Leaf from a Book of Hours

Single illuminated vellum leaf from a book of hours with seventeen lines to a page and wide margins by a Franco-Flemish illuminator. Text is in a good 'bastarda' script and written in brownish ink, with the first line in red with flourishes. Five-line intial 'O' is in burnished gold on a quartered background painted blue and pink with tendril pen-ornamnet in white and a delicate border-decoration of hairline stems and berries in blue, flowers in brown and gold and leaves in gold. Light rulings in grey ink are visible.

During the Middle Ages many manuscripts with illuminated illustrations were created in monasteries. Usually on vellum (animal skin), but also in some early printed books, such materials as gold, silver and lapis lazuli were used to achieve the intense colours of the decorations.

Illuminations appeared in one or more sections of the manuscript. Initial letters were frequently particularly decorative, containing scenes, or elaborate decoration. Miniatures (small pictures) occupied the whole page or were incorporated into the text and borders were commonly composed of decorative motifs.

The blank page was seen as a space to be filled and there were a variety of tasks in the fulfillment of this from the ruling of the lines for the scribe, the adding of the text itself, the initial letters which might be either decorative or historiated, and the borders which surrounded the text to a greater or lesser extent. Historiated initials were highly decorative letters which contained a miniature picture. The most elaborate books were probably Books of Hours, or Psalters.

Handwriting developed many regional styles throughout Europe, from the insular script of Britain and Ireland, the Carolingian hand largely developed by Alcuin of York for the court of Charlemagne, the later Gothic hand in which the letters became compressed and more angular and finally the humanist script of Italy which was the precursor of the roman type developed by Nicholas Jenson for his printing press.

Thousands of books were produced by hand in the days before printing; many have survived intact and are treasured items with no two copies alike. There is evidence that many were bequeathed to relatives by their owners. Many however fell apart from constant use and pages have been sold singly, purchased by individuals and libraries to provide examples of different scripts and decorative styles.

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

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