Kathleen
L. Scott.
Dated and Datable English Manuscript Borders c. 1395-1499.
London: The
Bibliographical Society and The British Library, 2002.
132pp.
Paperback ISBN
0948170123 / 0712347429.
Publisher's
recommended price £18.00
Borders,
the continuous
decoration around the outside part or whole of a text page in a
medieval
book, were a relatively common sight and presumably a pleasure to the
medieval
reader. Borders served to communicate to the reader the beginning of a
significant division in the text, such as a chapter, or the start of a
new text in a boook containing several works. Bar-like framework,
trelliswork,
human figures, flowers, plants, sprays, sprigs, interlaces grotesques,
and various stylized motifs were the components of English borders,
which
sometimes also occurred in conjunction with miniatures, historiated
initials,
and coats of arms. Because borders were composed of artistic images and
because they appear over an extended period of time (in this case,
somewhat
over one hundred years), the representations changed in style, and
certain
motifs or renderings became identifiable with a certain shorter period.
Unless signed by a scribe or containing some internal historical
reference,
manuscripts can otherwise be difficult to date with much precision.
Borders
in a dated or datable manuscript can however be used as a means of
comparison
with undated decoration in other books, since borders generally evolved
in style and rendering more quickly than scribal hands.
The
present handbook
is a sourcebook and vade-mecum for comparing dated styles of borders
with
undated borders and for helping to estimate the period, at least to a
quarter-century
and sometimes less, in which a late medieval English manuscript was
produced
and decorated. In some instance the handbook also provides a locale or
probable locale in which the border originated. All things great and
small,
from texts to paraffs, come together to reveal the history of a
medieval
book.
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