothèque nationale de France.

-> Vansleb owned a copy of Harrington’s ‘The Fundations & Modell of a Perfect Commonwealth

Works

-> For a detailed list of Vansleb’s works see: Bausi, Alessandro. 2015. “Johann Michael Wansleben’s Manuscripts and Texts. An Update.” In Essays in Ethiopian Manuscript Studies: Proceedings of the International Conference Manuscripts and Texts, Languages and Contexts: The Transmission of Knowledge in the Horn of Africa. Hamburg, 17-19 July 2014, edited by Alessandro Bausi, Alessandro Gori, Denis Nosnitsin, and Eugenia Sokolinski, 197–243. Supplement to Aethiopica 4. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

-> Vansleb’s first scholarly works were with Hiob Ludolf in Gotha and with Edmund Castell, whom he worked for in London on the Lexicon heptaglotton. What was the impact of those works?

-> Vansleb published two accounts on Egypt: one on his first travel, originally written in German, but first published in Italian, and one on his second travel in Italian. Both were subsequently translated into different languages. 

  • What does and what does he not describe? 
  • There are manuscript and edited versions of his two accounts on Egypt available. How do the accounts differ and how do the language editions differ?

-> Vansleb also published an important work on the church of Alexandria:

-> After Vansleb’s death a pamphlet circulated under his name: Vansleb (?), Johann Michael. 1679. A Brief Account of the Rebellions and Bloudshed Occasioned by the Anti-Christian Practices of the Jesuits and Other Popish Emissaries in the Empire of Ethiopia Collected out of a Manuscript History Written in Latin by Jo. Michael Wansleben, a Learned Papist. London: Jonathan Edwin.

Manuscripts

->Use this link to search Gallica, the digital viewer of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), for manuscripts associated with Vansleb in the BnF’s holdings.

  • What are some of the different languages and times of writing you see represented among these manuscripts?
  • What are some of the places he acquired these manuscripts?
  • View a manuscript of interest to you and see if you can identify any notes left by Vansleb, aquisition stamps or waqf notes (especially on the flyleaves/first or last pages).
  • Respond to the above questions by selecting the text of the question and posting a Hypothes.is comment.

-> Look through Vansleb’s lists of his acquired manuscripts https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105159315

-> Look through the catalog by Vajda (-> links under bibliography) of the Arabic manuscripts, also mentioning Vansleb’s manuscripts 

-> Besides his acquired manuscripts, Vansleb also copied several works, like Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Firenze, Magl. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 83, as well as Bern, Burger-Bibliothek, B 49. Have a look at an example in the Bibliothèque nationale de France: Vansleb, Johann Michael. 1670. “Bahayla Mikhael. Le livre des mytères du ciel et de la terre copié par Michel Vansleb (a copy of BnF éthiopien 117 by Vansleb).” Paris. BnF éthiopien 118. Bibliothèque nationale de France. 

Documents

-> Vansleb kept diary for the time prior to his first travel, (not digitalised) ”Notiz- und Tageb. v. Johann Michael Wansleben (Wanschleben).” Weimar. GSA 105/103. Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv Weimar. 

-> Browse through Vansleb’s original letter exchange with de Carcavy and Colbert, including lists of acquired manuscripts here: “Documents sur l’histoire de diverses bibliothèques. Documents sur l’histoire de diverses bibliothèques.” Paris. BnF MS latin 17172. Bibliothèque nationale de France.

-> Vansleb owned a copy of Harrington’s ‘The Fundations & Modell of a Perfect Commonwealth