The Graham Library’s Upjohn-Waldie collection contains a beautiful, illustrated printing of the Divine Comedy from 1497. In the 17^th century, this book ended up in the hands of the Spanish Inquisition. The title page of our copy contains two signed manuscript annotations dated 1614 and 1641, confirming that the book was reviewed by the Expurgation Commission in Toledo. At various points in the book, we can see where the inquisitors redacted offending passages with ink. At a later date, someone tried to wash away the inquisitors’ ink. Several pages also feature marginal notes by the inquisitors and later readers. Overall, the book is a striking incunable (book from the first 50 years of printing) and a testament to a complex history of readership and interpretation. 

This year, Kate MacDonald and Rebekah Bedard supervised third-year undergraduate student Agata Capomasi in a Directed Study course (TRN 377Y) on this book. Agata found that the book provides a unique lens into Renaissance print culture, censorship mechanisms of the Spanish Inquisition, and the evolution of the Italian language. By examining the marginalia and editorial interventions in this edition, she examined how religious and cultural forces shaped the transmission of heretical ideas, influenced the standardization of the Italian vernacular, and preserved a dialogue between orthodoxy and dissent in early modern Europe.  

Agata found that marginal notes and drawings are powerful historical tools that reveal how readers, whether inquisitors or everyday individuals, actively engaged with and interpreted texts through the lens of their time, beliefs, and social context. She noted that, rather than engaging critically with the text itself, the inquisitors seem to have approached their task bureaucratically, treating the act of annotation as a form of administrative compliance rather than in-depth intellectual review. She also studied several doodles throughout the book, which she argued were made by a later reader. To analyze the marginalia more closely, Agata used a book science tool called a Dino-Lite, a portable digital microscope that captures high-resolution images with magnification ranging from 10x to over 200x (see magenta images above). This technology enabled her to examine details that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye, including subtle textual changes, ink variations, and signs of erasure. The Dino-Lite made it possible to document doodles and alterations that would be difficult to identify otherwise. For example, it exposed how horns, beards, or patterns were added to printed illustrations, giving the figures new symbolic interpretations. The Dino-Lite enhanced the contrast between original print and later ink, making even the smallest interventions visible. These images provided insight into how inquisitors and later readers physically interacted with the text, revealing how marginalia functioned both as personal engagement and institutional control.

Congratulations to Agata on her excellent work on the project! We look forward to sharing her web exhibit.