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
Black and White with Some Color Facsimile with English Commentary

Durham, Durham Cathedral Library, MSS A.IV.19

Black and White Facsimile with English Introduction

Dublin, Trinity College, MS A. IV.5

The Book of Durrow is a large Gospel Book that includes large decorated initials, five full-page illuminations of the evangelists, and six “carpet pages.” The place of origin for the Book of Durrow is debated among scholars between the monastery of Iona, elsewhere in Ireland, and the monastery of Lindisfarne.

Black and White and Some Color Facsimile with English Commentary

Dublin, Trinity College, MS A.I.6

The Book of Kells is the most famous Insular manuscript to survive the Middle Ages, although very little is known about its precise date and place of production. Its immense size and ornate decoration indicate that it was produced by very skilled craftsmen and intended to be viewed by many people. Some of the magnificent features of the book include the geometric interlacing of the carpet pages, the abstracted animal decorations, and the full-page Chi Rho initial.

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Commentary

London, British Library, Cotton MS Nero D.IV

The Lindisfarne Gospels include an unusual inscription that identifies the names of the scribes and craftsmen who created the manuscript at Lindisfarne Abbey in circa 698. The manuscript was likely made to be displayed with the shrine of St. Cuthbert, a former bishop of Lindisfarne.

High Quality Color and Black and White Facsimile with English Commentary

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Ms. Latin 8846

The Anglo-Catalan Psalter was started in Canterbury around the year 1200 and finished in Catalonia much later, around the year 1340. It is connected to the line of psalters that copy the Utrecht Psalter, including the Harley Psalter and the Eadwine Psalter.

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Commentary
Black and White 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

Hildesheim, Dombibliothek

The St. Albans Psalter is a lavish English manuscript with over forty full-page miniatures and the earliest example of French literature in the Chanson de St. Alexis. It was made at St. Albans Abbey and was possibly owned by Christina of Markyate.

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Commentary

Le Morte d’Arthur was first published by William Caxton in 1485 in Middle French. It is based on a manuscript by Sir Thomas Malory, with slight reworkings, which he compiled based on existing legends.

Black and White Partial Facsimile

High Quality Black and White Facsimile with English Introduction

London, British Library, Cotton MS Vitellius A. XV

Beowulf is the longest epic poem written in Old English. It is set in 6th century Scandinavia, but was likely passed down orally over many generations. The poem tells the heroic journey of Beowulf, a prince who battles Grendel, his mother, and a gold-hoarding dragon.

Black and White Facsimile with Interspersed Transcriptions

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 2253

Black and White 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, 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

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 20; London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius B.xi; Kassel, Landesbibliothek, MS Anhang 19

The Pastoral Care was originally written as a letter by Pope Gregory the Great to the Bishop of Ravenna. It is a treatise on clergy responsibilities. Augustine of Canterbury took a copy of the manuscript to England in 597. King Alfred the Great eventually translated it into Old English in the late 9th century, making it the oldest known English manuscript.

Black and White Facsimile with English Introduction

London, National Archives, MS E3 ½

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, 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. 24189

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville are a fictional account of Mandeville’s exploration to the far east. The romance was written in the vernacular french in order to reach as many readers as possible. The fact that numerous illuminated copies survive from the Middle Ages indicates the popularity and wide reach of the work.

High Quality Color Partial Facsimile with English Introduction and Interspersed Transcription

Cambridge, Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, MS 2

The Bury Bible was made around the year 1135 for the monastery of Bury St. Edmunds. The abbey’s chronicle indicates that it was painted by an artist called Master Hugo.

Partial Color Facsimile with English Commentary

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

London, British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius B.V part 1, together with leaves from London, British Library, Cotton MS Nero D. II

Black and White Facsimile with English Commentary

London, British Library, ADD MS 49598

The Benedictional of St. Aethelwold was made in the 10th century for the Bishop of Winchester. It contains the pontifical blessings for the ecclesiastical year and the Feast of the Purification. The manuscript is known for its lavish illumination in the distinct Winchester style.

High Quality Color Facsimile with English Commentary

Saint Petersburg, Publichnaja Biblioteka, lat. Q. v. I. 18

The St. Petersburg Bede is an ecclesiastical history written by the Anglo-Saxon monk, Bede. This particular copy, including a manual for conversions and calculations of Church calendars, was produced to be exported to the continent around the year 746.

Black and White 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