Christopher De Hamel

'An endlessly fascinating and enjoyable book' Neil MacGregor 'Full of delights' Tom Stoppard An extraordinary exploration of the medieval world - the most beguiling history book of the year This is a book about why medieval manuscripts matter. Coming face to face with an important illuminated manuscript in the original is like meeting a very famous person. We may all pretend that a well-known celebrity is no different from anyone else, and yet there is an undeniable thrill in actually meeting and talking to a person of world stature. The idea for the book, which is entirely new, is to invite the reader into intimate conversations with twelve of the most famous manuscripts in existence and to explore with the author what they tell us about nearly a thousand years of medieval history - and sometimes about the modern world too. Christopher de Hamel introduces us to kings, queens, saints, scribes, artists, librarians, thieves, dealers, collectors and the international community of manuscript scholars, showing us how he and his fellows piece together evidence to reach unexpected conclusions. He traces the elaborate journeys which these exceptionally precious artefacts have made through time and space, shows us how they have been copied, who has owned them or lusted after them (and how we can tell), how they have been embroiled in politics and scholarly disputes, how they have been regarded as objects of supreme beauty and luxury and as symbols of national identity. The book touches on religion, art, literature, music, science and the history of taste. Part travel book, part detective story, part conversation with the reader, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts conveys the fascination and excitement of encountering some of the greatest works of art in our culture which, in the originals, are to most people completely inaccessible. At the end, we have a slightly different perspective on history and how we come by knowledge. It is a most unusual book.

Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts

Medieval manuscripts are counted among the greatest glories of Western civilization. With their gold and painted decoration and their charming miniatures, they have always had immense appeal, and images from them can be seen everywhere - from greeting cards and wrapping paper to expensive facsimiles. This entertaining and authoritative book is the first to provide a general introduction to the whole subject of the making of books from the Dark Ages to the invention of printing and beyond. Christopher de Hamel vividly describes the widely different circumstances in which manuscripts were created, from the earliest monastic Gospel Books to university textbooks, secular romances, Books of Hours and classical texts for humanist bibliophiles. As the story unfolds the wonderful variety of manuscripts and their illumination is revealed, and many fundamental questions are answered - who wrote the books, what texts they contained, who read them, how they were made and what purposes they served. Illuminated manuscripts have alway been highly valued, and among them are some of the world's great masterpieces of art. With its lively narrative and many new and superb illustrations, this new edition of a much-praised book provides the perfect introduction to a large and fascinating subject.

A History of Illuminated Manuscript

Many beautiful illuminated manuscripts survive from the Middle Ages and can be seen in libraries and museums throughout Europe. But who were the skilled craftsmen who made these exquisite books? What precisely is parchment? How were medieval manuscripts designed and executed? What were the inks and pigments, and how were they applied? This book looks at the work of scribes, illuminators and book binders.Based principally on examples in the Bodleian Library, this lavishly illustrated account tells the story of manuscript production from the early Middle Ages through to the high Renaissance. Each stage of production is described in detail, from the preparation of the parchment, pens, paints and inks to the writing of the scripts and the final decoration and illumination of the manuscript. This book also explains the role of the stationer or bookshop, often to be found near cathedral and market squares, in the commissioning of manuscripts, and it cites examples of specific scribes and illuminators who can be identified through their work as professional lay artisans.Christopher de Hamel's engaging text is accompanied by a glossary of key technical terms relating to manuscripts and illumination, providing an invaluable introduction for anyone interested in studying medieval manuscripts today.

Making Medieval Manuscripts

La colección “Artesanos medievales” es una colección de libros que tienen como asunto el estudio tanto de los distintos artistas anónimos que trabajaron durante la Edad Media bajo el anonimato de los gremios y de los talleres como de los distintos objetos o construcciones realizadas por los artesanos medievales, dando así un panorama muy poco conocido de la labor atística y social de los mismos. Cada grupo de elementos (armaduras, edificios, etc.) es una forma de adentrarse en la vida cotidiana de los pueblos y las ciudades, estableciendo, además, las diferentes relaciones sociales que se daban entre artesanos y medio social. El detallismo aparece así como una manera de comprender lo más general. En este volúmen dedicado a los escribas e iluminadores se estudia desde los procesos de fabricado y preparado del pergamino, plumas, pintura y tintas, hasta la realización del manuscrito. El examen de la función del librero o la carrera profesional de cierto número de escribas e iluminadores, que son no solamente monjes sino también artesanos laicos, completan este panorama que se extiende desde el siglo XI hasta el XIV.

Copistas e iluminadores

The Leaf Book Considered ; [exhibition, The Newberry Library, Chicago, April 16 - July 16, 2005 ... The Lilly Library, Bloomington, Indiana University, April 3 - May 26, 2006]

Disbound and Dispersed

Michael Thompson

Joel Silver

John P. Chalmers

Daniel Wayne Mosser

Catalog of an exhibition organized by The Caxton Club. Venues: The Newberry Library, Chicago, April 16-July 16, 2005; The San Francisco Public Library, November 5-December 31, 2005; Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., January 18-March 19, 2006; The Lilly Library, Bloomington, Indiana University, April 3-May 26, 2006.

The Leaf Book Considered

British Museum

Looks at the work of medieval paper, parchment, and ink makers, scribes, illuminators, binders, and booksellers

Scribes and Illuminators

Janet Backhouse

The Becket Leaves

Medieval manuscript expert Christopher de Hamel selects and discusses a range of illuminated manuscripts from the British Library's unparalleled collection, some of them unfinished and so revealing the processes involved in an illuminator's work. He also explores the role of illuminators in the medieval book trade - how books were commissioned, the patron's expectations, how illuminators worked with scribes, the materials and techniques they used, and the time and expertise involved in creating some outstanding masterpieces of medieval art. With over 70 colour and black-and-white illustrations, The British Library Guide to Manuscript Illumination is an authoritative and engaging guide to one of the central aspects of medieval bookmaking for anyone interested in medieval art, social history, calligraphy, or illumination. One of a series of accessible and lively introductions to the history of books and how they are made.

History and Techniques

The British Library Guide to Manuscript Illumination

Patricia Lovett

Initially it was thought to be a `model book', used by artists for the transmission of ideas to assistants, or as a sample book to show potential customers. But, as Christopher de Hamel and Patricia Lovett show in their introductory essays, this assumption must be questioned: the Macclesfield Alphabet Book is an enigmatic album, possibly a friar's personal commonplace book. --

BL Additional Ms 88887 : a Facsimile

The Macclesfield Alphabet Book

No manuscript is an island. We may consider medieval illumination as a single characteristic of the whole Middle Ages, but every manuscript is part of the evolving history of European art and culture, and every one belongs to a place and period. The Sandra Hindman Collection is a remarkable journey through time and location. Every illuminated cutting described here is a microcosm of a larger history. A sublime initial from a twelfth-century Bible from France is part of a setting which includes Chartres Cathedral, the Crusades and Abelard; two late thirteenth-century narrative miniatures of saints from northern Italy have stepped from in a world inhabited by Giotto and Dante and the basilica of Santa Croce in Florence; a miniature by the Berlin Master of Mary of Burgundy belongs in age of Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling; a painting from a choir book by the zMaster B.F.y can hold its place with Leonardo da Vinci and Palestrina. Manuscripts were always at the heart of intellectual and visual culture. For thirty years Sandra Hindman has been selecting and refining a collection of perfect medieval miniatures which are the quintessence of their time. Each is a window which illuminates a world. The history of stained glass, architecture, fresco painting, tapestries and wood carving, as well as medieval literature, religion, music and romance, are all made slightly clearer and more focused by looking at the illuminated miniatures chosen for exhibition here.

Manuscript Illuminations from the Collection of Sandra Hindman

The Medieval World at Our Fingertips

This beautiful catalog explores four books that are remarkable survivals of what people read in the Middle Ages - the finest of medieval Bibles (the greatest text of Western civilization), one of the oldest Books of Hours (the most famous medieval manuscripts of all), Biography (the unique legend of an Anglo-Saxon princess), and the History of Troy (the oldest chivalric story in European history). These are all manuscripts unknown on the market for at least eighty years. One of the four was last described in print in 1588; the others were last catalogued for sale in 1909, 1932 and 1938 respectively. All are richly illustrated, with a total of 133 miniatures between them, as well as hundreds of borders and illuminated animals and grotesques. Some of the finest artists of the period were responsible for the miniatures, and at least two of them likely issue directly from the greatest of European courts.Prize-winning author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, Christopher de Hamel, wrote the Introduction and Catalogue. Founder and President of Les Enluminures, Sandra Hindman is responsible for the Preface. Les Enluminures is an internationally recognized leader in the field of Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, miniatures, and finger rings. Dr. Sandra Hindman, an expert on medieval and Renaissance manuscript illumination and Professor Emerita at Northwestern University, founded Les Enluminures in Paris in 1991 in association with her Chicago-based business. The New York City location opened in May 2012. Keegan Goepfert (M.A., Courtauld) became Vice-President of the company in 2012. For over twenty-seven years, Les Enluminures has forged and maintained relationships with the world's most prestigious public and private collections. International clients include the Musée du Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the J. Paul Getty Museum, among many others. The gallery has exhibited in most major art fairs in the United States and Europe, and we organize three to four exhibitions in our gallery spaces annually.

Four Remarkable Manuscripts from the Middle Ages

Les Enluminures

British Library

An introduction to the history and techniques of manuscript illumination that offers a thorough and accessible historical overview of techniques and processes, illustrated with examples, diagrams, and photographs of craftspeople at work.

Presents a history of the Bible, covering such topics as Hebrew, Greek, and Latin texts, the Vulgate, Bibles of the Middle Ages, the Gutenberg Bible, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

A History of the Bible

The Book

A unique visual history of the bestselling book of all time, Bibles: An Illustrated History from Papyrus to Print provides a snapshot of the biblical tradition through over fifty rare and important Bibles.Following a general introduction, the Bibles are presented in chronological chapters giving a short introduction for each period. Every example, from the oldest biblical fragments dating from c. 200 AD to the lavishly decorated gospels of the fine press tradition in the twentieth-century, is illustrated and accompanied by a caption which explains its particular significance.Drawing exclusively on Oxford’s collection, one of the finest in the world, this book tells the remarkable story of the development of the Bible across media, language, and provenance. Containing many unusual examples, some of which have never been illustrated in print before, it includes many of the great biblical texts of the Eastern and Western tradition, including the Magdalen Papyrus, the Laudian Acts, the Anglo-Saxon Exodus, St Margaret’s Gospel-book, the Douce Apocalypse, the Bible Moralisee (MS. Bodley 270b), the Kennicot Bible, the Guttenberg Bible, and the King James Bible.Published in the year of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, Bibles: An Illustrated History from Papyrus to Print brings together an extraordinary range of biblical texts and marks a milestone in the history of one of the most influential and enduring books in the world.

An Illustrated History from Papyrus to Print

Bibles

Glossed Books of the Bible and the Origins of the Paris Booktrade

The Library of the Bridgettine Nuns and Their Peregrinations After the Reformation

Syon Abbey

Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington)

A Hundred Medieval and Illuminated Manuscripts in the Lilly Library

Gilding the Lilly

The art collections of the Rothschilds were legendary for their extravagance and refinement. This is the first history of the Rothschilds as bibliophiles and, especially, as collectors of medieval illuminated manuscripts. It describes the extraordinary collections of the Rothschilds, and the movement of these supremely important manuscripts across the private libraries of Europe. In 1940 the Rothschilds' collections in Paris were looted by the Nazis, and the tale pursues the fate of the stolen manuscripts, some of them still missing. The inquiry traces literally hundreds of illuminated manuscripts, including some of the world's most famous books, made for the Duc de Berry, Catherine of Cleves, Isabella the Catholic, and many others.

The Rothschilds and Their Collections of Illuminated Manuscripts

James H. Marrow

William Noel

Richard A. Linenthal

This book was presented on the occasion of Christopher de Hamel's sixtieth birthday, and celebrates his many accomplishments during his years at Sotheby's and more recently as the Gaylord Donnelley Fellow Librarian of the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Christopher De Hamel

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