The Becket Leaves (Manuscripts in Colour Series)

Literature & Fiction

BACKHOUSE, Janet

DE HAMEL, CHRISTOPHER

History & Criticism

British Library Board

Written and illuminated in the early 14th century for Sir Geoffrey Luttrell of Irnham in Lincolnshire, The Luttrell Psalter is celebrated for its long series of attractive marginal illustrations showing scenes of rural life in medieval England. Here Janet Backhouse describes the manuscript's creation and history, illustrated with 40 colour and 20 black-and-white photographs reproduced from the original. This is the second volume in a series of high-quality, colour-illustrated books, each devoted to a single illuminated manuscript in The British Library's collections. Janet Backhouse is the author of many books, including "Books of Hours" (1985), "The Illuminated Manuscript" (1979), "The Lindisfarne Gospels" (1981), and "The Becket Leaves" (1988).

The Luttrell psalter

The British Library Publishing

The Breviary of Queen Isabella of Castile is one of the most splendid of Flemish illuminated manuscripts, notable for the verve and originality of its miniatures. This is the first time it has been the subject of a substantial separate publication, providing comprehensive coverage of its contents and decoration. The manuscript was presented to Isabella by Francisco de Rojas, apparently to mark the occasion of the double marriage of her son and daughter to the children of Maximilian, King of the Romans, and his first wife, Mary of Burgundy. De Rojas had acted for Isabella and her husband, King Ferdinand of Aragon, throughout the marriage negotiations, which were concluded in 1495. Isabella had a strong interest in Flemish art and this sumptuous devotional book must have been much to her taste. Breviaries, normally produced for the use of the clergy, are much less common than books of hours. They contain a larger and more varied body of texts, affording their artists a wider range of subject matter and extensive decorative opportunities. In the case of the Isabella Breviary, no effort was spared to produce an illustrative scheme on a grand scale. Two outstanding workshops of the day are represented. The greater part of the manuscript is due to the Master of the Dresden Prayerbook, whose contribution includes a number of unusual Old Testament subjects. Many of the illustrations of saints are by the Master of James IV of Scotland. In addition there are four magnificent miniatures closely related to (and possibly in the hand of) Gerard David.

The Isabella Breviary

Arts & Photography

Individual Artists

The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library

Illuminated manuscripts are among the richest and most revealing relics of the pre-print Western world, and are central to our understanding of medieval social and cultural history. The British Library boasts the world's finest collection of medieval manuscripts, and in this new and lavishly illustrated survey, Janet Backhouse draws on these collections to provide a comprehensive introduction to these exciting and colourful materials.The manuscripts featured include bestiaries, psalters, Bibles, books of hours, and medical and herbal collections that originated in workrooms as geographically diverse as the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria and the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem. There is also a great chronological diversity among the selected manuscripts, with examples ranging from the seventh century AD and the Lindisfarne Gospels to early Renaissance offerings.Each of the almost 220 illluminations presented are accompanied by a caption and have been reproduced in colour. Many of the immages chosen have been reproduced here for the first time.

The British Library

The Sherborne Missal

The British Library Publishing Division

Medieval Birds in the Sherborne Missal

Books of Hours survive in their thousands in libraries, museums, and private collections across the western world, reflecting both the personal piety and the fashionable taste of the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Europe. They owe their name to a single essential text, the Hours (or Little Office) of the Virgin Mary, but otherwise their contents may vary quite considerably.This extensively illustrated book acts as an introduction to some of the most beautiful and historically interesting manuscripts in the collections of the British Library, and contains 140 full-colour reproductions from this rich tradition. Selected and with an introduction by Janet Backhouse, Illuminations from Books of Hours offers an unparalleled opportunity to see a wide range of examples from these precious manuscripts, many of which have never been reproduced before.

Illuminations from Books of Hours

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Crafts & Hobbies

The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art

Webster, Leslie

Turner, D.H.

British Museum Press

The Illuminated Manuscript

The British Library houses one of the world's great collections of illuminated manuscripts, and Janet Backhouse has drawn on this resource to make a selection of examples that span over 800 years of medieval book production.

The illuminated manuscript

Phaidon / Dutton

First edition. Origins and making, and later history of the Lindisfarne Gospels 8th century , with a chapter comparing the illumination of the Lindisfarne Gospels to that of several more or less contemporary manuscripts and to some decorative metalwork of the same era. The 66 illustrations include color photographs of all of the major illuminated pages of the manuscripts, and other materials in color or black-and-white. Index. 96 pages. paper-covered boards, dust jacket.. small 4to..

The Lindisfarne Gospels

Religion & Spirituality

Phaidon

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