Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Museographs: Illuminated Manuscripts: The History Publication of World Culture
    Museographs: Illuminated Manuscripts: The History Publication of World Culture
    Museographs: Illuminated Manuscripts: The History Publication of World Culture
    Ebook67 pages49 minutes

    Museographs: Illuminated Manuscripts: The History Publication of World Culture

    By Caron Caswell Lazar

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Before the printing press introduced the notion of mass production to the Renaissance world, the written word was one of spiritual significance and unfathomable mystique. Sacred texts predominated and books were acceptable means of procuring religious thought. As harbinger of the book, the Illuminated Manuscript maintains a well-respected place in literary and artistic history, as well as in the record of human progress and creativity.

    Museograph's Illuminated Manuscripts gives rare scholarly attention to these Judeo-Christian, Islamic, and secular masterpieces. From the Byzantine Period to the Renaissance, it outlines the evolution of this textual art form. Religious themes that were common to illuminated texts for over one thousand years became progressively outnumbered as literacy spread beyond the religious community. Books were slowly evolving from status symbols to learning tools. The decorative content of illuminations also advanced through history's course. Virtually without border in the Byzantine Period, manuscripts resonated and simplicity befitting religious ceremonies and houses of worship. By the Romanesque Period, the appearance of the Bestiary indicated that a shift was on the horizon. The Winchester border, with its heavy frame and ornate gold bars, was wild with foliage and whimsical in its combination of human and bestial figures. Illuminated design gone organic!

    Illuminated Manuscripts is a sensory treasure of image and word. Subjects within this monograph embody a rich interdisciplinary history and continue to grow alongside man as his understanding of what is beautiful deepens and his ability to express it is actualized.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublishereBookIt.com
    Release dateFeb 2, 2017
    ISBN9781456609870
    Museographs: Illuminated Manuscripts: The History Publication of World Culture

    Read more from Caron Caswell Lazar

    Related to Museographs

    Related ebooks

    History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Gospels of Harmony

      Apr 11, 2019

      The Gospels of Harmony
      2 min read

    • Article

      Dream Weavers

      Jan 5, 2022

      Dream Weavers
      4 min read

    • Article

      Illuminated Letter

      May 14, 2021

      Illuminated Letter
      3 min read

    • Article

      Leaves of Color

      Apr 1, 2021

      Leaves of Color
      1 min read

    • Article

      How To Read European Armor

      Oct 2, 2017

      How To Read European Armor
      2 min read

    • Article

      Secrets Of Gothic Sculpture

      Sep 9, 2021

      Where and when did Gothic sculpture first appear? The designation ‘Gothic’ is a modern concept; it’s helpful to art historians, who want to distinguish this kind of imagery from Classical, Romanesque, and Renaissance art. Those who commissioned, crea

      4 min read

    • Article

      Ode To The Library Museum

      Jul 24, 2018

      Ode To The Library Museum
      6 min read

    • Article

      Subversive Scribes And Killer Rabbits

      Aug 6, 2020

      Marginalia was used to both praise God and subvert the natural order The format most commonly associated with the term ‘marginalia’ is, perhaps, the manuscript illumination. Illumination, from the Latin ‘illuminare’ (meaning to ‘enlighten’ or ‘illumi

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Tantalizing Promise

      Aug 4, 2023

      A Tantalizing Promise
      4 min read

    • Article

      Marks of Significance: On Punctuation’s Occult Power

      Jul 31, 2019

      The manipulation of the odd symbols we call letters and punctuation lend themselves to the discovery of greater truths, guideposts to a type of paradise. The post Marks of Significance: On Punctuation’s Occult Power appeared first on The Millions.

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Bookness of Not-Books

      Jun 22, 2017

      The Bookness of Not-Books
      6 min read

    • Article

      Lost Knowledge Of The Ancients

      Feb 25, 2021

      Lost Knowledge Of The Ancients
      8 min read

    • Article

      Top 10 Books About Online: An Excerpt from ‘Attention: Dispatches from a Land of Distraction’

      Aug 13, 2018

      1. The Catalog of Nibru (Various, circa 21st to 20th Centuries B.C.) I, the king, was a hero already in the womb I am a king treated with respect Not only did the lord make the world appear in its correct form Lady of all the divine powers These line

      8 min read

    • Article

      Reading Ancient Texts

      Oct 19, 2021

      It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the nameless medieval scribes who copied ancient texts and made sure they survived. However, these unsung heroes were only human. They made mistakes and copied only texts they believed to be useful.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Nov 21, 2021

      by Bryan Walpert Mākaro Press — $35 It needs to be made clear that this is a science fiction novel, specifically of the time travel variety. It takes place in three alternating narrative streams, one of which is told in reverse, so that the couple wh

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Big Idea: Could The Greatest Works Of Literature Be Undiscovered?

      May 30, 2022

      When the great library at Alexandria went up in flames, it is said that the books took six months to burn. We can’t know if this is true. Exactly how the library met its end, and whether it even existed, have been subjects of speculation for more tha

      4 min read

    • Article

      Magical Texts

      Mar 21, 2024

      An Illustrated History of Magic Books and Spells Owen Davies Yale University Press 2023 Hb, 256p, £25, ISBN 9780300272017 With a proven record in the study of magic and witchcraft, Owen Davies brings us this full colour appraisal of magical texts fro

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Evolution Of Writing

      Jun 20, 2019

      The Evolution Of Writing
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Leiden Amun Papyrus

      Aug 22, 2022

      The Leiden Amun Papyrus
      5 min read

    • Article

      Binding The Ghost: On The Physicality Of Literature

      Jan 11, 2019

      The spirit is strong, but so is the flesh; books can never be separated from the circumstances of those bodies that house their souls. The post Binding the Ghost: On the Physicality of Literature appeared first on The Millions.

      10 min read

    • Article

      Development Of Writing

      Sep 18, 2020

      Development Of Writing
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Museographs

    5/5

    1 rating1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      The book explains in symbols what is the endgame for the human race.

    Book preview

    Museographs - Caron Caswell Lazar

    Celts

    Illuminated Manuscripts

    A man who knows not how to write may think this is no feat. But only try to do it yourself and you will learn how arduous is the writer’s task. It dims your eyes, makes your back ache, and knits your chest and belly together — it is a terrible ordeal for the whole body. So, gentle reader, turn these pages carefully and keep your finger far from the text. For just as hail plays havoc with the fruits of spring, so a careless reader is a bane to books and writing.

    — Prior Petrus, Scribe and Illuminator ca. 1091-1109

    Annunciation, Jean Poyet, from Book of Hours, 10 1/16 x 7 1/16 inches,

    France, Tours, ca. 1500.

    Collection of The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. H.B, f.3Ov.

    Copyright, 1993 The Pierpont Morgan Library.

    A Brief History

    Illuminated manuscripts have a three-fold place in history: in the history of books, the history of art, and the history of ideas. These sumptuous books antedate and overlap mechanical printing and so provide an essential means of understanding the recording and disseminating of knowledge — an effort that resulted in ushering in the modern world.

    In art history these manuscripts are important for two reasons. First, they constitute a record of the history of design and ornament that goes all the way back to the ancient world; second, as the largest category of painting that has come down to us from the Middle Ages, they are a pictorial reference less affected by physical change or the restorer’s hand than any other from the same period; and finally, as documents in the history of ideas, these books illustrate the evolution of human knowledge, reflecting in their constantly changing forms and decoration the movements and reorientations of thought that underlie the cartography of the continuing generations of cultural evolution — and revolution.

    The very term illuminated manuscript heralds this medium as high art. Webster defines illumination in part as the rendering illustrious or the causing to be resplendent, while the word manuscript literally means written by hand. These definitions endow the spirit of the illuminated manuscript as inherently different in nature from modern book illustration or decoration. For just as the written word is the direct expression of mankind’s unique ability in all of earthly creation to record and transmit thought, so the inspiration to decorate, to make more beautiful, the word is the expression of the awe of the supernatural — that which evoked divine power. Illumination, or the causing of words to be resplendent, only existed as a creative process while the written word was held in such high spiritual regard — whether the cause of this regard was because it [the word] exists or because it was thought to be divinely inspired.

    Although illustrious manuscripts did exist to some extent in classical antiquity, they flowered and were much more prevalent in the Middle Ages, when the uniqueness of every book gave it a value that is inconceivable today. And although there were certainly undecorated books produced throughout this period the very idea of the embellished word, as an ongoing tradition, existed only when the word itself had more than a literal meaning and significance.

    In the

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1