The Bible of Illuminated Letters: A Treasury of Decorative Calligraphy

by Margaret Morgan

Book Overview

Learn the ancient, creative art of illumination

Illumination--the creation of elaborate, decorated letters and initials--became an artform in the monasteries of medieval Europe. Embellished with gold leaf, the illuminated letters of those early scribes seemed to reflect light, as though they were indeed illuminated. This traditional art is now attracting enthusiasts who are seeking out a new craft or hobby.

This adult...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764158201
• ISBN13: 9780764158209
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Sourcebooks
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.7" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Indispensible for any artist or bookmaker

I highly recommend this book to any fine or graphic artist, even if you are not into calligraphy or have any intension of doing any artwork resembling classic illumination. I went to art school for many years, divided my time between both fine arts and visual communication, and this book is glorious review encapsulated in between two covers. There is stuff covered that I wish I had been taught in the seven years I went to art school! Morgan's book discusses everything from different types of paper, finding the "grain" and why it is important to making one's own gesso and egg tempera paints. It discusses the difference between the many types of materials for gilding with step-by step photographed instructions, including how to pick out vellum and prepare it for your work. It warns you of pitfalls and common mistakes and how to avoid and correct them. It even discusses layout and paste-up and the importance of preliminary work and preparing your work space. The first half of the book is about tools and techniques and the second half is devoted to specific types of alphabets, their history and step-by-step photographs and instructions on their execution. Though this book is not for a typical scrap-booker that is looking for a quick way to make fancy decorations in between batches of cupcakes, it is an almost complete curriculum for the art of illumination in a book*. It goes through advanced art techniques step by step making them easy to understand so that you feel comfortable enough to begin practicing these. It is a great primer on the tools most artists use or may have questions about including: paper, vellum, parchment, brushes, pens, gouache, watercolor, egg tempera, inks, flat gilding, raised and burnished gold, shell gold, metallic gouache and powders. It is also a great melding of the disciplines of both fine and graphic arts and thus serves as a fantastic reference to any fine or graphic artist or bookmaker. *I say "almost complete" in that I found the sections of "Drawing the Decorated Initial" and "Placing Capitals on the Page" in Margaret Shepard's book CAPITALS FOR CALLIGRAPHY as important information that I found wanting in Morgan's book. These two books together are very good companions to one another--especially because Shepard's book goes over basic calligraphy in a bit more depth.

I wish I would have had this years ago

As a struggling illuminator and scribe for the SCA, I find this book to be a teacher when I need one and a great beginner to advanced book for callig and especially illumination. Due to time constraints and the fact that I am a willing, but poor (in talent) paint and ink artist, I haven't spent much time in art classes. This book has helped me get through more than a few hurdles I have had and inspires me to do more. This book was well worth the money and I would highly recommend it to others.

Great book for intermediate "scribes"

I wish I could recommend this book for complete beginners, but I can't. Some of the techniques in this book will require lots and lots of practice (as it did me) to get up to speed. You can't just jump right in and turn out a beautiful illuminated manuscript on the level of "The Book of Hours". To get going, I'd purchase a learning book on the art of calligraphy (which is plenty of fun on its own, and beautiful to boot!) with lessons, otherwise you'll wind up in the position of creating a nicely illuminated letter and the botch the calligraphic text, losing all your hard work. By all means, get this book to add the beautiful finishing touch of illumination to your work once you're happy with your writing. In all, this book covers what you'll need to start illuminating, the techniques and pitfalls you'll meet along the way, some calligraphy techniques, and the styles of illumination from Gothic to contemporary.

With modern examples in full color

Plenty of books describe the literature and art of illuminated letters but few provide instructions for recreating illuminated alphabets from six historical periods, as does THE BIBLE OF ILLUMINATED LETTERS. Each section explores how these letters can be adapted to create a personal style, with modern examples in full color enhancing step-by-step color photos of production. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

Excellent!

This is a step by step guide on how to illuminate letters, from the basic supplies needed to the finished product, with chapters on letterforms popular by century. Very informative and inspiring, easy to understand, with lots of pictures. Once you own it, you will never lend this to anyone! A fabulous addition to the artist's library...