Research
John Ruskin (1819–1900) was one of the Victorian era's most transformative artists, writers and thinkers. This project will make his manuscript diary notebooks more accessible and open up new ways of exploring his works and his world in the process.
Ruskin kept diary notebooks over the course of his life. The 29 volumes of these notebooks date from 1835 to 1888, and they provide a record not only of Ruskin's research into art, architecture and the natural sciences, but also of the ways his mind worked. In addition to notes and observations, the pages of the notebooks contain diagrams as well as original drawings and paintings.
Although portions of Ruskin's diary notebooks have been transcribed, many of the pages in the notebooks have never been published before. The transcriptions produced by participants in this project, and images of the manuscript pages, will later be published online, providing unprecedented access to Ruskin's notebooks.
Participants are welcome to transcribe as many pages as they wish. Each participant will be given the option to be listed in the acknowledgements section accompanying the online publication of the notebooks. This is entirely optional, and at the sole discretion of each individual participant.
MS12, the 'Rock book'
The notebook selected for this pilot run of the project is known as MS12 or the 'Rock book'. Ruskin mainly used this notebook between 1859 and 1863. In addition to accounts of his visits to Ireland and the Continent, the notebook contains historical and geological notes and diagrams.
The notebook is a quarto-sized account book. Bound in vellum, it measures 20.4 x 17 cm and contains 262 pages.
The first part of the notebook includes pages 1 to 141. These pages contain most of the historical notes, including a list of the Kings of France, as well as the geological notes, diagrams and drawings. Portions of this content are translations of Bernhard Studer’s Geologie der Schweiz, 2 vols (Bern: Stämpflische Verlagshandlung, 1851–53).
The second part of the notebook includes Ruskin's diary entries for the years 1861 to 1863. This latter portion of the notebook begins at the opposite end and runs from page 262 to 145. (Ruskin, in short, flipped the notebook over and began to add entries from the other end.)
Ruskin often reused notebooks in this way, and MS12 is also indicative of the diversity of the content of Ruskin's notebooks. It may seems surprising that Ruskin should have chose to compile historical and geological notes in a single notebook. Then again, as Marcia R. Pointon has noted, Ruskin viewed 'mineralogy' as 'a form of historical enquiry'. (Brilliant Effects: A Cultural History of Gem Stones and Jewellery, 2009, p. 322)
A portion of MS12 appears in the second volume of Joan Evans and John Howard Whitehouse's The Diaries of John Ruskin, 3 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956–1959), which can be viewed via the Internet Archive.
Ruskin's notebooks & The Ruskin Whitehouse Collection
The 29 volumes of Ruskin's diary notebooks are part of The Ruskin Whitehouse Collection. This collection was formed by the educationalist and Liberal MP, John Howard Whitehouse (1873–1955). It is the largest collection of materials relating to Ruskin and his circle, and it can be explored via the website of The Ruskin – Library, Museum & Research Centre at Lancaster University.
In addition to the notebooks, the Collection includes more than 8,000 manuscripts and 7,400 manuscript letters. The latter include Ruskin's correspondence with his family and friends, and with many leading political and cultural figures of the Victorian era. There are also 1,500 drawings and 500 prints in the Collection, as well as a large number of photographs and 125 daguerreotypes, including some of the earliest known images of Venice and the Alps, dating from the 1850s. In addition to hundreds of books from Ruskin’s own library, the Collection includes a complete holding of books about Ruskin as well as an archive of transcripts, articles and cuttings.
Please note
Images of Ruskin's notebooks are subject to copyright. To enquire about the availability of these images, please visit The Ruskin's website.