Facsimiles of Medieval Manuscripts and Incunabula

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Auct D.4.17

An apocalypse picture book that served as a model for future block books

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Introduction

Oxford, Bodlein Library, MS Douce 180

High Quality Color Facsimile with German Commentary

Malibu, The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig III 1

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Commentary

London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 209

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Commentary

London, British Library, MS Add. 47680

The Holkham Bible Picture Book is an illuminated picture bible in Norman French. The manuscript was made for a Dominican friar before 1350. According to an inscription in the beginning of the book, it was made to help teach noblemen.

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Commentary

London, British Library, Add. MS 42130

The Luttrell Psalter is a richly illuminated manuscript commissioned by Geoffrey Luttrell between 1320-1340, known for its bizarre marginalia and scenes of rural and biblical stories. The manuscript includes the psalms, calendar, canticles, Mass, and an antiphon for the dead.

High Quality Color Facsimile

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

The Macclesfield Psalter is a manuscript from about 1320-30. It’s known for its ornately decorated pages and use of gold. The hands of many different artists have been identified in the manuscript, including the same scribe who created the Stowe Breviary and the Douai Psalter.

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Commentary

Lavanttal, Stiftsbibliothek St. Paul, Codex 58/1, and New York City, Pierpoint Morgan Library, Ms. M.302

High Quality Color Facsimile with German Commentary

San Marino, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 C9

Unlike contemporary French or Italian romances, the extant medieval manuscripts of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales were not lavishly illustrated. Only the Ellesmere Chaucer contains marginal illustrations which depict the twenty-three pilgrims described in the text.

Black and White and Some Color Facsimile

London, British Library, MS Harley 2278

The Life of St. Edmund tells the story East Anglian King, Edmund, who was killed by the invading Danes in the late 9th century. Edmund was considered a martyr and model king. The poem about St. Edmund was written by John Lydgate, a monk from Suffolk England.

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Introduction

London, National Archives, MS E3 1/2

The Great Domesday book is a nearly complete survey of England and Wales. It was ordered by William the Conqueror to determine the state of taxes owed to the king and assess redistribution of property.

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Translations

London, British Library, MS Harley 2253

Black and White Facsimile

London, British Library, MS Add. 59678

The Winchester Malory is a manuscript of Sir Thomas Malory’s romance Le Morte d’Arthur. He composed the poem based on existing tales while he was in Newgate Prison. The later Caxton printing of Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur differs from the manuscript.

Black and White Facsimile

London, British Library, Royal MS 2 B.vii

The Queen Mary Psalter was made in the early 14th century for an unknown patron, but takes its name from Queen Mary I of England, to whom it was presented in the 16th century. The Psalter includes Old Testament scenes, a liturgical calendar, a bestiary, the life of Christ, and the Psalms. Many of the images pertain to childbearing and female figures, indicating that the first patron was possibly a woman.

Black and White Facsimile with English Introduction

London, British Library, Add. MS 74236

The Sherborne Missal is a clerical illuminated manuscript that contains the text and music for the Mass. It was made for St. Mary’s Abbey at Sherborne in the years surrounding the turn of the 15th century. It is unique in its lavishness, pictorial themes, and innovative subjects.

High Quality Color Partial Facsimile

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 764

The Book of Beasts is a medieval English bestiary, which was a type of compendium that describes real and mythical animals, often with moralizing or anecdotal accounts. The MS Bodley 764 contains a unique entry of “barnacle geese” that hang from trees.

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Introduction

New York, the Morgan Library, MS M.766

The Speculum Hamanae Salvationis is a popular theology manuscript that explains the typological relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

High Quality Color Facsimile with German Commentary