Here's some of what's in my library, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I've included as much info as I can, but the availability of any of these sources is up for grabs. Look around, try and order them if you want. The prices I have quoted are the ones on the back of the book, but bear in mind that some of these I've had almost forever, so they may cost more now. The same caveat applies to all the publishing info. Good luck.

Manuscript Painting at the Court of France: The Fourteenth Century - Francois Avril. George Braziller, Inc. ISBN 0-8076-0879-3, US $9.95. This is a great book, concise and clear with an overview of the period (1300's) with black and white plates and then a series of color plates with detailed notes. A good selection of plates, too. This is part of what appears to be a series of books from George Braziller Inc.

Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms - Michelle P. Brown. J. Paul Getty Museum/The British Library, ISBN 0-89236-217-0 US $13.95 Ever wonder what the difference is between a historiated initial and a inhabited initial? What exactly is a cartulary? Here are the answers in a easy to use encyclopedia like form with lots of spiffy color plates. Extremely Useful, Highly Recommended

A History of Illuminated Manuscripts - Christopher de Hamel. Phaidon Press Limited, ISBN 0-7148-2949-8 US $49.50. Expensive, but worth it. Covers manuscripts from the Roman Empire to the Italian Rennaisance. It has a good text covering the history, and scads of great plates, both B&W and color, with very good notes.

Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Techniques - Marc Drogin. Dover Books, ISBN 0-486-26142-5 US $10.95. This is the medievalist calligrapher's bible, as far a learning a new hand goes. arranged in chronological order it has most of the major hands used in SCA period. It is also chock full of primary source photo's of actual documents, some great quotes from period scribes, and other useful trivia.

A Book of Scripts - Alfred Fairbanks. Faber Paperbacks, ISBN 0-571-11080-0, US $5.95. First published in 1949, and it shows. Other than for a couple of amusing plates It isn't good for much, and I wouldn't bother to go to any effort to find it. I would suspect that it is out of print anyway.

Illumination: A Sourcebook for Modern Calligraphers - Christopher Jarman. Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-7824-1 US $??.?? This is a latter day reprint of some Victorian works on medieval illumination. It can be good for some ideas, but for the most part it's another source that's not very good.

Writing and Illuminating and Lettering - Edward Johnston. A & C Black/Tarpinger, ISBN 0-8008-8731-X US $??.??. This is the other bible. First published in 1906, this is the man who revived the art of what he simply called writing, what we now call calligraphy. It is not the worlds greatest source for scripts, or primary source document stuff, but it has everything else you need to know from parchment curing to quill making to bookbinding, even some stuff on stone carving. Highly Recommended

The Illuminated Alphabet - Timothy Noad & Patricia Seligman. Running Press, 1-56138-458-5, US $24.95 this is a really good little book, with step by step how-to instructions on a lot of useful techniques. It's geared to a modern calligraphic artist, but it has a good selection of primary source stuff, divided into sections, and a good section at the front on different materials and techniques.

Alphabets and Numbers of the Middle Ages - Henry Shaw. Crescent Books, ISBN 0-517-66585-9. US $?.??. I've had this for a long time. It's not a great reference, being another of those Victorian half research, half makeup types of books, but it can give you a feel for some things. I don't recommend it in this day and age when other, better sources are available.

The Golden Age: Manuscript Painting in the Time of Jean, Duke of Berry - Marcel Thomas. George Braziller, ISBN 0-8076-0924-2, US $20.95. Another of that maybe series form Braziller Inc., and again a wonderful source. Same format as the other, variety of plates. My only gripe is that the plates they took from the Rohan Hours are not especially good ones, but that's my opinion.

A Brief Encyclopedia of the Materials and Techniques of Manuscript Illumination - Robert W. Trump. Potboiler Press, No ISBN, US $3.50. I picked this up at Pennsic many years ago, so I don't know if it can be gotten anymore. It's a nice little book in, as it says, encyclopedia form. It covers lots of esoteric stuff, derivations of color, tools and the uses of ear wax. It's a SCA publication, and on the cover it's attributed to a Master RSvP. Highly Recommended

The Art of Illuminated Manuscripts - J.O Westwood. Arch Cape Press, ISBN 0-517-66296-5 I paid US $12.00, but I got it at a remainder house. This is actually a pretty abysmal source. It was originally published in 1843 and it really shows. While I have used it in the past I would not recommend it for anyone who wanted to be serious about their work, though it can be good for beginners.

Painted Prayers: The Book of Hours in Medieval and Renaissance Art - Roger Weick. George Braziller/Pierpont Morgan Library, ISBN 0-8076-1418-X, US $??.?? I got it as a gift, and it's not listed. This is a great source for Book of Hours pages, with lots of color plates, some of which are quite unusual, and a detailed explanation of what makes up a Book of Hours. A fabulous reference.

Early Spanish Manuscript Illumination - John Williams. George Braziller, ISBN 0-8076-0867-X, US $9.95. Another from G. Braziller. I'm going to have to write for their catalog. Anyway, there's a lot of Wildly colorful plates, along with the usual extensive notes on each plate. A fabulous source on a very under represented part of the art form.

Mirror in Parchment: The Lutrell Psalter and the making of Medieval England - Michael Camille. The University of Chicago Press (1998), ISBN 0-226-09240-2, US $??.?? (It was a gift!). Just got it, haven't read it, but WOW. It has B&W plates of details, color plates of some of the full pages, and a really nice collection of ancillary images of 'stuff from around that time'. I'll put more here when I've read it.

Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work - Jonathan J.G. Alexander. Yale University Press (1992), ISBN 0-300-06073-4, US $??.?? (I just don't remember) This is a really nice book, with lots of information as to how things were done, works that were never completed showing the process in different stages. My only problem is that the date is not included with the information for the plates.

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