Illuminated Manuscripts

The invention of the printing press marked the end of an era in which books were painstakingly transcribed by hand on to vellum, at the behest of rich patrons.

The beautiful calligraphy of these manuscripts together with their detailed illuminations increased the prestige and seigniorial standing of those who owned them. These early books were fashioned for the most part by scholarly monastic orders - such as that of the great Abbey at Cluny - for the great and good in all parts of Europe. The embellishment of such masterpieces as the Irish Book of Kells and the Due de Berry's Book of Hours was of unrivalled craftsmanship.

John Bradley's Illuminated Manuscripts provides an illustrated history of this practice, from Greek and Roman illumination through the Byzantine period up to the Golden Age of the great monasteries. It is filled with fascinating anecdotes and rich details about the materials, symbolism and system of patronage behind these fabulous texts.

Front cover: From The Psalter of King Henry VI published in Palacographia Sacra Pictoria in 1845 by William Smith, London.