The glory of the page : medieval & renaissance illuminated manuscripts from Glasgow University Library

Published for Glasgow University Library and the Art Gallery of Ontario by Harvey Miller, London, c1987. Cloth, blindstamped cover device, folio, 30 cm,. 228 pp, colour ills. Catalogue of an exhibition organized for the Art Gallery of Ontario and shown at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 16 October 1987 - 3 January 1988 and elsewhere. From the blurb - "This Catalogue provides an unrivalled opportuntity to study the development of the splendid art of book-illumination and to experience directly the ‘Glory of the Page’. It describes and illustrates the priceless collection of medieval manuscripts and early printed books in Glasgow University Library. As the University Librarian, Henry Heaney, points out in his Foreword, ‘The art of illuminated manuscripts is not easily accessible to the public at large. Long neglected as a supposedly minor art in favour of more visible forms such as wall or panel painting, it has in recent decades gained increasing acceptance .. yet to those who cannot visit manuscript reading rooms, it is quite literally a closed book. The fact that the volumes are kept tightly shut, however, has helped to ensure that the painting and other decorations have been preserved with such freshness.’ Most of the manuscripts included here have come to the University over the past two hundred years as gifts from former students and well wishers. Foremost among these is the great 18th-century obstetrician William Hunter, whose library alone consisted of some 10,000 volumes and contained 650 manuscripts, including - in pride of place - the famous English 12th-century Psalter, now known as the Hunterian Psalter. The texts of works catalogued embrace many themes: apart from Bibles, Psalters and Books of Hours there are also classical philosophies and histories; traveller’s tales; medical books; alchemy; medieval romances and legends; and the poetry of Chaucer and Petrarch.This publication, prepared for the occasion of the first substantial public showing of the Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, is much more than a guide to the selected manuscripts and incunables. The author, Nigel Thorp, explains the working methods, the materials and the social conditions which influenced the development of the marriage of word and image which these illuminated pages represent. Over two hundred such pages are illustrated here, 44 in full colour. They bring to a wide audience medieval book-illumination from the time of Charlemagne to the Renaissance, and range in size from magnificent giant volumes to tiny, jewel-like, pocket books. Spine needs re-glueing to textblock, otherwise Good in dustwrapper.