Understanding Illuminated

by Michelle P. Brown

Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts What is a breviary? What is an antiphonal? What is an incipit? This superbly illustrated book - part of the popular Looking At series - offers definitions of the techniques, processes, and materials used in medieval illuminated manuscripts. Concise and readable explanations of the technical terms most frequently encountered by the museum-goer are presented in an easily portable format.With numerou... Full description

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, History, Medieval, Reference, Art History, Books About Books

120 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 1994

About the author

Michelle P. Brown is Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. She was previously (1986–2004) Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library. She has been a historical consultant and on-screen expert on several radio and television programmes. She has published books on the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Luttrell Psalter and the Holkham Bible.

Reviews

[Mehmet Dönmez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Requires extensive knowledge about Christianity, awareness about terminology for middle age related manufacturing techniques and some definitions are difficult to follow. Yet reading a dictionary about West Europe illuminated manuscripts is nothing but pure joy 🤩

[Ivana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms is an incredibly useful handbook and a glossary. I am at the moment taking a class on romanesque art and illuminated manuscripts are an enormous part of it, so I found this not only interesting, but it also made many things clearer for me regarding that topic.

I recommend this book very much!

[Sherri Dub · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish that the pictures would have been explained in full detail, in context to what their text read.
It's a great book if you want to know all the technical terms used in manuscripts, but it's hard to appreciate what they were teaching you, without the text in the accompanied pictures deciphered.
Cheers~

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great glossary of terms about illuminated manuscripts. This is a valuable reference source for anyone interested in illuminated manuscripts or the history of books.

[Talia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific resource. Just what I was missing. So handy to have when doing research. I have the 2018 edition with a different cover.

[Diana McCutcheon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource for illuminated manuscripts

[Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, gave me, some basic insight, into how a

codex + vellum + illuminated = looks.

Makes for interesting reading. I think it is some old book, I once looked at in the late 90's.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic samples of many terms. FYI I learned more Christian liturgical terms than I did in seminary. That shows how much this was a Christian art.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick read and very helpful-- it's basically a dictionary of terms and includes full color examples in a lot of cases.

[meg (the.hidden.colophon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for Art of the Medieval Book in Fall ‘24.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, succinct guide for anyone new to manuscript research and needing quick information. Lovely full-color, high-quality exemplars.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are familiar with illumination and wish to have more in depth knowledge about techniques, processes, materials, nomenclature and styles used for making illuminated manuscripts, then Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts can satisfy your curiosity. This is a revised edition of a book first published in 1994. Think of it as an “anatomy guide” full with terms, easy to read explanations and beautiful images. It also feels like a dictionary to accompany your studies.

It is a technical book, so I wouldn’t recommend it for the casual reader. However, explanations are easy to understand and you don’t need to be an scholar or researcher to benefit from it. If you are an autodidact, this book would be perfect to help you understand many terms you might encounter in other related texts. Anyone trying to gain a deeper understanding of illuminated manuscripts can benefit from it.

[Cat]

For anyone really interested in illuminated manuscripts, this will be a godsend. I remember spending time learning about these in college and even own a few books on them, but I have never learned the vocabulary of them. It may be a while to actually learn and tie all the books together now that I have discovered this book.I really need to get a hard copy of this book....It's scholarly and not a casual read, in my opinion. It's very interesting though.

I received a Kindle arc from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

[Fred Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those interested in collecting illuminated manuscripts, or to just have a better understanding of the terminology associated with these works of art; this book is mandatory.

Great illustrations and photographs of exceptional illuminated manuscripts helps the reader understand the terms

[Aaron]

It's a good book. I only just started it.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as the number of terms, it was very comprehensive. Some of the definitions left a lot to be desired, however. More extensive explanations would have been helpful.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good quick reference for terms (with many manuscript images) for basic manuscript study.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The handbook par excellence for an introductory level understanding to manuscript studies and for all interested bibliophiles.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

very helpful guide

[Agnes Preszler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a richly illustrated glossary of terms about illuminated manuscripts, so do not expect narration. The terms, organized in alphabetical order, describe the various parts of the manuscript, the practice of their making, the subjects, the time periods and also the ways modern science examines them. The text is interesting and easy to comprehend, but obviously is it up to the reader to put all together. The major attraction of this volume, at least for me as artist, are the illuminations themselves, they are of a rare beauty and highest artistic standards. Some of them are funny too, as the ass playing a harp (!) or the fool making a face to the reader.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really interesting read for those who have an interest in this time period or manuscripts. So Middle Ages fans and after that can get into this because there are references and images of primary sources.

[Ames · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure the original could be improved on but I was wrong. I own the first edition of this publication and absolutely loved every bit of this one. There are so many publications about illuminated manuscripts that have incorrect information in them. This one stands apart from all of them. An easy reference book but also incredibly accessible for general reading.,