A History of Illuminated Manuscripts

by Christopher de Hamel

Book Overview

Illuminated manuscripts are perhaps the most beautiful treasures to survive from the middle ages. This authoritative volume provides a comprehensive introduction to the medieval world of books, their production and their consumption. The text divides this world into different groups of readers and writers: missionaries, emperors, monks, students, aristocrats, priests, collectors and the general public. De Hamel is both informative and immensely readable,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0714834521
• ISBN13: 9780714834528
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Phaidon Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 3.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 9.9" x 11.5"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Fabulous book and indispensable resource!

I loved this book! I used it for a graduate course on Illuminated Manuscripts, and it was one of the main textbooks we used, but I used it often after the course as well. I really enjoyed reading it, and found that it was unlike most of the typical text books I had formerly used. For any art history student, it is an outstanding resource. For anyone who loves illuminated manuscripts, book arts, or the Medieval period in general, this is a wonderful resource. It is a book that I consider an indispensable resource in my personal library. It is very well written and easily accessible for anyone. Although some of the terminology may be unfamiliar, it isn't so esoteric that it is beyond the scope of general understanding. It is clearly one of the best resources on the subject that I have ever come across!

Frrom someone who should know...

Chris DeHamel works researching books for Sotheby's. That is all he does, and his numerous books on the subject show his mastery and command of the subject. Everyday he goes to work, he is getting time to research, free of teaching committments that fetter the ability of other scholars to pursue their writing. His research and ability shows in this beatiful and well-written book, which is an excellent introduction to the history of the book and to the processes and culture surrounding the book as an object. His book progresses, chapter-by-chapter, through the different groups that books were designed for, describing where and why they were made, and the special challenges of each. Chock-full of photographs of lavish manuscript writing and art, this volume is not only an extremely suitable textbook for art history and history classes dealing with the book or commodity-culture, but also is a great personal or coffeetable volume, and supremely reasonable at the price it is provided at, considering the cost of so many art texts.

Spectacular teaching tool

This is the first illumination book I encourage my students to purchase (with Drogin's history of calligraphy). This is an entirely reasonable price with abundant color and b & w pictures.Unlike many tretises on the topic, this doesn't limit you to post-1200 Anglo-French. This gives you a true oversight of western european illumination of the entire span of the middle ages (spanish, moorish, greek, latin, etc...)Added to the benefit of examples, de Hamel doesn't subject you to the same pictures you've seen in every other 2-bit book (yes, Victoria, other books existed before 1200 besides the Book of Kells).The text is thoughtful without being dry and boring. This is written for an audience which is expected to appreciate the subject, without assuming you've devoted your life to it already.Walk, do not run, to get this. A must for anyone who is learning how to illuminate.

Great book for novices and experts.

Beautiful illustrations; simply page after page of color. While the text is wonderful as well, the medievalist will appreciate it for the large photographs that allow detail to be seen. A must for the manuscript junkie.

ultimate overview of earlier MSS available in color

This provides a lush, seemingly endless procession of early illumination. I rated it a 10 before I got to the text. An absolute must for anyone studying the art of illumination, especially if it is a hands-on study. This provides the best overview of pre-1000 MSS production. Normally I see a handfull of dry pages of text accompanied by just a "oh, here's two b & w pictures of the same stuff you've seen in every other book" - not here!!. I recommend it highly to my students.