Photo courtesy of the Northeast Document
Conservation Center
Rare book from Northeastern archives selected for ‘illuminated manuscripts’ display November 15, 2016 by Thea Singer
A palm-size 15th-century book from Northeastern’s archives at Snell Library was selected to be part of the multi-venue exhibit “Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections.” Described by its curators as “the largest exhibit of pre-1600 manuscripts ever mounted in North America,” “Beyond Words” features more than 260 items spanning the 9th to the 17th centuries donated by 19 Boston-area libraries and museums.
Northeastern’s contribution is a Dominican Prayer Book of more than 500 pages, with text in Latin handwritten in the Gothic bookhand style. It has just a single illustration—a grotesque inside a large blue “R” on the first page—but red and blue text is sprinkled throughout. The decorations are what characterize it as “illuminated.” The manuscript includes components of a Book of Hours, prayers that were to be said at specified hours of the day, and the prayer cycle Office of the Dead, among other devotions. Tiny tabs extending from the edges of certain pages indicate where particular sections begin. [Read the Full Article]