Textmanuscripts - Les Enluminures
Welcome to the Medieval Text Manuscripts Blog! This blog highlights what makes our text manuscripts particularly interesting and appealing to us – and (we hope) to you too! Here we explore what these books can tell us about how they were made and used. We also share what we know of their most fascinating and unusual contents, makers, and owners. Some of our discoveries are quite significant, some merely amusing, and some bizarre. All medieval manuscripts have much to reveal to their attentive modern audiences. Follow our blog to learn more about them.
October 20, 2023
In case you haven’t noticed, we updated the Text Manuscripts site last month. Do take a look! This post, about Gospel Books, was prompted by one of my favorites from the update, a manuscript of the four Gospels made in Italy in the fifteenth century.
May 17, 2021
Of all the monastic orders founded during the Middle Age, none are as romantic as the Carthusians. The extreme austerity of their way of way life has always inspired awe. And their complete withdrawal from the world paradoxically has ensured our perennial fascination.
February 10, 2020
Bibliography Week in NY this year was January 21-25. I’m sure some (many?) of the readers of this blog were in NY that week enjoying the various bookish events...
October 15, 2019
Let’s play a game. What do you think of when you hear, “Bible,” and “Thirteenth Century”?
August 19, 2019
Out on your summer vacation, perhaps looking for that ideal Instagram photo, have you ever gazed in wonder at a painting and thought “how did they do that?” Well, artists’ secrets are sometimes revealed in unexpected places – like the flyleaf of a manuscript.
May 17, 2019
We usually steer clear of divisive political issues in this blog, but today, we are going to plunge right in (no pun intended)...
December 21, 2017
Readers of this blog may wonder where the manuscripts described on our web site, www.textmanuscripts.com end up – who buys our treasures?
March 22, 2017
News flash! Eighteen “new” manuscripts were added to our text manuscripts site last Thursday...
January 31, 2017
Since 1991, Les Enluminures has sold important examples of early drawings both to major public institutions and to private collectors. Today, opportunities to purchase drawings before 1500 are extremely limited...
October 15, 2015
We all know that it is a pleasure to look through the pages of a decorated manuscript. It is especially exciting when the book looks back! Miniatures can become windows into vivid moments of human action and interaction...
