On February 27, 2025, Joshua O’Driscoll, Associate Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at the Morgan Library & Museum, brought medieval wonders to life at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center. His talk, tied to the exhibit The Book of Marvel: Imagining the World, on view until May 25, 2025, explored a 15th-century French manuscript packed with dazzling illustrations and tales of far-off lands entitled Book of the Marvels of the World.
Taking us on a visual journey, O’Driscoll offered unique interpretations of the manuscript beyond what has been previously published. The Book of Marvels of the World brimmed with fantastic beasts, extraordinary occurrences, and inhabitants of distant lands, drawing from medieval encyclopedias and possibly also local folklore. Marvels from European regions were more detailed, suggesting firsthand knowledge, while those from distant lands were often more mythical, blending geography, ethnography, and natural sciences.
Originally based on a vast Latin encyclopedia by 15th-century French scholar Pierre Beauvais, The Book of the Marvels of the World was later adapted into French for an elite courtly audience. Today, only four copies survive, with the most complete version housed at the Morgan Library since 1911. Likely created for Duke René of Anjou, it showcases art by the Master of the Geneva Boccaccio. Another copy, acquired by the Getty Museum in 2022, reveals a close connection between the copies, presumed to have been produced in the same workshop.
According to O’Driscoll, this manuscript and “genre” are comparable to Ripley’s Believe It or Not, as it blurs the lines between education and entertainment, inviting readers to question the unbelievable. This is evident from marginalia left by a 16th-century Spanish reader on one of the folios, who called parts of it fabula or fantasy, echoing medieval audiences who must have debated what was real and what was pure wonder.O’Driscoll’s talk made clear that The Book of the Marvels of the World is more than an encyclopedia; it’s a glimpse into how medieval people saw their world. Part guidebook, part artistic masterpiece, it transported readers beyond their known world, just as it continues to captivate scholars and visitors at the Morgan Library & Museum today.
