About the event
Explore the arts of calligraphy, embroidery and bookbinding as practised in the 16th and 17th centuries by Esther Inglis, creator of exquisite miniature manuscripts.
Georgianna Ziegler's talk introduces Esther Inglis (c.1570–1624), a multi-talented Franco-Scottish refugee woman, creator of exquisite manuscripts. Three important works by Inglis are now in Oxford at the Bodleian Libraries and Christ Church.
Alexandra Plane will place Inglis's work in the context of Scottish book-making in the late sixteenth century, situating her in a fascinating network of scribes, authors, patrons and diplomats.
Speakers
Georgianna Ziegler is the Thalheimer Assoc. Librarian and Head of Reference Emerita at the Folger Shakespeare Library. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a library science degree from Drexel University. She has published widely on early modern women in literature and art, and curated major exhibitions at the Folger, including "Elizabeth I: Then and Now", and with Heather Wolfe, a 2024 exhibition on Esther Inglis. Her article on Inglis's self-portraits appeared in Renaissance Quarterly, and she also wrote the entries on Esther Inglis for The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women and the History of the Book in Scotland, volume 1. She maintains a major website on Esther Inglis and her first book-length biography of Esther Inglis will be published by Edinburgh University Press later this year.
Alexandra Plane completed a PhD on the libraries of King James VI and I, with a particular focus on Scottish book culture. She is a curator at the Bodleian Libraries. She has also co-curated the National Library of Scotland exhibition ‘Renaissance: Scotland and Europe 1480 to 1630’ and contributed to the History of the Book in Scotland, volume 1.
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