CHAPTER XXV
THE ILLUMINATED MS. BOOK
In the Middle Ages the illuminated MS. book occupied a very prominent position. The printing-press was not then in existence, so the manuscript book was without a rival. To-day the printing-press is to the forefront and the manuscript book is practically unheard of. There is, nevertheless, no reason why the art of illumination should not be practised in the same manner as was formerly the case. It is true that beautiful books are produced by the printer, but there ought also to be a demand for books beautiful, written and illuminated by artists of the present day. An illuminated manuscript has many advantages over the printed book, one of which is the fact that it is unique instead of being one of many. There is no need to enumerate the many other advantages that the manuscript book possesses.
The best material upon which to write a manuscript book is undoubtedly vellum, although fine hand-made paper may be substituted if it is not desirable to go to the expense of procuring vellum for this purpose. A paper that is soft and flexible should be selected in preference to one that is hard and stiff. Anything approaching cardboard should be avoided.
Frontispiece of Illuminated MS. of Blake’s “Songs of Innocence.”
BY SIDNEY FARNSWORTH.
The first thing to decide in writing a manuscript book is the size of the page. After this is settled, the size of the lettering should be taken into consideration. If the manuscript is to be on vellum this should be bought ready cut to the size required. It is much cheaper to buy vellum in this way than to buy the skin and cut it for oneself. The reason for this is because the manufacturer can cut up a more or less imperfect skin into small pieces, but when a whole skin is required this must be perfect in every respect.
The best vellum for manuscript books is the kind known as Roman vellum, a very soft and flexible kind of vellum. For title-pages, and any other pages which are likely to be covered with elaborate work, a slightly heavier vellum may be advisable.
For general purposes a good size for the page is 10 in. by 7½ in., i.e., the vellum sheets should be cut 10 in. by 15 in. It is as well to leave a slight margin for drawing-pins in addition to this. One of these sheets should be ruled out, as shown in (a), [Fig. 44], with a sharply-pointed H.B. pencil. The lines should be ruled very lightly so that they may be erased with the slightest possible touch of the rubber. After one sheet has been carefully ruled out in this manner, the others can be marked out in a similar fashion by pricking through.
Manuscript books are generally written in eight-page sections, formed by folding one sheet within the other, as in (b).