Having now read through the ESV several times in my personal devotional life, I have adopted it as the primary text for my teaching and writing ministry.” Urbana, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Pre-1650 MS 98 ( Rule of Saint Benedict from France) Carmine, also known as cochineal, where carminic acid from the Dactylopius coccus insect is mixed with an aluminum salt to produce the dye;

Vienna, Austria, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, (Guillaume Durand, Rationale divinorum officiorum)

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Rome, St. Paul's Outside the Walls, s.n. (kept in the Vatican Library) ( Bible of San Paolo fuori le Mura) The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliothek, MS 76 E 16 (Jacob van Maerlant, Rijmbijbel. and Die wrake van Jherusalem) a b c Putnam A.M., Geo. Haven. Books and Their Makers During The Middle Ages. Vol. 1. New York: Hillary House, 1962. Print. The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliothek, MS 120 D 13 (Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung, Roman de la Rose) De Hamel, Christopher. Medieval Craftsmen: Scribes and Illuminations. Buffalo: University of Toronto, 1992. p. 60.

Though the first medieval creators of illuminated manuscripts were monasteries who did not produce them for widespread or commercial use, illuminated manuscripts eventually became a commercial product for "members of the ruling class and high-ranking church officials". [26]Monasteries produced manuscripts for their own use; heavily illuminated ones tended to be reserved for liturgical use in the early period, while the monastery library held plainer texts. In the early period manuscripts were often commissioned by rulers for their own personal use or as diplomatic gifts, and many old manuscripts continued to be given in this way, even into the Early Modern period. Especially after the book of hours became popular, wealthy individuals commissioned works as a sign of status within the community, sometimes including donor portraits or heraldry: "In a scene from the New Testament, Christ would be shown larger than an apostle, who would be bigger than a mere bystander in the picture, while the humble donor of the painting or the artist himself might appear as a tiny figure in the corner." [24] [25] The calendar was also personalized, recording the feast days of local or family saints. By the end of the Middle Ages many manuscripts were produced for distribution through a network of agents, and blank spaces might be reserved for the appropriate heraldry to be added locally by the buyer. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS. fr. 8846 ( Great Canterbury Psalter, Anglo-Catalan Psalter or Paris Psalter - also part 13th-century) Demonstration of the production of an illuminated manuscript from the Fitzwilliam, Cambridge (Flash player needed) Ljubljana, Slovenia, Narodna in univerzitetna knjiznica v Ljubljani (Collectarium (William of St-Thierry, Life of St Bernard; Lives and Martyrdoms of Saints))

The type of script depended on local customs and tastes. In England, for example, Textura was widely used from the 12th to 16th centuries, while a cursive hand known as Anglicana emerged around 1260 for business documents. [12] In the Frankish Empire, Carolingian minuscule emerged under the vast educational program of Charlemagne. [13] [14] While the use of gold is by far one of the most captivating features of illuminated manuscripts, the bold use of varying colors provided multiple layers of dimension to the illumination. From a religious perspective, "the diverse colors wherewith the book is illustrated, not unworthily represent the multiple grace of heavenly wisdom." [7] Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guelff. 36.23 Augusteus 2 ( Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum) Illuminated manuscripts offer some of the best evidence for our understanding of Christian artistic interpretations of the Bible. Through them we can begin to appreciate the value placed on such art. Only significant investment of resources – hours of labour and significant expenditure – made such works possible. Each manuscript, by definition, was made by hand (Latin manu scriptus: ‘written by hand’), and each illumination required the dedicated work of a highly skilled person, or persons. Each incurred significant cost in materials and the time spent on its production. No wonder, then, that so many illuminated manuscripts of the Bible were treasured in their day for more than their material value, and gained the status of gifts worthy of saints and kings.Engrossing: The process of illumination [ edit ] A common process of manuscripts illumination from the creation of the quire to the binding ENGROSSING The most popular type of illuminated manuscript was the Book of Hours, which was comprised of Christian prayers to be said at certain hours throughout the day. The Hague, Musee Meermanno-Westreenianum, MS 10 B 29 (Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung, Roman de la Rose) The artists who worked on books such as the Grimani Breviary or the Prayer Book of Claude de France were working during a time when printed books were more widely accepted than they had been previously, but still, those who could afford to commission them preferred the beauty and craftsmanship of a hand-made, hand-illustrated work. Art historians classify illuminated manuscripts into their historic periods and types, including (but not limited to) Late Antique, Insular, Carolingian manuscripts, Ottonian manuscripts, Romanesque manuscripts, Gothic manuscripts, and Renaissance manuscripts. There are a few examples from later periods. The type of book most often heavily and richly illuminated is sometimes known as a "display book." In the first millennium, these were most likely to be Gospel Books, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells. The Romanesque and Gothic periods saw the creation of many large illuminated complete bibles. The largest surviving example of these is The Codex Gigas in Sweden; it is so massive that it takes three librarians to lift it.

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Escorial, Biblioteca del Monasterio, T. II. 24 (Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae) Nordenfalk, Carl. Cetic and Anglo-Saxon Painting: Book illumination in the British Isles 600-800. New York: George Braziller, 1977. London, British Library, Add MS 8238 (Paisios Hagiopostolites, Verse History of Mount Sinai and its environs (London, British Library, Add MS 8238))The Hague, Musee Meermanno-Westreenianum, MS 10 B 23 (Petrus Comestor, Bible historial, Guyars des Moulins translation)