Scot McKendrick

Michelle P. Brown

Janet Backhouse

Essays in honour of Janet Backhouse, Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts at The British Library reflect herown research interests in the later Middle Ages and Renaissance, and in the interaction between English collectors and continental book producers.

Makers and Interpreters : Essays in Honour of Janet Backhouse

Illuminating the Book

Kathleen Doyle

Illuminated Manuscripts from the Medieval World

The Art of the Bible

What role did books play in the lives of English monarchs and their families? Besides Alfred the Great, Edward IV, Henry VIII, and George III, which kings and queens appreciated books and amassed enormous libraries full of them? This well-illustrated volume presents a fresh and wide-ranging review of the evidence for royal interest in handwritten and printed books. Leading experts offer new perspectives on the involvement of England's monarchs in the circulation and preservation of texts from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day. Some essays consider individual books or monarchs; others take a wider view of several centuries of evidence. At the heart of the volume is the remarkable array of royal books held by the British Library, including the Old Royal Library, presented to the nation by George II, and the King's Library, presented by George IV. Illustrated in color throughout, 1000 Years of Royal Books and Manuscripts will appeal to anyone fascinated by the British monarchy as well as the country's rich and extensive literary history.

1000 Years of Royal Books and Manuscripts

British Library

John Lowden

Illuminated manuscripts collected by successive kings and queens of England form the heart of a unique and visually stunning collection held by the British Library. A key figure in the formation of this collection was King Edward IV (1461–83), who commissioned a number of luxury manuscripts decorated with his arms. Subsequent monarchs added to this library, which was given to the nation by George II in 1757. Over 150 examples from this exceptional collection are presented in this catalog, which accompanies a major British Library exhibition of the same name. These manuscripts contain paintings produced by some of the finest artists of the Middle Ages. Highlights include the Book of Hours, made for Henry VIII's great grandmother, Margaret Beauch& Henry VIII's Psalter, commissioned and annotated by the king himself; maps of an itinerary from London to Apulia and to the Holy Land; and the Shrewsbury book, presented to Margaret of Anjou on her marriage to Henry VI in 1445. The catalog features full-page illustrations from each manuscript included in the exhibition, as well as three illustrated essays which explore the wider history and context of this unique collection. Written by the curators of the exhibition, along with contributions from several experts in the field, Royal Manuscripts will be a much-heralded event for scholars and collectors seeking to better understand the lives and aspirations of those for whom these stunning artifacts were made.

The Genius of Illumination

Royal Manuscripts

Orlaith O'Sullivan

This volume covers a wide range of topics that bear on the textual criticism of the Greek Bible, including: the relationship between Jewish scribal culture and early Christian literary practices; Greek biblical texts uncovered in the Judaean Desert; the New Testament miniscule tradition; and New Testament biblical papyri. Fresh studies are presented of Codex Sinaiticus, Codes Bezae, and Codex Alexandrinus. Featuring contributions from an international group of biblical scholars, the book aims to make a significant contribution to the study of the Greek Bible.

The Transmission of the Greek Text

The Bible as Book

Thomas Smith Pattie

This is the first comprehensive guide to one of the world's greatest collections of Greek manuscripts. Fully indexed, it describes all the Library's manuscripts in the Greek language, with the exception of the separate collections of papyri and ostraca. Ranging in date from the 3rd century B.C. to the present century, these manuscripts comprise mainly Biblical, patristic, liturgical, classical texts, but also include papers of scholars relating to Greek texts. This first volume decribes nearly 600 manuscripts that form part of the Arundel, Burney, Harley, King's, Lansdowne, Royal, Stowe and Yates Thompson collections or which have been added to the continuing series of Additional and Egerton Manuscripts since 1925. There is also a list of facsimiles, microfilms and photographs of Greek manuscripts in other institutions held by the British Library. (Volume I thereby covers all the volumes not listed in M. Richard, "Inventaire des manuscrits grecs du British Museum", Paris 1952. The forthcoming Volume 2 will describe the manuscripts listed by Richard.)

Summary Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts

For two millennia the Bible has inspired the creation of art. Within this legacy of remarkable art and beauty, illuminated biblical manuscripts offer some of the best evidence for our understanding of early Christian painting and artistic interpretations of the Bible. This beautiful and important new book, compiled and written by two internationally renowned experts, immerses the reader in the world of illuminated manuscripts of the Bible. Through its pictures we are transported across 1,000 years of history, passing chronologically through many of the major centres of the Christian world. Starting in Constantinople in the East, the journey moves on to Lindisfarne in the North, to imperial Aachen, back to Canterbury, then to Carolingian Tours in western France. Later we view some of the riches of Winchester, Mozarabic Spain, Crusader Jerusalem, the Meuse valley, northern Iraq, Paris, London, Bologna, Naples, Bulgaria, the Low Countries, Rome and Persia. Our journey ends in Gondar, the capital of imperial Ethiopia. Fortyfive remarkable books - each a treasure in its own right - provide our itinerary through time and across continents. Together they enable us to explore and revel in the extraordinary art and beauty of illuminated biblical manuscripts, some of the finest but least-known paintings from the Middle Ages.

Thomas Kren

This comprehensive and richly illustrated catalogue focuses on the finest illustrated manuscripts produced in Europe during the great epoch in Flemish illumination. During this aesthetically fertile period – beginning in 1467 with the reign of the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold and ending in 1561 with the death of the artist Simon Bening – the art of book painting was raised to a new level of sophistication. Sharing inspiration with the celebrated panel painters of the time, illuminators achieved astonishing innovations in the handling of color, light, texture, and space, creating a naturalistic style that would dominate tastes throughout Europe for nearly a century. Centering on the notable artists of the period – Simon Marmion, the Vienna Master of Mary of Burgundy, Gerard David, Gerard Horenbout, Bening, and others – the catalogue examines both devotional and secular manuscript illumination within a broad context: the place of illuminators within the visual arts, including artistic exchange between book painters and panel painters; the role of court patronage and the emergence of personal libraries; and the international appeal of the new Flemish illumination style. Contributors to the catalogue include Maryan W. Ainsworth, curator of European paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; independent scholar Catherine Reynolds; and Elizabeth Morrison, assistant curator of manuscripts at the Getty Museum. Illuminating the Renaissance is published in conjunction with an exhibition organized by the Getty Museum, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and the British Library to be held at the Getty Museum from June 17 to September 7, 2003, and at the Royal Academy of Arts from November 25, 2003 to February 22, 2004.

Scot McKendrick

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