1. Prepare the sheets (see pp. [99], [110], [167]).
2. Write the text—leaving spaces for decoration.
- 3. Write in—
- (a) The coloured writing.
- (b) The coloured capitals.
- (c) The line-finishings.
- 4. Illuminate—Following a regular order in the various processes
involved—
- (a) The Initials.
- (b) Line-finishings.
- (c) The Borders.
5. Bind the book (p. [346]), or have it bound, in order to make a real and finished piece of work.
Practise an artistic economy of time and space: usually the quicker you write the MS. the better it is. Allow sufficient margins to make the book readable and handsome, but not so wide as to make it appear fanciful. Allow sufficient ornament, not overloading the book with it. Let the ornament be of a type suited to the book and to the subject—not too painstaking or elaborate in an ordinary MS.; not too hasty and slight in an important work.
Endeavour to strike a balance between what may be called “practical” and “ornamental” considerations: an illuminated MS. is not meant to be entirely “practical,” but it is a greater failure if made entirely “ornamental.” Let the text be readable in every sense, and let the ornament beautify it: there should be give and take, as it were, and that most desirable quality—“sweet reasonableness.” [p223]
