A Few of My Favorite Things

I like all manuscripts.  Even the crustiest hard-to-read ones are unique and special.  But sometimes a girl needs a little bling.  And as far as manuscripts go, you can't get much more showy than Italian manuscripts from the 15th century.  By the time the 1400s roll around, printing presses were all the rage, but printed books just didn't have the 'wow factor' that manuscripts did, especially for wealthy patrons. 

This manuscript (available in a bigger version here), is an example of a typical manuscript of later 15th c. written and illuminated in Northern Italy.  These manuscripts are known for having milky-white parchment, which really brings out the depth of color used by the painters.  You'll

 notice that the handwriting looks a lot like a printed book -- at this late date, scribes and printers were influencing each other as to what handwriting and font should look like.  Most manuscripts of this type have a border filled with acanthus leaves (the blue, green, and pink leaves) and life-like flora and fauna.  At the bottom, there is usually a laurel wreath that the illuminator could leave empty until he found a patron; then he would just paint in the patron's coat of arms, for a ready-made, personalized manuscript.  On either sides of the laurel wreath, many illuminators added little cherubs (usually called putti) and little gold dots (called bezants).  Here's an example of a manuscript that never found a patron, or perhaps the patron just ran out of cash before the painter got to his coat of arms!

 

Depending on how much a patron was willing to shell out, this type of manuscript could be incredibly flashy, like this copy of a work by Titus Livius, or somewhat understated, like this copy of a work by Virgil. 

 

My favorite image I came across today is this page from a copy of Cyriacus' works that Cyriacus himself annotated.  Look at that handwriting!  It's obvious that the scribe was having so much fun with his letters, especially the final 'g' and the ligatures between letters. (Click here to embiggen). And that stamp?  That's the old British Library stamp that you'll find on most manuscripts (and yes, it drives me a little crazy that someone actually stamped it right in the middle of the page).