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The Manuscripts Club: The People Behind a Thousand Years of Medieval Manuscripts
Top of the pile
85
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
74/100Critics
96/100Scholars
Author:
Christopher de Hamel
Publisher:
Penguin Press
Date:
November 14, 2023
The illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages are among the greatest works of European art and literature. We are dazzled by them and recognize their crucial role in the transmission of knowledge. However, we generally think much less about the countless men and women who made, collected and preserved them through the centuries, and to whom they owe their existence.
What The Reviewers Say
Lovingly written and lavishly illustrated.
He traces the four-century age of the medieval manuscript and its longer afterlife through the lives of its makers and collectors. Exceptional in expertise, graceful in style and illustrated as vividly as its subject, this book is a masterpiece..
De Hamel also re-creates what it would be like to meet and converse with each of his fellow enthusiasts for medieval missals, Books of Hours, scrolls and codices. Opinions may obviously differ, but I occasionally found these imaginary dialogues just a bit twee. That cavil aside, everything else about The Manuscripts Club is absolutely riveting.
De Hamel’s book is lavishly illustrated and unfailingly engaging. It is a love letter to collectors across nearly 10 centuries, written by an expert, imbued with passion for his subject.
