Derek Howard Turner (15 May 1931 – 1 August 1985) was an English museum curator and art historian who specialised in
liturgical studies and
illuminated manuscripts. He worked at the
British Museum and the
British Library from 1956 until his death, focusing on exhibitions, scholarship, and loans.
Following several years spent at a hospital and at an
Anglican Benedictine abbey, Turner found employment in the British Museum's Department of Manuscripts at the age of 25. Serving first as assistant keeper, and later as deputy keeper, within two years of his hiring he helped the museum select manuscripts for purchase from the
Dyson Perrins collection and organised his first exhibition; in the 1960s he also took teaching posts at the Universities of
Cambridge and
East Anglia.
Turner moved to the British Library when custodianship of the museum's library elements changed in 1973. At the library, he helped oversee several major exhibitions, and organise the international loans of significant works. He was closely involved with the lending of a copy of Magna Carta for the 1976
United States Bicentennial celebrations, and in succeeding years helped arrange the loans of several medieval manuscripts for the first time in half a millennium. Two such loans sent the
Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander to
Bulgaria for the first time since the 1300s, and the
Moutier-Grandval Bible to
Switzerland, its home throughout the
Middle Ages.
Early life and education
Turner was born on 15 May 1931 in
Northampton, in central England.[1] An only child, he was born to the
World War I veteran Maurice Finnemore Turner and his wife Eva (née Howard).[1] After attending Winchester House School in
Brackley, in the summer of 1945 Turner was sent on scholarship to
Harrow.[1] In 1950, a Harrow scholarship to read modern history sent him to
Hertford College at the
University of Oxford; he graduated in the summer of 1953.[1]
Turner began work as an assistant keeper of the Department of Manuscripts at the
British Museum on 3 December 1956.[1] Influenced by his time at Nashdom, he specialised in medieval liturgical studies, and influenced by the lavish decoration of liturgical manuscripts, he likewise studied
illuminated manuscripts.[1]
In 1958, Turner organised his first exhibition, showcasing a collection of Byzantine manuscripts.[1] The same year he helped the museum select illuminated manuscripts to purchase from the collection of
Charles William Dyson Perrins, before it was offered publicly. The museum acquired ten of the collection's 154 manuscripts, including two bequests by Perrins, and eight purchases at a collective and below-market £37,250 (equivalent to £926,000 in 2021).[4] These included the
Gorleston Psalter, the
Khamsa of Nizami, and the
book of hours by
William de Brailes,[4] and were the subject of a paper by Turner the following year.[1][5] Upon the December 1960 resignation of
Julian Brown, a co-author of the paper who left for the chair of
palaeography at
King's College London, Turner assumed responsibility for the museum's collection of illustrated manuscripts.[6]
In his new role heading the collection of illustrated manuscripts, Turner focused on scholarship.[7] His resulting publications ranged from those that his colleagues described as "extremely erudite", to those aimed at a popular audience.[7] In 1965 alone, Turner published four books: Early Gothic Illuminated Manuscripts in England,[8] the fifth volume of the British Museum's Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts[9] (highlighting acquisitions made since the 1928 fourth volume[10]), English Book illustration, 966–1846 (timed to coincide with the Fourth International Congress of Bibliophiles),[11] and Reichenau Reconsidered: a Re-assessment of the Place of Reichenau in Ottonian Art,[12] He followed up the first book with Romanesque Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Museum in 1966,[13] with both becoming standard introductions to their subjects.[7]Reichenau Reconsidered, meanwhile, analysed a set of exceptional manuscripts (including the
Codex Egberti,
Egbert Psalter, and
Poussay Gospels) and questioned their traditional attribution as coming from a
scriptorium at
Reichenau Abbey.[14] If the analysis was not conclusive,[15][16] it was reviewed as a "far-reaching perusal" that "demands that medievalists rethink their positions on the controversy".[17]
In the mid 1960s, Turner began teaching
art history part-time at the Universities of
Cambridge and
East Anglia, repurposing as teaching material his recent works on English
Gothic and European
Romanesque illumination.[7] He also undertook the chairmanship of two organisations involved with liturgical studies: the
Plainsong and Medieval Music Society in 1964, and the
Henry Bradshaw Society in 1967.[7] In 1971, Turner helped secure the
Anderson Pontifical for the museum's collection, after it was discovered in the stables of
Brodie Castle the previous year and placed for sale at
Sotheby's.[18][19] He was promoted to deputy keeper in 1972, following the retirements of the keeper
Theodore Cressy Skeat and the senior deputy keeper Cyril Ernest Wright.[7]
At the British Library
A year after Turner's promotion to deputy keeper, the Department of Manuscripts was subsumed into the
British Library, and he with it; subsequently his role shifted to the curation of exhibitions, and to responsibility for loans from the collection of manuscripts.[20] In the former role Turner helped oversee three major exhibitions: The Christian Orient in 1978, The Benedictines in Britain in 1980, and, with
Janet Backhouse and
Leslie Webster,[21]The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art in 1984.[7] Turner helped write exhibition catalogues for the latter two.[21][22][23]The Benedictines in Britain, attended by the leader of each of the country's Benedictine communities, "allowed him", his colleagues wrote, "to give full rein to one of his favourite pastimes, creating a guest list on which every style and title should appear with absolute accuracy. He spent many happy hours in the bookstacks, consulting directories in pursuit of this perfection!"[7] Turner also inspired the 1983 exhibition Renaissance Painting in Manuscripts: Treasures from the British Library, shown at the
J. Paul Getty Museumin Malibu and the
Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, before coming to London.[24][25]
Turner was described in The Times as "[a]n intensely sensitive spirit, ... for whom living was no easy matter";[28] colleagues remembered him as "a memorable—if unpredictable—character".[1] An only child unused to close-knit family life, he enjoyed the company of those a generation or profession removed from him over that of his peers and contemporaries.[29] Learning that the son of a commuting acquaintance was interested in
Anglo-Saxon literature, Turner invited the two to the library to handle the Beowulf manuscripts,[29] but among colleagues he had "a not undeserved reputation for being difficult and could chill the blood of the more timid".[30] He nevertheless shared a close working relationship with Janet Backhouse, also of the British Museum and later Library, and introduced her to the exhibition and loans of manuscripts.[30]
The unexpected death of his mother in 1966–1967, and his father's subsequent move into a nursing home, precipitated what Backhouse termed a "radical change" in Turner's life.[31] He moved from his
bedsitter by
Kew Gardens to his parents' flat in
Henley-on-Thames, his dress became flamboyant, and his published output declined.[31] Much of his social interaction came at the museum and library; once offered several months' leave by the keeper of manuscripts
Daniel Waley to work on a
Yates Thompson manuscript catalogue, which Turner thought could be his magnum opus, he nevertheless declined, lest he sacrifice his daily interactions with colleagues.[32]
Turner died suddenly on 1 August 1985.[1] Obituaries were published in The Times,[28] and in a special issue of The British Library Journal, featuring contributions related to his own range of interests.[1] Various studies were also published in his memory,[33][34] including "The Text of the Benedictional of St Æthelwold", a paper begun by Turner and finished by Andrew Prescott, then of the British Library.[35]
Publications
Turner published widely, beginning soon after his employment at the British Museum.[1] After his promotion to deputy keeper his output dwindled, and primarily focused on current exhibitions and recent acquisitions.[31] Such later publications included a facsimile of the
Hastings Hours,[36] one of the library's greatest
Flemish manuscripts, which was bequeathed to the collection under his watch.[25] With the work "almost ignored previously", one reviewer wrote, Turner's facsimile was "stunning visually and always interesting";[37] another described a "brilliant introduction" that focused on history rather than art criticism.[38]
Books
Turner, Derek H. (1962). The Missal of the New Minster, Winchester (Le Harve, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 330). Henry Bradshaw Society Publications. Vol. XCIII. London: Faith Press.
OCLC648161298.
Turner, Derek H. (1965a). Early Gothic Illuminated Manuscripts in England. London: Trustees of the British Museum.
OCLC504731321.
Turner, Derek H. (1965b). Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts. Series V. London: Trustees of the British Museum.
Turner, Derek H. & Scheele, Margaret (1965). English Book illustration, 966–1846. London: Trustees of the British Museum.
OCLC1128384496.
Turner, Derek H. (1966). Romanesque Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Museum. London: Trustees of the British Museum.
OCLC838733370.
Turner, Derek H. (1967). Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library. London: Trustees of the British Museum.
OCLC1082985453.
Turner, Derek H. (1971). The Claudius Pontificals: (from Cotton MS. Claudius A. iii in the British Museum). Henry Bradshaw Society Publications. Vol. XCVII. London:
Henry Bradshaw Society.
ISBN0-9501009-2-7.
Turner, Derek H.; Stockdale, Rachel; Jebb, Dom P. & Rogers, David, eds. (1980). The Benedictines in Britain. London:
British Library.
ISBN0-904654-47-8.
Turner, Derek H. (1983a). The Hastings Hours: A 15th-Century Flemish Book of Hours made for William, Lord Hastings, now in the British Library, London. London:
Thames & Hudson.
LCCN82-074548.
Turner, Derek H. (1959). "An Early Thirteenth Century Premonstratensian Gradual". Analecta Praemonstratensia. XXXV (3–4): 193–197.
Turner, Derek H. (1960). "The Crowland Gradual: An English Benedictine Manuscript". Ephemerides Liturgicae. LXXIV: 168–174.
ISSN0013-9505.
Turner, Derek H. (1960). "The Prayer-book of Archbishop Arnulph II of Milan". Revue Bénédictine. LXX (2). Maredsous Abbey: 360–392.
doi:
10.1484/J.RB.4.00421.
ISSN0035-0893.
Brown, Thomas J.; Meredith-Owens, Glyn M. & Turner, Derek H. (January 1961). "Manuscripts from the Dyson Perrins Collection". The British Museum Quarterly. XXIII (2). British Museum: 27–38.
doi:
10.2307/4422661.
JSTOR4422661.
Turner, Derek H. (1962). "The Bedford Hours and Psalter". Apollo. LXXVI: 265–270.
ISSN0003-6536.
Turner, Derek H. (March 1962). "The 'Ǒdalricus Peccator' Manuscript in the British Museum". The British Museum Quarterly. XXV (1–2). British Museum: 11–16.
doi:
10.2307/4422728.
JSTOR4422728.
Turner, Derek H. (1962). "A Twelfth Century Psalter from Camaldoli". Revue Bénédictine. LXXII (1–2). Maredsous Abbey: 109–130.
doi:
10.1484/J.RB.4.01566.
ISSN0035-0893.
Turner, Derek H. (Autumn 1964). "The Penwortham Breviary". The British Museum Quarterly. XXVIII (3–4). British Museum: 85–88.
doi:
10.2307/4422861.
JSTOR4422861.
Turner, Derek H. (Summer 1965). "Illumination from the School of Niccolò da Bologna". The British Museum Quarterly. XXIX (3–4). British Museum: 84–89.
doi:
10.2307/4422897.
JSTOR4422897.
Turner, Derek H. (1965). "The 'Reichenau' Sacramentaries at Zurich and Oxford". Revue Bénédictine. LXXV (3–4). Maredsous Abbey: 240–276.
doi:
10.1484/J.RB.4.00635.
ISSN0035-0893.
Turner, Derek H. (Spring 1966). "From the Library of Eric George Millar". The British Museum Quarterly. XXX (3–4). British Museum: 80–88.
doi:
10.2307/4422931.
JSTOR4422931.
Turner, Derek H. (Autumn 1968). "A Bibliography of Eric Millar". The British Museum Quarterly. XXXIII (1–2). British Museum: 7–16.
JSTOR4423014.
Turner, Derek H.; Borrie, Michael A. F.; Blackhouse, Janet & Stratford, Jenny (Autumn 1968). "The Eric Millar Bequest to the Department of Manuscripts". The British Museum Quarterly. XXXIII (1–2). British Museum: 16–52.
doi:
10.2307/4423015.
JSTOR4423015.
Turner, Derek H. (Autumn 1968). "The Development of Maître Honoré". The British Museum Quarterly. XXXIII (1–2). British Museum: 53–65.
JSTOR4423016.
Turner, Derek H. (Autumn 1969). "Two Rediscovered Miniatures of the Oscott Psalter". The British Museum Quarterly. XXXIV (1–2). British Museum: 10–19.
doi:
10.2307/4423038.
JSTOR4423038.
Turner, Derek H. (1971). "Sacramentaries of Saint Gall in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries". Revue Bénédictine. LXXXI (3–4). Maredsous Abbey: 186–215.
doi:
10.1484/J.RB.4.00768.
ISSN0035-0893.
Turner, Derek H. (October 1973). "Principal Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Library". The British Museum Society Bulletin (14). British Museum Society: 10–13.
Turner, Derek H. (April 1976). "The Customary of the Shrine of St Thomas Becket". The Canterbury Chronicle (70). The Friends of Canterbury Cathedral: 16–22.
Turner, Derek H. (1984). "The Rutland Psalter". National Art-Collections Fund Review: 94–97.
Turner, Derek H. (December 1984). "The Anglo-Saxon Achievement". History Today. XXXIV (12): 58–59.
ISSN0018-2753.
Chapters
Turner, Derek H. (1961). "Note on the Music". In
Ullmann, Walter (ed.). Liber Regie Capelle: A Manuscript in the Biblioteca Publica, Evora. Henry Bradshaw Society Publications. Vol. XCII. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 47–51.
Turner, Derek H. (1962).
"A 10th–11th Century Noyon Sacramentary". In
Cross, Frank L. (ed.). Studia Patristica: Papers Presented to the Third International Conference on Patristic Studies Held at Christ Church, Oxford, 1959. Vol. V. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. pp. 143–151.
Turner, Derek H. (1970). "Manuscript Illumination". In Deuchler, Florens (ed.). The Year 1200. Vol. II. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 133–139.
Turner, Derek H. (1978). "The Orthodox Church". The Christian Orient: An Exhibition in the King's Library from 5 July to 24 September 1978. London: British Museum Publications. pp. 13–21.
ISBN0-7141-0666-6.
Turner, Derek H. (1981). "Customary of the Shrine of St Thomas Becket, Canterbury 1428". In
de Hamel, Christopher & Linenthal, Richard A. (eds.). Fine Books and Book Collecting: Books and Manuscripts Acquired from Alan G. Thomas and Described by his Customers on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday. Leamington Spa: J. Hall. pp. 20–21.
ISBN0-333-23111-2.
Turner, Derek H. (1981). "La Bible de Moutier-Grandval et la Grande Bretagne". Jura, Treize Siècles de Divilisation Chrétienne: Le Livre de L'exposition. Delémont, du 16 Mai au 20 Sept. 1981. Delémont: Musée Jurassien d'Art et d'Histoire. pp. 38–39.
Turner, Derek H. (1983b). "Introduction". In Kren, Thomas &
Backhouse, Janet (eds.). Renaissance Painting in Manuscripts: Treasures from the British Library. London: British Library, Reference Division Publications. pp. ix–xii.
ISBN0-933920-51-2.
Alexander, J. J. G. (1968). "Review of Reichenau Reconsidered: a Re-assessment of the Place of Reichenau in Ottonian Art". Medium Ævum. CXXXVII (1). Oxford: The Society for the Study of Mediæval Languages and Literature: 100–102.
doi:
10.2307/43627411.
JSTOR43627411.
Heimann, Adelheid (March 1967). "The Literature of Art: Review of Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts. Series V". The Burlington Magazine. CIX (768). London: 178.
JSTOR875196.