See pages 97 and 113.

See Jour. Hell. Stud. Vol. III. p. 112.

It was not till quite a late period that the word βίβλος was used to mean another form of book than the roll. The word σανὶς is also used for a tablet; see p. 30.

A fine set of five tablets is preserved in the coin room in the Paris Bibliothèque Nationale; see Revue Archéol. VIII. p. 461.

A well-preserved example of Roman pugillares formed of two leaves of ivory, now in the Capitoline museum in Rome, is illustrated by Baumeister, Denkmäler, I. p. 355.

Lucian, who lived in the second century A.D., mentions (Vita Luc. II.) that when he was a boy he was in the habit of scraping the wax off his writing-tablets and using it to model little figures of men and animals. Probably he was not the only Roman school-boy who amused himself in this way.

Charcoal or crayon-holders of bronze with a spring clip and sliding ring, exactly like those now used, have been found in Pompeii. These and other writing materials are illustrated by Baumeister, Denkmäler, Vol. III. p. 1585.

An Athenian inscription (C. I. A. I. 32) mentions accounts and other documents written on πινάκια καὶ γραμματεῖα.

See, for example, a relief on the sarcophagus of a scriba librarius or library curator which is illustrated by Daremberg and Saglio, Dict. Ant. I. p. 708. The scribe is represented seated by his book-case armarium, on the shelves of which both volumina and codices are shown.

The ancient method of manufacturing papyrus paper is described below, see page 22.

Some very interesting fragments of the Antiope of Euripides have been brought to England by Mr Flinders Petrie, and have been edited by Dr Mahaffy in a collection entitled The Flinders Petrie Papyri, Dublin, 1892.

The book-market in Athens was called τὰ βιβλία, i.e. οὗ τὰ βιβλία ὤνια; see Pollux IX. 47. Lucian, in his treatise Adversus Indoctum, gives an interesting account of the Greek book-buyers and book-sellers in his time; see § 1 and § 4.

The end of the Argiletum is shown in the plan of the Forum Romanum in Middleton, Ancient Rome, 1892, Vol. I.

One reason of this was that even the most popular authors did not receive large sums for the copyright of their works.

A good deal of what is said in this section with regard to the technique of classical manuscripts will apply also to manuscripts of the mediaeval period. Many of the processes had been inherited in an unbroken tradition from ancient times, and others were revived in the Middle Ages through a study of various classical writers on pigments and the like, especially Pliny and Vitruvius.

The words parchment and vellum are used vaguely to imply many different kinds of skins. Strictly speaking vellum implies calf-skin, but the word is commonly used to denote the finer and smoother qualities of skin; the name parchment being given to the coarse varieties; see Peignot, L'histoire du parchemin, Paris, 1812.

In some cases the paper was sized, before the final smoothing; but as a rule sufficient size was supplied by the flour used to paste the layers together.

Some of the enormous ranges of store-houses for goods imported into Rome and landed on the Tiber quay were specially devoted to the use of paper warehouses, horrea chartaria; extensive remains of these have recently been discovered near Monte Testaccio; see Middleton, Remains of Ancient Rome, 1892, Vol. II. pp. 260-262.

Now in the Fitzwilliam Museum.

A silver pen was found by Dr Waldstein in 1891 in the tomb of the Aristotle family at Chalcis.

There is, of course, no etymological connection between the words miniature and minute; the latter being derived from the Latin minutus, minus.

Further details with regard to these pigments are given below, see pages 239 to 249.

Reproductions of these miniatures were published by Cardinal Mai, Picturae antiquissimae bellum Iliacum repraesentantes, Milan, 1819. Far more accurate copies of some of the miniatures, but without colour, are given by Palaeo. Soc., Plates 39, 40, 50 and 51.

Some fairly accurate reproductions of these miniatures were published by Bartoli, Antiquissimi Virgiliani Codicis fragmenta Bibl. Vat., Roma, 1741 and 1782. Examples from this and two other ancient but un-illuminated codices of Virgil in the Vatican library are given by the Palaeo. Soc., Plates 113 to 117.

The chief of these paintings were cut off the walls of the villa, and are now placed in the Museo delle Terme in Rome. The painting shown in fig. 3 is still in situ; that given in fig. 4 is now in the Museum at Naples.

See above, fig. 2.

The term Byzantine as applied to art is commonly used to denote the style which was developed in the Eastern empire soon after Constantine had transferred the seat of government from Old to "New Rome," or Constantinople as it was also called instead of Byzantium, which was the ancient name.

Several manuscripts of this class are described by H. Bordier, Manuscrits Grecs de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1883.

A great public library was founded by Constantine in New Rome and partially stocked by manuscripts transferred from the old Capital. This library was rapidly enlarged by his sons and successors, and it was rebuilt on a grander scale by the Emperor Zeno after the building had been injured by fire about the year 488 A.D.

For a valuable account of Byzantine manuscripts, see Kondakoff, Histoire de l'Art Byzantin, Paris, 1886-1891.

The title Porphyro-genitus, "Born in the purple," referred to the fact that Byzantine Empresses brought forth their children in a magnificent room lined with slabs of polished porphyry.

A translation of this curious treatise was published by Didron and Durand, in their Manuel d'iconographie chrétienne; Paris, 1845.

All manuscripts described in this book, from the Byzantine school onwards, may be understood to be in the codex form and written on vellum, unless they are otherwise described.

Published by Lambecius, Comment. sur la Bibl. de Vienne, 1776, Vol. III.

Copies of some of the miniatures in the Vatican Cosmas are given by N. Kondakoff, Histoire de l'Art Byzantin, Paris, 1886, Vol. I. pp. 142 to 152.

St Mark's in Venice and the churches of Ravenna and Constantinople are full of examples of this design.

This Sasanian art was an inheritance from ancient Babylon and Assyria, and was the progenitor of what in later times has been called Arab art, though the quite inartistic Arabs appear to have derived it from the Persians whom they conquered and forcibly converted to the Moslem Faith.

The mere gold of even the finest Byzantine manuscripts is never as sumptuous or as highly burnished as that in manuscripts of the fourteenth century, owing to its being usually applied as a fluid pigment, or at least not over the best kind of highly raised ground or mordant, which is described below at p. 234.

In early times and indeed throughout the whole mediaeval period very few objects of any kind were placed upon the High Altar even in the most magnificently furnished churches. In addition to the chalice and paten, and the Textus, the only ornaments usually allowed were a small crucifix and two candlesticks. The modern system of crowding the mensa of the altar with many candles and flowers did not come in till after the Reformation.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Pax was usually a separate thing, of more convenient size and weight than the heavy, gold-covered Textus.

Fine coloured plates of this wonderful Textus-cover were published in 1888 by the Society of Antiquaries in their Vetusta Monumenta.

Published in 1844 by the Surtees Society of Durham.

The "Gospeller" was the officiating Deacon; the Sub-deacon being called the "Epistoller."

The remarkable artistic advance which was made by Giotto is to be seen not only in his improved and more realistic drawing, but also in his freedom from the long-established abuse of green in his flesh painting, for which he substituted a warmer and healthier tint.

Of the original mosaics on the west façade of Saint Mark's only one remains of the original highly decorative twelfth century mosaics. The rest, shown in Gentile Bellini's picture of Saint Mark's, have all been replaced by later mosaics. Inside the church, happily, the old mosaics still, in most places, exist; see p. 61.

See page 202 for an account of Giulio Clovio.

Mr M. R. James has pointed out to me an interesting example of similar designs being used by illuminators of manuscripts and by mosaic-workers. The designs of the miniatures in a fifth or sixth century manuscript of Genesis in the British Museum (Otho, B, vi) are in many cases identical with those of the twelfth and thirteenth century mosaics in Saint Mark's at Venice; see Tikkanen, Genesisbilder, Berlin.

Alcuin, when Dean of York, was sent by Offa, king of Mercia, about 782, as an envoy to Charles the Great. A large number of manuscripts were written under his guidance and influence, not only in Tours, but also at Soissons, Metz, Fulda, and in other Benedictine monasteries.

It is priced in Mr Quaritch's catalogue of 1890 at £2500. This manuscript was probably written at Tours in the school of Alcuin of York; see Wattenbach, Die mit Gold auf Purpur geschriebenen Evangelienhandschriften der Hamilton'schen Bibliothek, Berlin, 1889.

See for example the beautiful patterns of the woven hangings behind the enthroned figure of Christ shown on fig. 12; cf. also page 84.

Theophilus, Schedula diversarum Artium, I. 34; this work is frequently quoted in Chapter XV.

See Janitschek, Die künstlerische Ausstattung des Ada-Evangeliars und die Karolingische Buchmalerei; fol. Leipzig, 1889.

See Weidmann, Geschichte der Bibliothek von St Gallen, 8vo, St Gall, 1841.

See J. R. Rahn, Das Psalterium Aureum von St Gallen, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Karolingischen Miniaturmalerei, folio, St Gall, 1878.

An excellent edition with 72 facsimiles of Villard de Honecourt's Album or sketch-book was produced by Professor Willis, London, 1859; it is superior to the French edition issued by J. B. Lassus, Paris, 1858.

See L. Delisle, L'Evangéliaire d'Arras et la calligraphie Franco-Saxonne du IX^me siècle, 8vo, Paris, 1888.

Earlier that is than the conversion of the Saxon conquerors; to some extent a Romano-British Church had been established in Britain during the period of Roman domination, but this native Church appears to have been almost wholly eradicated by the Saxon Conquest.

Celtic manuscripts of all periods are well illustrated by Westwood, Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts, London, 1868; see also Westwood, Palaeographia Sacra Pictoria, 1843-5, and the companion volume, Illuminated Illustrations of the Bible, 1846.

Tara was the ancient inland capital of Ireland before Dublin was founded by the Viking pirates.

The Irish monasteries of this date appear, frequently at least, to have consisted of a group of a dozen or more separate wooden huts or stone "bee-hive" cells, with one small central chapel of rectangular plan; the whole being enclosed within a wooden fence or a stone circuit wall, in which there was only one door of approach; see Arch. Jour. XV. p. 1 seq.

For example, in an early Cashel Kalendar the monk Dagaeus, who died in 586, is recorded to have been both a goldsmith (aurifex) and an illuminator of manuscripts. Westwood, Miniatures in Irish Manuscripts, gives a number of excellent coloured reproductions of illuminations of this school and also of the Anglo-Celtic school of Northumbria.

It was formerly believed that this manuscript had once belonged to Saint Columba, who lived from 521 to 597, but it is shown by the internal evidence of its style to be a century later than Saint Columba's time.

See Westwood, Irish Manuscripts, Plate 9.

See fig. 13 on page 67.

When the grave of Saint Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral was opened in 1827, it was found that the Saint's body had been wrapped in rich Siculo-Arab silk of the eleventh century at the time when his body was moved, in 1104 A.D. See Raine, St Cuthbert, Durham, 1828, p. 183 seq.

Library of Trinity College, Dublin, manuscripts A, iv. 5.

See Jamieson, History of the Ancient Culdees of Iona; Edinburgh, 1811.

Saint Cuthbert was a monk of Irish descent, at first a member of the Celtic monastery of Melrose, and afterwards sixth Bishop of Lindisfarne from 685 to 688. In later times his gold, gem-studded shrine in Durham Cathedral was one of the most magnificent and costly in the world; see Rites and Monuments of Durham, Surtees Soc., 1842, pp. 3 and 4.

The works of Symeon Dunelmensis were published by the Surtees Society in 1868.

Now in the Archbishop of Canterbury's library at Lambeth.

The Book of Deer was first brought to light by Mr Henry Bradshaw, and has been published by the Spalding Club, Ed. John Stuart, Edinburgh, 1869. The Monastery at Deer in Aberdeenshire was founded by Saint Columba as a branch house from Iona.

The so-called Itala version is the older Latin translation of the Bible, which existed previous to the recension of Saint Jerome.

A very interesting Psalter of similar style and date is preserved in the library of St John's College, Cambridge; its ornaments are of the unmixed Celtic style, broad in treatment without any of the marvellous minuteness of the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow.

See Westwood, Irish Manuscripts, Pl. 16.

This is one of many examples of Books being called after some earlier Saint who was connected with the monastery where the manuscript was written; for example the Gospels of Saint Augustine in the Corpus library at Cambridge, the Gospels of Saint Cuthbert, and the Gospels of Saint Columba, are all later than the dates of the Saints they are called after.

See Weidmann, Geschichte der Bibliothek von St Gallen; St Gall, 1841.

This manuscript was formerly believed to have been once in the possession of Saint Augustine, but it is clearly a good deal later in date than his time.

Eventually there were three Norse kingdoms in Ireland, the capitals of which were Dublin, Waterford and Limerick; and the three chief ports of Ireland, Dublin, Cork and Belfast were all founded by the Viking invaders; see C. F. Keary's valuable work, The Vikings in Western Christendom, London, 1891, pp. 165 to 185.

The blessing in the Greek Church is given by raising three fingers; in the Western Church two fingers and the thumb are used.

See Westwood, Miniatures of Irish Manuscripts, London, 1868, Pl. I. and II.

The points of difference between the Roman and Celtic Churches were very trivial, the chief being the date for the celebration of Easter and the shape of the monastic tonsure.

See note 2 on page 97.

This very decorative class of ornament not only survived till the thirteenth century but was again revived in Italy at the close of the fifteenth century; see below, page 193.

It is mentioned above, see page 62, how Alcuin of York in the reign of Charles the Great created the Anglo-Carolingian style of illumination by introducing in the eighth century into the kingdom of the Franks manuscripts and manuscript illuminators from the monasteries of Northumbria.

Canon G. F. Browne tells me that it is very doubtful whether Wilfrid ever received the pall from Rome. It may therefore be more correct to speak of him as Bishop rather than Archbishop of York.

The word "Anglo-Saxon" is a convenient one to use, and is supported by various ancient authorities; for example in a manuscript Benedictional (in the library of Corpus College, Cambridge) England is called "Regnum Anglo-Saxonum," and the English king is entitled "Rex Anglorum vel Saxonum."

This splendid manuscript is in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire; a good description of it, with engravings of all its miniatures, is published in Archæologia, Vol. XXIV. 1832, pp. 1 to 117, and a coloured copy of one of the miniatures is given by Westwood, Irish Manuscripts, Plate 45.

The library of Trinity College, Cambridge, possesses a book of the Gospels which in style is very similar to the Benedictional of Aethelwold.

The Gospels of Lothaire are in Paris, Bibl. Nat. Lat. 266.

This is one of the latest examples of the use of vellum dyed with the murex purple; the purple grounds occasionally used in fifteenth century manuscripts are usually produced by laying on a coat of opaque purple pigment.

Now preserved in the Bodleian library at Oxford.

The celebrated "Utrecht Psalter" is the best known example of a fine manuscript of this date with outline drawings of the revived classical style. Some northern influence is shown in the interlaced ornaments of the large initials. Facsimiles of some pages have been published by W. G. Birch, London, 1876.

This beautiful roll is now in the British Museum, Harl., Roll Y, 6; two of the miniatures are photographically illustrated by Birch and Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations, London, 1879, p. 142.

This Psalter, which is now in the public library at Utrecht, may possibly be one of the very manuscripts which Canute brought from abroad. It was certainly in England for many centuries before it passed into the possession of Sir Robert Cotton, from whose library it must have been stolen, else it would have passed into the library of the British Museum along with the rest of the great Cotton collection of manuscripts.

The Utrecht Psalter has been thought to be the work of an Anglo-Saxon artist, but, most probably, it is the work of a French scribe, though the miniatures are mainly of the debased classical style of Rome, and the character of the writing is even more distinctly classical, differing very little in fact from that of the fourth century Virgil of the Vatican written several centuries earlier.

Good examples of this curious style of miniature are to be seen in a manuscript in the British Museum, Cotton, Tib. C. VI.

Indeed it was not very long before the tables were turned and Normandy was reconquered by an English army under a king, who, though of Norman blood, was distinctly an English king. The victory of Henry I. over Robert, Duke of Normandy, at Tenchebray in 1105, went far to wipe out any feeling on the part of the English that they were a nation under the rule of a conqueror.

Chronicles of Robert of Gloucester, Hearne's edition, 1724 (reprinted in 1810), Vol. I. p. 363.

An interesting example of this revived study from the life is afforded by the Sketch-book of Villard de Honecourt, which is mentioned above at page 72.

See below, page 193, on the revival of this class of ornament in Italy in the second half of the fifteenth century.

This beautiful manuscript is now in the possession of Mr Quaritch, who prices it at £800 in his catalogue of December, 1891. It appears once to have belonged to Sir Roger Huntingfield, who died about 1337 A.D.

It is noticeable that even the earliest miniatures of Saint Thomas' death represent him in Mass vestments, officiating at the High Altar, whereas he was really killed late in the afternoon, and on the north side of the church.

See Vetusta Monumenta, Vol. VI. pp. 1 to 37, and Plates 26 to 39; illustrations are given here of "the Painted Chamber" and its decorations before the fire of 1834, and a number of interesting extracts are quoted from the accounts now preserved in the Record Office.

The Gestes of Antioch probably means the capture of Antioch in 1098 under the Crusader leaders Tancred and Godfrey of Bouillon. In the same way the "Jerusalem" and "Jericho chambers" in the house of the Abbot of Westminster were so called from the paintings on their walls. The curious "archaism" of these paintings, with figures of knights in the armour of the eleventh century, is explained below; see page 128.

See, for example, that wonderful frontal, covered with miniature paintings, from the High Altar of Westminster Abbey, which is now preserved in the south ambulatory of the Sanctuary.

Various attempts have been made to show that Torell was an Italian, and that the painted retable at Westminster was the work of a foreign artist, but there is not the slightest foundation for either of these theories.

As examples of this I may mention the famous "Lateran Cope" in Rome, the "Piccolomini Cope" at Pienza, and two others of similar date and style in the Museums of Florence and Bologna. On many occasions we find that the Popes of this period, on sending the Pall to a newly elected English Archbishop, suggested that they would like in return embroidered vestments of English work, opus Anglicanum. It should be observed that in almost all published works on the subject the above mentioned copes are wrongly described as being of Italian workmanship.

Both before and after this period manuscripts of the Vulgate were comparatively rare, but between 1250 and about 1330 many thousands of manuscript Bibles must have been produced, all closely similar in style, design, choice of subject and character of writing. There is no other large class of manuscripts in which such remarkable uniformity of style is to be seen.

As an example of the wonderful thinness of this uterine vellum, I may mention a Bible of about 1260 in my own possession which consists of 646 leaves, and yet measures barely an inch and a half in thickness. In spite of its extreme thinness this vellum is sufficiently opaque to prevent the writing on one side from showing through to the other.

For example a Bible of this class in the Cambridge University library, dating from about 1280, has from thirteen to seventeen lines to an inch!

This method of painting the shadows in pure colour, and using the same pigment mixed with white for the rest, was employed on a large scale by many of the Sienese painters in the fourteenth century, and by the Florentine Fra Angelico in the fifteenth. Fra Angelico's earliest works were manuscript illuminations, executed about the year 1407 in the Dominican Convent at Fiesole.

The Bodleian library (Douce, 366) possesses a specially beautiful manuscript Psalter, which belonged to Robert of Ormsby, a monk of Norwich Abbey.

In all periods the Benedictines were the chief monastic scribes and miniaturists; the Mother House at Monte Cassino was one of the chief centres in Italy for the production of manuscripts, and wherever the Benedictines settled they brought with them the art of manuscript illumination; see page 211.