R is for Resurrection

 #letter R #resurrection #illuminatedletter

R is for Resurrection 

Since the dominant theme of the the posts for this blog is normally typography and lettering here for Easter is an example of the letter R used to frame an miniature image of the Resurrection. 

some horrible person seems to have cut this out of an older manuscript but this fragment ended up in a major museum collection who kindly digitized and shared it online.

Note ther use of red to complement the gold and the knotwork of older styles giving way to the use of plants for details. The depiction of soldiers wearing mail coats suggests this was part of a French manuscript to me. 

I hope this gives you ideas for your own illumined manuscripts hand painted or digital? 

Carolingian Manual Layout

CAROLINGIAN LAYOUT 

This image from a Carolingian manuscript caught my attention due to its layout.

This is from an era with no concept of type setting. The letters were written on paper. 

You can see traces of ruled lines on the page since they didnt have the option of deleting bottom layers or grids that can be turned on and off. This is also perhaps tells us this was a copy for reading not display. The spacing between lines would also be useful for interlineal notes.

Note also the 2 forms of S - one for titles and another for lower case word endings and in the medial position.

There are a few errors Sed intra looks like one word. 

The spacings between sentences are not consistent and it looks as if the scribe was thinking too much about where to put the full stops?

Overall however its quite readable and those variances remember us of the differences between handwritten and printed documents and hte advantages for final edits of a computer?

Perhaps just for practice and after checking the modern Latin forms try typesetting this in a word processing program? Then study the differences?

Martin of Tours and Carolingian Script

 #Stmartin #martinmas #carolingianscript 

Today is Martinmas November the 11th also Remembrance Day in several countries.

Now Martin of Tours was a Roman Soldier who became Bishop of Tours and one of the most famous examples of Carolingian Script is a manuscript with the biography of this saint written by Gregory of Tours. 

Excellent crisp letter forms of ink on parchment not paper showing why so called half uncial scripts were popular for so many centuries in Western Europe and still influence font design today.

Very obviously handwritten and not printed though with the spacing between words and letters and the size changing here and there as if the scribe hestitated thinking about how to fit the text onto the page.

Compare this to a Carolingian based font and consider the advantages of typography via a computer to the calligraghy of a scribe. 

Yet which was more personality or beauty ?

Carolingian Word ART

#carolingian #wordart #manuscript #centaur

A charming page from a 9th century Ad manuscript in which the letters have become the illustration !

Maybe this will give you ideas for modern word art?

Bilingual Coptic Arabic manuscript

A bilingual manuscript. #coptic #arabic

The byzantine influence is very evident in the header ornament and cross and you can see the influence of Greek uncial scripts on the Coptic lettering and the skill of all the scribes involved as the Arabic letters balance surprisingly well with the Coptic.

One thing I have noticed about Greek and Coptic Byzantine manuscripts is a tendency to not have marginalia but use ornamentation on headers and page dividers.

Greek Lettering - Mosaic Versus Manuscript

Here's two closeup of the lettering of the word MARK or rather MARKOS contrasting how lettering for mosaics and manuscripts differs in "WEIGHT"

This is a closeup of a Byzantine mosaic.

Note the Lunate Sigma and the style of the Alpha. 

Now consider the handwritten letters on this manuscript page and how the letter coloring matches the illustration of the saint writing.

Study how material medium and location influence the layout of the lettering and the shape and weight of letters.

One set on a slightly curved surface made up of smaller tiles and the other written in ink on a tinted background on vellum.

Vespasian Psalter

The #Vespasian #Psalter is one of the oldest extant books with old English text.

The scribe who created this psalter or hymn book of Psalms added what are called interlinear glosses between the lines of Latin text.

Despite the Roman name this is an English illuminated manuscript probably created about 750 ad somewhere in Kent perhaps in a monastery in Canterbury?

The scribe has created a work both beautiful and functional limiting ornament to the titles and headers and writing the main body of text in a strong clear hand with well spaced lines.

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