Since the Pope is visiting, I thought I’d call attention to the Vatican Library Exhibit on the Library of Congress web site. It’s a very informative short history of Rome and the library with a gallery of book manuscripts including many that are illuminated. The history of the Vatican Library is a fascinating story and [...]

There is a unique and exciting opportunity for rare book lovers on view at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. Their illuminated book, Gaston Phoebus (1331–1391), Le Livre de la chasse, Paris, circa 1407, has been unbound to aid in the creation of a facsimile and the individual leaves are on display [...]

The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore has one of the premiere collections of Medieval Art in the United States. Fifty works from this splendid collection are on exhibit in the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City (MOBIA) through July 13 of 2008. From the Home News Tribune: In this exhibition, a selection of [...]

Two 14th Century love poems have been reunited at the University of Chicago. From their press release: The University of Chicago Library acquired a 14th-century manuscript of “Le Roman de la Rose,” or “The Romance of the Rose” – which scholars have referred to as the most popular medieval love poem – reuniting it after [...]

The Devil’s Bible or Codex Gigas is the biggest medieval book in the world.  It has a fascinating history and legend.  It will be on public display for the first time in many years at the National Library of Sweden on September 20th. From The Prague Post: …legend holds that a monk was sentenced to be [...]

A wonderful new book on medieval illuminated manuscipts is coming from Cornell University Press in October. Drs. Raymond Clemens (Illinois State University) and Timothy Graham (University of New Mexico) are publishing Introduction to Manuscript Studies which promises to become a must-have resource for anyone interested in the study of medieval calligraphy as well as those [...]

The Cleveland Museum of Art is the holder of many rare and beautiful medieval treasures including the Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain, shown on the left. If you are in southern California this fall, you will be able to view part of this collection at the J. Paul Ghetty Museum. From [...]

There may be no more famous example of an illuminated manscript than the Book of Kells. While it is well known as one of the most beautiful surviving illuminated manscripts, surprisingly, very little is actually known about the manuscript and its origins. Finally, modern science will be used to learn more about this treasure. From [...]

The Bedford Book of Hours is going to be on display at the British Library next week. This is one of the most magnificent illuminated manuscripts in the world. It dates from the early 15th century and every single page in the over 500 hundred page book of hours is illustrated. The illustrations and illuminations [...]

One of the most interesting Celtic manuscripts is The Book of Deer. It dates from the 10th century and is the earliest manuscript from an area of Scotland known as “former Pictland”. The Book of Deer is considered particularily important for the notes written in Gaelic in the margins of the original text. The Gaelic [...]