A survey of the evolution of scripts and a guide to reading historical documents illustrated from a wide range of manuscripts. Fifty-five full-page plates give examples of the major western scripts in broadly chronological sequence, each accompanied by a commentary indentifying the type of script, its historical and regional currency, distinctive features and style, and a transcription. Michelle Brown is a curator in the department of manuscripts at The British Library. She has taught courses in Paleography and History at the University of London and at the Library.

A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600

Reference

Brown, Michelle P.

Foreign Language Study & Reference

The British Library

What is a florilegium? What is an incipit? What is batarde script? This book--part of the Museum's popular Looking at series--offers definitions of these and numerous other techniques, processes, and materials used in medieval illuminated manuscripts. Concise and readable explanations of the technical terms most frequently encountered by the museum-goer are presented in an easily portable format. With numerous illustrations, many of them in color, this volume will be invaluable to all readers wishing to increase their understanding and enjoyment of illuminated manuscripts.

Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts : A Guide to Technical Terms

Arts & Photography

Graphic Design

British Library Publishing Div

This celebrated medieval picture-book tells the Biblical story, with the help of illustrations of everyday 14th-century England. It is only loosely based on the Bible and includes plenty of apocryphal episodes, for example Christ 'surfing' on sunbeams as a child. The costumes, tools, weapons and buildings in the pictures give us a near documentary-style representation of many occupations in the age of Chaucer, such as dyer, smith, carpenter and midwife. This distinctive manuscript has now been carefully photographed and reproduced on special paper designed to replicate the look and feel of the original vellum. The facsimile includes Michelle's Brown's full transcript and translation of the text, and a commentary based on her unrivalled knowledge of the period.

Holkham Bible

History

Europe

British Library

Follow on from the success of The Lindisfarne Gospels Turning the Pages, this new CD-ROM enables the user to view the pages of The Sherborne Missal - one of the British Library's greatest treasures. The Missal famously includes illustrations of British brids in the decorative borders, and is one fo the most attractive medieval manuscripts in existence. Using the latest technology, the user clicks and drags the mouse to turn the page of the manuscript in real time. Pages can be turned forward or backward, and text about each page is included alongside the manuscript. The CD-ROM includes an extensive essay by Michelle Brown, Curator of Illuminated manuscripts at the British Library, explaining the history and significance of the Sherborne Missal. 32 pages have been digitized, plus the cover, and the text is available in large print, and as audio. The CD-ROM also features bird sounds and medieval music.
Specification: Dual Mac/Windows format, Windows 95 or higher, plus Pentium Processor, 32 Mb Ram

The Sherborne Missal Turning the Pages CD-ROM

Fourteen historical manuscripts, supported by other manuscript examples, are used to explore fifteen selected writing styles. Dr Michelle P. Brown analyses the production of the manuscripts, setting them in their historical context and relating them to the people who produced them. Patricia Lovett uses the manuscripts to analyse the letter-forms in detail, and then gives clear guidance on how to write the letters. Each section includes a calligraphic interpretation of the historic letter-form.
This book is the first to put the needs of the historian and the scribe at the forefront. Large-scale examples of the manuscripts are included for letter analysis, with, in most instances, a full page colour reproduction of a page from the same manuscript alongside. Other selected manuscripts with clear letter-forms show the development of that alphabet style throughout the periods under consideration. A whole page is devoted to exemplar letters of each alphabet style, with clear guidelines on how the letters are formed, including punctuation marks, an ampersand (or et ligature) and numerals. Each section includes a specially created piece of modern calligraphy, showing how the hand can be used today.

The Historical Source Book for Scribes

Lovett,Patricia

Words, Language & Grammar

First edition. A complete history of the famous Lindisfarne Gospels covering production, ownership, text, physical appearance, and art of the manuscript. A guide for the enthusiast as well as the scholar. Beautifully illustrated in black and white with thirty-two color plates. Includes CD-ROM of the "Contents of the Lindisfarne Gospels." xvi, 479+ 1 pages plus 16 plates. cloth, dust jacket. large 8vo..

The Lindisfarne Gospels: Society, Spirituality and the Scribe

History & Criticism

The British Library Publishing Division

THE LINDISFARNE GOSPELS: SOCIETY, SPIRITUALY & THE SCRIBE (+ CD)

The Lindisfarne Gospels: Society, Spirituality and the Scribe [With CDROM][ THE LINDISFARNE GOSPELS: SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY AND THE SCRIBE [WITH CDROM] ] by Brown, Michelle P. (Author) May-01-03[ Paperback ]

University of Toronto Press

Published to coincide with a British Library exhibition of the same name, Painted Labyrinth: The World of the Lindisfarne Gospels looks at the background and history of this breathtaking artwork and symbol of Christian faith. Both illustrated and readable, the book is divided into short sections, each examining an aspect of the Anglo-Saxon world, the heritage of the people who lived and ruled at this time, and how and why this great book was created. There is a list of suggested further reading, and a complete list of artifacts and manuscripts in the accompanying exhibition.

Painted Labyrinth: The World of the Lindisfarne Gospels

The Luttrell Psalter is an outstanding medieval manuscript filled with interesting and exotic illustrations. Commissioned by Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, it was written and illustrated, quite possibly at his manor at Irnham in Lincolnshire, during the middle years of the fourteenth century. This book is a complete, full-size facsimile of the manuscript ... all 624 pages of it. The manuscript is remarkable in several ways: it was written, not in a monastic scriptorium, but in a domestic environment; its illustrations show scenes of everyday life, such as will have been familiar to the people of Irnham; and they also show lots of fantastic creatures, part human, part animal. Illustrations from the Luttrell Psalter are everywhere, and well-known and well-used as illustrations by authors of books on all aspects of medieval life whether on dress, or warfare, or cooking, or farming, or whatever. But, nowhere - until now - illustrates all of them! As a psalter, the book is essentially a copy of the psalms preceded by a calendar, and followed with canticles, the litany, collects and the office of the dead. The text was written thoughout by a single expert scribe, and illuminated with line fillers and decorative capitals for each psalm and each verse; and the the borders were subsequently illustrated with the remarkable scenes of everyday life, and exotic and fabulous beasts. The psalter is a huge book, 35 by 24 cms, that's nearly fourteen inches by nine and a half, and it contains 312 folios, that means it has 624 pages, and all of them are illuminated ... well, that's not quite true because there are a few pages at the end with music on them, but that in itself is pretty decorative. And the whole volume - its background history, its illumination, its art and symbolism - is set in context and explained in a lucid Introduction by Michelle Brown. Here is a treasure of the greatest interest, a rich vein of gold by no means yet worked out ... it is safe to say that there are more of these illuminations here than you will have ever seen elsewhere, and that their variety is breathtaking.

The Luttrell Psalter: A Facsimile

Depicting scenes of everyday rustic life with vibrant color and earthy wit, the Luttrell Psalter is a unique and vivid document of British culture in the 1320s. Unlike other illuminated manuscripts, the Luttrell Psalter does not focus only on religious imagery, but instead portrays the domestic dramas of the day. Scenes of farming, archaic medical treatments, music and dance, and even marital friction spill over the psalms and cover the margins of this celebrated book. In The World of the Luttrell Psalter, Michelle Brown unravels the Psalter’s history and sets it firmly within medieval society. A crucial element of the Psalter’s cultural context is its patron, wealthy landowner Sir Geoffrey Luttrell. Brown reveals that knowledge of Luttrell and the book’s audience is as important to understanding the work’s meaning as its striking imagery. Brown’s engaging narrative traces the inspiration and creation of the book, identifying its forebears while elucidating its originality. With lavish illustrations that highlight the inventiveness of the manuscript, The World of the Luttrell Psalter is an appealing guide to a remarkable artifact.

The World of the Luttrell Psalter

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