Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Lessons in the Art of Illuminating: A Series of Examples Selected From Works in the British Museum, Lambeth Palace Library, and the South Kensington Museum
Many schools Of writing throughout England were destroyed in the Danish wars, and the princes Of the Norman race did little to encourage literary art. Though one or two interesting mss. Of this period survive, it is not until the accession of the Angevins that. English writing makes another distinct advance. By the beginning Of the thirteenth century the art had risen to the highest pitch it has ever reached. The scriptorium Of St. Albans was the most celebrated. The works of Matthew Paris written there are still extant, and testify, by the character of the pictures and colored letters, to a purity of style and to the existence Of a living and growing art which has never been surpassed in this country. It is believed that the numerous little Bibles Of this period were chiefly written at Canterbury, and certainly, as examples Of what could be done before printing, are most marvellous. One of these mss. Is before me as I write. The written part of the page measures 25 inches in width and 33; inches in height, and the book is scarcely more than an inch thick, yet it contains, on pages of fine vellum in a minute almost microscopic hand, the whole Bible and Apocrypha. The beginning of each book has a miniature representing a Scripture scene, and a larger miniature, representing the genealogy Of the Saviour, is at the beginning Of Genesis. Although this is the smallest complete Bible I have met with, others very little larger are in the British Museum, and with them one, Of folio size, exquisitely ornamented in the same style, which bears the name Of the artist.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
