Select a date range below for an introduction to manuscripts of that period. Explore the Royal Collection, one of the largest and most important art collections in the world, and one of the last great European royal collections to.
This tour will give you a quick introduction both to some of the Library’s treasures and to the history of manuscript illumination in the West. The British Library has one of the finest collections of illuminated manuscripts in the world, rivalled by very few other institutions. Starting with the early days of book publishing, it explores the ornate and intricate designs of illuminated manuscripts and the use of woodcut. Sometimes the initials were purely decorative, but often they work with the text to mark important passages, or to enhance or comment on the meaning of the text.
This term comes from the Latin word for ‘lit up’ or ‘enlightened’ and refers to the use of bright colours and gold to embellish initial letters or to portray entire scenes. Some manuscripts were made even more precious by ‘illumination’. An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations.Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the practice continued into secular texts from the 13th century onward and typically include proclamations, enrolled bills, laws, charters, inventories and deeds. Medieval books were therefore expensive items. A large manuscript might require one whole cow- or sheep-skin to make a folded sheet of two to four pages, and a thick book could require the hides of entire herds. Before this the usual support for writing was parchment (also known as vellum), made from stretched, treated animal skins. Although paper was available in southern Europe from the twelfth century, its use did not become widespread until the late Middle Ages - there was no paper mill in England until the fifteenth century. letters, but here sits the beautiful Frankish step- mother in one of the rush. This was a time-consuming and labour-intensive process, and could take months or years. easy quest at an An- the young student returns, triumphantly recites the. Illuminated manuscripts were decorated with beautiful illuminated (gold and silver) initials, decorations and pictures. The term ‘manuscript’ comes from the Latin for ‘handwritten’: before the invention of printing all books had to be written out by hand. Text and illumination were complementary and were either closely related or sharply contrasted. They can vary from the basic pen-and-ink drawn letter to the most elaborate letter painted with gold or silver leaf. An introduction to illuminated manuscripts Before 800 An illuminated initial is an enlarged and decorated capital letter, the first letter of a section of text.
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