Shown below is a selection of illuminated manuscripts with a broad range of initial letter treatments. Initial letters and other decorative elements are still used in books, magazines, annual report, brochures, and any other instance where eye-popping graphics serve to draw attention to text and help illustrate the content. These amazing manuscripts are a fantastic source of inspiration for today’s designers. Next, the illuminator (or illustrator, as we now call them) created all the remaining elements. Next, the grid for each page was lightly ruled with a pointed stick, after which the scribe went to work using ink and either a sharpened quill feather or reed pen. The layout of the book was then planned, including placement of the text, initial letters, borders, and any other illustrations and decorative elements. Then, sheets of parchment or vellum (animal hides specially prepared for writing) were cut down to the required size. The production of an illuminated manuscript began with the text, which was usually written first. Inhabited Initial: An initial letter that contains human or animal figures that are decorative only and bear no relation to the text.ĭecorated Initial: An initial letter that is decorated and embellished but does not necessarily contain a picture or decoration that relates to the text.Ī decorated initial from Lansdowne MS 460, f. Historiated Initial: An initial letter that contains within it a scene or figure related to the text.
Decorative initials found in mid-century manuscripts are usually one of three kinds: Many of these manuscripts contain illustrated initial letters that frequently were seen at the beginning of a chapter or section. The use of gold leaf or foil, gold specks or dust, or silver, which is applied with a brush, is a characteristic feature of most books from the Middle Ages. Bibles were a frequent subject for illumination. These precious and expensive books were most commonly associated with religious manuscripts, and were often created in monasteries by monks and commissioned by wealthy patrons. So an illuminated manuscript is one in which the text is embellished or enhanced with the use of decorative elements-including initials, borders, and other illustrations-using luminous colors, often including gold and silver. They were known as illuminated manuscripts: “illuminated” from the Latin word lumen, meaning light, and “manuscript” from the Latin words manus meaning hand and scribere meaning to write. Books were all written and drawn by hand, with each step done by a different person: scribe, rubricator, illustrator, etc.
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In the Middle Ages, however, the process for making books was dramatically different and therefore books were not readily available to the general public, the majority of which did not know how to read anyway.
A Brief Backgroundīooks today are available to almost everyone, as they are mass produced and affordable, as well as easily borrowed from libraries.
A spread from a Book of Hours from the 16th century.
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