Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Designed by SOM in 1963 To emphasize the beauty of these rare books, they were set up to be the centerpiece of the building. All the books were placed around the core like a large display case. The exterior skin is composed of thin marble panels that allow light to show through but not damage the books. Best viewed large.

“This is Leviathan” bibical text. France 1277-86. Add 11639 BL by tony harrison on Flickr.

This type of textile bag with tassels can be found in manuscripts and pictures from the middle of the 13th century to the middle of the 16th century. This is the type of bag that women wore hanging…

Originally composed in 932 AH / 1525 CE and dedicated to Sultan Süleyman I ("The Magnificent"), this great work by Piri Reis (d. 962 AH / 1555 CE) on navigation was later revised and expanded. The present manuscript, made mostly in the late 11th AH / 17th CE century, is based on the later expanded version with some 240 exquisitely executed maps and portolan charts. They include a world map (fol.41a) with the outline of the Americas, as well as coastlines (bays, capes, peninsulas), islands, mountains and cities of the Mediterranean basin and the Black Sea. The work starts with the description of the coastline of Anatolia and the islands of the Aegean Sea, the Peloponnese peninsula and eastern and western coasts of the Adriatic Sea. It then proceeds to describe the western shores of Italy, southern France, Spain, North Africa, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, western Anatolia, various islands north of Crete, Sea of Marmara, Bosporus and the Black Sea. It ends with a map of the shores of the the Caspian Sea (fol.374a). Virtually turn the pages of this entire manuscript on Walters Ex Libris Access high-resolution archival images of this manuscript and a complete manuscript description for free on the Digital Walters at purl.thewalters.org/art/W.922/browse

For background see: bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2010/11/celestial-mechanics.html

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Originally composed in 932 AH / 1525 CE and dedicated to Sultan Süleyman I ("The Magnificent"), this great work by Piri Reis (d. 962 AH / 1555 CE) on navigation was later revised and expanded. The present manuscript, made mostly in the late 11th century AH / 17th CE, is based on the later expanded version with some 240 exquisitely executed maps and portolan charts. They include a world map (fol.41a) with the outline of the Americas, as well as coastlines (bays, capes, peninsulas), islands, mountains, and cities of the Mediterranean basin and the Black Sea. The work starts with the description of the coastline of Anatolia and the islands of the Aegean Sea, the Peloponnese peninsula, and the eastern and western coasts of the Adriatic Sea. It then proceeds to describe the western shores of Italy, southern France, Spain, North Africa, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, western Anatolia, various islands north of Crete, the Sea of Marmara, Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It ends with a map of the shores of the Caspian Sea (fol.374a). See this manuscript page by page at the Walters Art Museum website: art.thewalters.org/viewwoa.aspx?id=19195

Created in the fifteenth century and rebound slightly later, this small Book of Hours may still appear much as a sixteenth-century viewer saw it. In that period, it was covered in either Belgium or England with an opulent red velvet embellished with silk and silver embroidery. The manuscript itself was produced in Flanders around 1480-1490, and was likely destined for Cambrai, as indicated by the selection of saints in the calendar. Painted by a group of artists referred to as the Associates of the Master of Antoine Rolin, the manuscript contains several interesting full-page miniatures representing St. John the Evangelist and the Pentecost painted in blue grisaille; a similar grisaille technique was used in the Suffrages to create sculpture-like figures of the saints evoked in the prayers. Full-color miniatures introduce each hour, while illusionistic borders enhance several folios throughout the book. Sixteenth-century tawed skin over thin boards; covered with red velvet case embroidered with triple silver thread wound around yellow-brown silk thread, outline design on both covers of two inverted hearts, surrounded by foliate flowers. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

In most of the standard medieval iconographic compositions, St. Luke the Evangelist is presented accompanied by an ox which sometimes is with wings. The ox figure is presented presumably because his Gospel emphasizes the priesthood of Christ, and the ox is the figure representing the sacrifice. He is shown most of the times seated with a book or pen, writing the Gospel. In some occasions, only the figure of the ox, as one of his attributes, is presented. St. Luke is known as the author of the third and the longest of the four Gospels in the New Testament. This Gospel is dedicated to the life and ministry of Christ, focusing particularly on the events from his birth to his Ascension. Tradition says that St. Luke was a companion of the famed Apostle Paul and faithfully recorded the life of this great missionary. It is said that, after Apostle Paul`s death, he continued preaching alone and was crucified in Greece, although Greek tradition says he died peacefully. He was also known by the name of “the beloved physician” in reference to the medical profession, of which he was a practicing member. Link to "St Luke the Evangelist" set. Link to "The four Evangelists" collection. Manuscript title: Evangeliar Origin: Halberstadt (?) (Germany) Period: 10th century Image source:Schaffhausen, Stadtbibliothek, Min. 8, p. 96v – Evangeliar (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/sbs/min0008/96v)

A volume comprising twenty-four leaves of Bible Pictures by W. de Brailes, an English artist active in Oxford in the middle of the thirteenth century. Seven leaves from the same set of images are now in the Musee Marmottan in Paris. These 31 leaves are all that remain of an image cycle that once contained at least 98 miniatures, and which was the longest cycle of Bible miniatures surviving from the thirteenth century in England. In all probability these Bible Pictures were actually prefatory matter to a Psalter, now Stockholm, National Museum, Ms. B.2010. De Brailes also composed and wrote the captions that accompany many of the images. W. de Brailes is one of only two English artists of the thirteenth century whose name we can associate with surviving works. 11 manuscripts have been identified that contain miniatures in his hand. De Brailes has a quirky and chatty style, and he was extremely gifted at turning Bible Stories into paint. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

This early fifteenth-century Book of Hours was created for a woman's use in Bruges or Ghent. Although her name, as well as subsequent earlier owners are unknown, its first folio bears the later ownership inscription of Pastor Denys, ca. 1700. The early addition of texts and prints, as well as the later removal of some prints and miniatures, reveal it was well used and modified for different tastes over many centuries. The surviving eleven full-page miniatures and historiated initial still retain their rich, vibrant colors, and their contrast with the remaining uncolored print shows the variety of visual elements that could be enjoyed together in a medieval book. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

Manuscript title: Cycle of miniatures Manuscript summary: This cycle of miniatures from the first half of the 12th century is the work of two artists. The cycle was bound after having already been cut to create a volume; it is likely that it originally preceded a psalter. Origin: Muri ? (Switzerland) Period: 12th century Image source: Sarnen, Benediktinerkollegium, Cod. membr. 83, f. 6r – Cycle of miniatures (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/bks/membr0083/6r)

This beautifully bound Book of Hours was completed in Bruges ca. 1490. The illuminator's style was influenced by the Master of Edward IV, active ca. 1470-90, and followers. The manuscript includes twelve full-page miniatures and twenty-five small miniatures, along with sacred and secular marginalia and some illusionistic borders. While the sheer volume of miniatures is remarkable, the decoration program as a whole only strengthens the manuscript’s impact. Select marginalia motifs reinforce the compositional motifs of the miniatures; see fols. 25v and 26r for Passion motifs. Bound in Belgium(?) ca. sixteenth century; crimson velvet over wooden boards; sides are embroidered in panel-and-frame design, displayed and cupped flowers in relief are worked in silver wire wrapped around thread, silver gilded thread wound around dyed yellow silk thread is used for foliate pattern; spine covered with crimson velvet, hollow and lined with red buckram since rebacking in 1949 by MacDonald, New York; endbands of a heavy yellowish rose thread; edges gilded, gauffered with punched Italianate plaitwork design (cf. inscription dated 1546); evidence of former fastening by tie attached by rivets to center fore-edge of upper and lower boards (holes on front and back pastedowns, impressions on front flyleaves). To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

Manuscript title: Book of hours Manuscript summary: This precious book of hours was made in Florence around 1470-1480. Its rich and elegant illumination is due to the close circle of the most famous florentine miniaturist of his time, Francesco d’Antonio del Chierico. The same hand is responsible for the major illuminations at the beginning of the various sections as well the initials in the text. The flourished initials are of great elegance. A partly erased coat of arms on the opening leaf indicates that the book of hours was made for the wedding of a male member of the Serristori family. The manuscript entered in the collection of the present owner in 1970 and it was deposited at the Bibliothèque de Genève as part of Comites Latentes. Origin: Florence (Italy) Period: 15th century Image source: Genève, Bibliothèque de Genève, Comites Latentes 54: Book of hours (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bge/cl0054).

The zodiac sign of LEO is associated with the month of July and it is represented by a lion. In most of the standard iconographic compositions, the animal is shown standing, or else depicted seated on its haunches. The animal is usually shown in a landscape and Its tail usually curls over its body and often its mane is displayed. Being that many of the artist and illuminators responsible for these works had never seen a lion, some representations were based on cats and dogs. In the modern horoscope, the zodiac sign of LEO covers the period from about July 22 – August 23. Link to the "Zodiac sign of LEO" set. Link to the "Zodiac signs" collection. Manuscript title: Codex Schürstab Origin: Nünberg (Germany) Period: 15th century Image source: Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, Ms. C 54, p. 20v – Codex Schürstab (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/zbz/C0054/20v)

This Gospel Book was written in Carolingian minuscule in the diocese of Freising, Germany ca. 875. Surprisingly small for an Gospel Book, it is nonetheless richly illuminated and offers an excellent example of Carolingian art. The expressive and emotive quality of the Evangelists, characterized by quick, sketchy brushwork, recalls the style developed by the Carolingian school of Reims in Northern France. This similarity may be attributed to a connection with Ebbo, the former Archbishop of Reims, since he fled to Freising at this time after a quarrel with Charles the Bald. The canon tables, however, derive from a different tradition, and recall Franco-Saxon imagery in its use of interlace within the columns, and of acanthus springing from the top corners. Due to these factors, the manuscript had once been attribution to Northern France, but it is now understood to be one of a group of related manuscripts from Freising during Ebbo's tenure. The manuscript is complete, consisting of 215 folios, and includes readings for the liturgical year, Jerome's Plures Fuisse and Novum Opus letters, decorated canon tables, and Evangelist portraits. The illumination is at the beginning of Matthew's Gospel. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

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This early fifteenth-century Book of Hours was created for a woman's use in Bruges or Ghent. Although her name, as well as subsequent earlier owners are unknown, its first folio bears the later ownership inscription of Pastor Denys, ca. 1700. The early addition of texts and prints, as well as the later removal of some prints and miniatures, reveal it was well used and modified for different tastes over many centuries. The surviving eleven full-page miniatures and historiated initial still retain their rich, vibrant colors, and their contrast with the remaining uncolored print shows the variety of visual elements that could be enjoyed together in a medieval book. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

JULY Labors of the month July are generally associated with reaping. The scene usually shows a man with a hand scythe cutting the grain. In some occasions, more than one man is shown and sometimes the sun in the background is used to convey the heat of the month. Even though the main occupation is the reaping, it is not uncommon for the scene to represent grain being stacked into bundles. Link to the "Labors of the month July" set. Link to the "Labors of the months" collection. Manuscript title: Book of Hours from Paris Origin: Paris (France) Period: 15th century Image source: Utopia, armarium codicum bibliophilorum, Cod. 101, p. 8r – Book of Hours from Paris (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/utp/0101/8r)

This English manuscript was made in East Anglia in the mid-thirteenth-century for a patron with special veneration for St. Olaf, whose life and martyrdom is prominently portrayed in the "Beatus" initial of Psalm 1. Known as the "Carrow Psalter," due to its later use by the nunnery of Carrow near Norwich, it is more accurately described as a Psalter-hours, as it contains the Office of the Dead, the Hours of the Virgin, and Collects. The manuscript is striking for its rich variety of illuminations, including full-page cycles of saints, martyrs, and Biblical scenes, as well as historiated initials within the Psalter, and heraldry added in the fifteenth-century to undecorated initials in the Hours of the Virgin. Especially notable is the miniature portraying the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, for after Henry VIII found him guilty of treason in 1538, his image was concealed by gluing a page over it, rather than destroying it, and it has since been rediscovered. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

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Originating in Ghent or Bruges, Flanders, in the early sixteenth century, this Dominican Book of Hours focuses on the Passion of Christ and the Corpus Christi. This book masquerades as a purely authentic medieval manuscript, when in fact it is a modern and medieval hybrid. The majority of the manuscript was made ca. 1500, but it had remained unfinished. Its nineteenth-century owner, John Boykett Jarman, commissioned English illustrator William Caleb Wing to "finish" the manuscript ca. 1850. Known for his manuscript illumination skills, Wing recreated imagery typical of a fifteenth- to sixteenth-century Flemish Book of Hours. Henry Walters was aware that the manuscript was partially painted in the nineteenth century when he purchased it, as the manuscript is noted as a "forgery" in the James C. Anderson inventory, December 7th, 1913. Whether pages and images are original or nineteenth century has been indicated both within the individual text parts as well as within the image cataloging. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

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This late medieval German prayerbook is an example of a highly personal devotional item. It was originally made for Leonhard von Laymingen, Bishop of Passau, (1423-1451) circa 1440. The text primarily features a series of prayers to various saints as well as prayer for travelings. Many illuminations and some text pafgges have been excised, but the book is nonetheless extensively decorated. The prayerbook's illuminations consist of thirty miniatures and four historiated initials that complement the text, usually with illustrations of saints. Bishop von Laymingen appears in his prayerbook several times kneeling before the saint to which that particular prayer is dedicated. Additionally, the Laymingen coat of arms appears twenty times throughout the book. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

This late medieval German prayerbook is an example of a highly personal devotional item. It was originally made for Leonhard von Laymingen, Bishop of Passau, (1423-1451) circa 1440. The text primarily features a series of prayers to various saints as well as prayer for travelings. Many illuminations and some text pafgges have been excised, but the book is nonetheless extensively decorated. The prayerbook's illuminations consist of thirty miniatures and four historiated initials that complement the text, usually with illustrations of saints. Bishop von Laymingen appears in his prayerbook several times kneeling before the saint to which that particular prayer is dedicated. Additionally, the Laymingen coat of arms appears twenty times throughout the book. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

This English manuscript was made in East Anglia in the mid-thirteenth-century for a patron with special veneration for St. Olaf, whose life and martyrdom is prominently portrayed in the "Beatus" initial of Psalm 1. Known as the "Carrow Psalter," due to its later use by the nunnery of Carrow near Norwich, it is more accurately described as a Psalter-hours, as it contains the Office of the Dead, the Hours of the Virgin, and Collects. The manuscript is striking for its rich variety of illuminations, including full-page cycles of saints, martyrs, and Biblical scenes, as well as historiated initials within the Psalter, and heraldry added in the fifteenth-century to undecorated initials in the Hours of the Virgin. Especially notable is the miniature portraying the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, for after Henry VIII found him guilty of treason in 1538, his image was concealed by gluing a page over it, rather than destroying it, and it has since been rediscovered. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

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Manuscript title: Sefirat ha-Omer (Counting of the Omer) and other prayers Manuscript summary: The Counting of the Omer is the ritual counting of the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. In this manuscript, these days and their corresponding numbers, are inscribed in 49 quatrefoils. F. 18r shows a menorah with the seven verses of Psalm 67 inscribed in microsript on the seven arms of the candelabrum. The scribe Baruch ben Schemaria from Brest-Litovsk (Belarus) created this manuscript in Amsterdam in 1795 for Aaron ben Abraham Prinz, of Alkmaar in the Netherlands, as noted on the title page. The drawing on f. 1r, a page of calligraphic decoration, depicts the giant Samson as Atlas, since, according to rabbinical tradition, he was endowed with superhuman strength. Origin: Amsterdam (The Netherlands) Period: 18th century Image source: Zürich, Braginsky collection, B28: Sefirat ha-Omer (Counting of the Omer) and other prayers (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bc/b-0028).

This Gospel Book was written in Carolingian minuscule in the diocese of Freising, Germany ca. 875. Surprisingly small for an Gospel Book, it is nonetheless richly illuminated and offers an excellent example of Carolingian art. The expressive and emotive quality of the Evangelists, characterized by quick, sketchy brushwork, recalls the style developed by the Carolingian school of Reims in Northern France. This similarity may be attributed to a connection with Ebbo, the former Archbishop of Reims, since he fled to Freising at this time after a quarrel with Charles the Bald. The canon tables, however, derive from a different tradition, and recall Franco-Saxon imagery in its use of interlace within the columns, and of acanthus springing from the top corners. Due to these factors, the manuscript had once been attribution to Northern France, but it is now understood to be one of a group of related manuscripts from Freising during Ebbo's tenure. The manuscript is complete, consisting of 215 folios, and includes readings for the liturgical year, Jerome's Plures Fuisse and Novum Opus letters, decorated canon tables, and Evangelist portraits. The illumination is at the beginning of Luke's Gospel. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

This Gospels manuscript was written in 937 of the Armenian era [1488 CE] in the province of Ekełeac' by the priest Łazar at the monastery of Surb Awgsend (St. Auxentius). Though the fifteenth-century manuscript was not a terribly costly production (for example, the nimbuses around the evangelists' heads are painted in yellow or orange rather than gold), it later came to be housed in a magnificent binding with large silver plaques showing the Presentation of the christ child at the temple on the front and the Ascension on the back. This silver binding, which is attributable to the seventeenth or early eighteenth century, was likely produced in Kayseri (Turkey). The manuscript's fifteenth-century evangelist portraits show signs of Mongolian artistic influence, stemming from the time when Mongols had conquered the province. For a manuscript of similar style, see the Gospels in Jerusalem, no. 298, copied by Maghak’ia in 1497. The Walters Silver Gospels was used over a long period of time by a succession of owners. Information about its history is given in colophons and ownership inscriptions on the codex's final folios. For example, one note indicates that the book was rebound in 1626, and offered to the church of Surb Astuacacin (Holy Theotokos) in memory of Caruk, Kirakos, and Girigor (fol. 280r). The last date given is the Armenian year 1161 (1712 CE), which may be when the manuscript was rebound. This Gospels manuscript was written in 937 of the Armenian era [1488 CE] in the province of Ekełeac' by the priest Łazar at the monastery of Surb Awgsend (St. Auxentius). Though the fifteenth-century manuscript was not a terribly costly production (for example, the nimbuses around the evangelists' heads are painted in yellow or orange rather than gold), it later came to be housed in a magnificent binding with large silver plaques showing the Presentation of the christ child at the temple on the front and the Ascension on the back. This silver binding, which is attributable to the seventeenth or early eighteenth century, was likely produced in Kayseri (Turkey). The manuscript's fifteenth-century evangelist portraits show signs of Mongolian artistic influence, stemming from the time when Mongols had conquered the province. For a manuscript of similar style, see the Gospels in Jerusalem, no. 298, copied by Maghak’ia in 1497. The Walters Silver Gospels was used over a long period of time by a succession of owners. Information about its history is given in colophons and ownership inscriptions on the codex's final folios. For example, one note indicates that the book was rebound in 1626, and offered to the church of Surb Astuacacin (Holy Theotokos) in memory of Caruk, Kirakos, and Girigor (fol. 280r). The last date given is the Armenian year 1161 (1712 CE), which may be when the manuscript was rebound. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

This richly illuminated fourteenth-century German homilary is particularly interesting for its rare bifolium of drawings bound in at the front of the book. The headgear worn by the nuns in the drawings is characteristic of Cistercensian and Premostratensian nuns in northern Germany as early as circa 1320. Evidence for dating and localization is also found in the manuscript's relationship with a second homilary in the Bodleian Library (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Douce 185). Despite minor codicological differences--page layout, textblock dimensions, and ruling--it seems likely that the two homilaries were composed as a set in one scriptorium. The drawings at the beginning of the Walters manuscript were inspired by miniatures within the book and are very similar to the style of Master of Douce 185, recently identified as a collaborator of the Willehalm Master. Although the Walters homilary lacks internal evidence for localization, it can be attributed to the lower Rhine on the basis of general affinities between work of this region and English art. The Walters homilary is stylistically close to the small ivory book illustrated with fourteen paintings of the Passion in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. no.11-1872), which has Westphalian and north German characteristics. Palette, figural drawings, the use of checkered spandrels, large ivy-leaf terminals, and ape marginalia in the Walters homilary are also close to fragments of an antiphonary from Westphalia scattered in German collections (Düsseldorf, Universitätsbibliothek, Ms. D. 37a, b, c and Hamm, Städtisches Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Mss 5474-5476). A second group of stylistically related manuscripts can be found in a two-volume antiphonary from the Dominican nunnery of Paradise near Soest (Düsseldorf, Universitätsbibliothek, Mss. D.7 and D.9). To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

In most of the standard medieval iconographic compositions, St. Mark the Evangelist is presented accompanied by a lion which sometimes is with wings. The lion figure is present presumably because his Gospel emphasizes the royal dignity of Christ, and the lion is the figure representing his royalty. He is shown most of the times seated with a book or pen presenting his character of Evangelist and secretary of St. Peter. In some occasions, only the figure of the Lion, as one of his attributes, is presented. St. Mark is known as the author of the second Gospel in the New Testament. This Gospel is dedicated to the life of Christ after his baptism, to his death and resurrection, focusing particularly on the last weeks of his life. Tradition says that St. Mark wrote this Gospel receiving the materials directly by St. Peter whilst accompanying him as a secretary on a journey to Rome. He has died in Alexandria where he also founded a church in this city. Several centuries after his death, his body was carried off by Venetian sailors bringing it to Venice where St. Mark became the patron saint of this city which adopts his emblem, the lion, as its own. Link to “St. Mark the Evangelist” set Link to "The four Evangelists" collection Manuscript title: Evangelistary ("Liber viventium") Origin: Churrätien (Switzerland) Period: 9th century Image source: St. Gallen, Stiftsarchiv (Abtei Pfäfers), Cod. Fab. 1, p. 52 – Evangelistary ("Liber viventium") (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/ssg/fab0001/52)

This Flemish Book of Hours was produced between 1470 and 1480, most likely in either western Flanders or northern France, and probably for an ecclesiastical patron. The significant number of saints in the calendar affiliated with the diocese of Thérouanne, and more broadly northwestern Flanders, may indicate the region of production. The 23 full-page polychrome miniatures and 6 historiated initials show an influence of Simon Marmion, who was active at Valenciennes in the second half of the 15th century, and possibly Colin of Amiens, who was active in Paris and Tournai during the same period. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

This early fifteenth-century Book of Hours was created for a woman's use in Bruges or Ghent. Although her name, as well as subsequent earlier owners are unknown, its first folio bears the later ownership inscription of Pastor Denys, ca. 1700. The early addition of texts and prints, as well as the later removal of some prints and miniatures, reveal it was well used and modified for different tastes over many centuries. The surviving eleven full-page miniatures and historiated initial still retain their rich, vibrant colors, and their contrast with the remaining uncolored print shows the variety of visual elements that could be enjoyed together in a medieval book. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

This small Book of Hours is especially interesting for its profusion of humorous drolleries. Humans, animals, and hybrids are featured in the margins of each page of the book. The artists rendered in small scenes a variety of actions, like cooking, playing game, climbing, fishing, making music or moving the bodies in a dance. These drolleries amuse the faithful during his prayers, while showing scenes that work as metaphors of the soul fighting the vices. The original female owner seems to have been established in the diocese of Cambrai, judging from the use of the Office of the Dead. Several provenance episodes are evidenced by the book in the signatures on the leaves at the beginning and end of the manuscript. A priest in the sixteenth century wrote a message in code on fol. 1v asking to return to him the book if lost. Members of the ducal house of Savoy owned this book of prayer in the seventeenth century, as evidenced by the gilt armorial shield of Charles Emmanuel II (1634-75), duke of Savoy, stamped on the covers. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

The zodiac sign of CANCER is associated with the month of June and it is represented by a crab or lobster-like scorpion. In most of the standard iconographic compositions, the crab is viewed from above with its legs splayed on either side. It can vary in size from a small insect-like creature to a large oval shaped shell. Most of the times it is represented against a plain background, yet there are cases when it is against a landscape, at time with an associated river. In the modern horoscope, the zodiac sign of CANCER covers the period from about June 21 – July 22. Link to the "Zodiac sign of CANCER" set. Link to the "Zodiac signs" collection. Manuscript title: Calendarium (Prayer calendar), Latin Bible selections: Liber Psalmorum, Cantica with prayers; Hymns, etc. Origin: Germany Period: 13th/14th Image source: Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 30, p. 4v – Calendarium (Prayer calendar), Latin Bible selections: Liber Psalmorum, Cantica with prayers; Hymns, etc. (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/cb/0030/4v)

This Book of Hours, completed ca. 1440, is an example of the artistic production of the Masters of the Gold Scrolls, a group of illuminators primarily active in Bruges ca. 1410-50. The liturgical Use combines Rome with a Rouen variant, particularly in the Hours of the Virgin. The book gives unusual emphasis to St. Jodocus, depicted first in the company of other saints and later as a single portrait at the head of his Suffrage (fols. 37v and 160r). SS. Christopher (fol. 161v) and Peter of Luxemburg (fol. 164v) are the only other saints illuminated in the Suffrages. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

Manuscript title: Calendarium (Prayer calendar), Latin Bible selections: Liber Psalmorum, Cantica with prayers; Hymns, etc. Manuscript summary: This codex from southern Germany is composed of two parts bound together in one German binding in 1569. The first part of the manuscript contains about a hundred leaves from the 12th and 13th centuries. It begins with a calendar featuring numerous constellations and full page illustrations. Following are prayers and liturgical songs. The second part consists of thirty leaves containing a series of Latin prayers in carefully wrought late 14th century Gothic script. Origin: Germany Period: 13th/14th Image source: Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 30: Calendarium (Prayer calendar), Latin Bible selections: Liber Psalmorum, Cantica with prayers; Hymns, etc. (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/cb/0030)

This album of painting and calligraphy was compiled in the late thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE or early fourteenth century AH / twentieth CE, most likely in Turkey. The signed pieces of calligraphy represent nine different Persian calligraphers, including Sulṭān ʿAlī al-Mashhadī, Sulṭān Murād al-Ḥusaynī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn, Niʿmat Allāh al-Mashhadī, Muḥammad Aṣghar, Shāh Muḥammad al-Mashhadī, and Muḥammad Zamān. There are thirty-one paintings, the majority of which are executed in the Safavid style but are attributable to the late thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE or early fourteenth century AH / twentieth CE. They were most likely made in Turkey. The borders are polychrome and marbled gold-sprinkled paper. The brown leather binding decorated with landscape scenes and brushed with gold is contemporary with the compiling of the album. Contemporary with the compiling of the album; brown leather (with flap); decorated with a landscape scene brushed with gold; doublures of red leather, richly decorated with floral motifs. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

This Prayerbook was made for Marie de' Medici in the second quarter of the seventeenth century. Beyond its provenance as a personal book owned by the famous queen, it is exceptional for its intricately cut borders, which transform the parchment margins into lace. This effect was created using a technique known as "canivet," in which a small knife was used to cut ornate patterns into paper or parchment. An art form that flourished originally among nuns in France, Germany, and the Netherlands beginning in the sixteenth century, it was employed to exceptional effect in several manuscripts connected with Marie de' Medici. The Walters manuscript, made for her while she was regent of France, and wife of King Henry IV, contains twenty-eight miniatures, including original religious imagery as well as several later additions: a gouache portrait of the elderly queen, and nine small miniatures produced in Bruges ca. 1450 by an artist influenced by the Eyckian and Gold Scrolls styles prevalent at the time; the coat-of-arms of Marie de Medici, as well as her monogram. The Walters manuscript retains its original binding composed of mosaic inlays in green and black leather, as well as fine gilt pointillé foliate tooling, and a replica of the binding was created by Léon Gruel for Henry Walters on one of his seventeenth-century printed books (92.467) that also connects to Marie de' Medici. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

This Book of Hours was made ca. 1310-20, likely in Ghent. It was badly rebound with a sixteenth-century Flemish binding by Léon Gruel in Paris at the end of the nineteenth or early twentieth century, and the initials of Gruel and Engelmann are printed on the bookplate on the front pastedown. The manuscript lacks its calendar, and the text is incomplete and misbound. In the fourteenth century a prayer for Communion, written in French, was added at the end of the book. Initials in gold, blue and pink mark the divisions of the text. The manuscript is richly illuminated with drolleries; painted on the borders of each folio, they would have amused the reader with their playful animals, hybrids, and human figures. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

This Book of Hours was illuminated between 1460 and 1470 under the influence of Willem Vrelant in Bruges. The manuscript contains seven extant inserted full-page miniatures (eight others are now missing), and their accompanying foliate borders teem with charming grotesques, many of which are holding and reading books. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

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Manuscript title: Book of hours Manuscript summary: This precious book of hours was made in Florence around 1470-1480. Its rich and elegant illumination is due to the close circle of the most famous florentine miniaturist of his time, Francesco d’Antonio del Chierico. The same hand is responsible for the major illuminations at the beginning of the various sections as well the initials in the text. The flourished initials are of great elegance. A partly erased coat of arms on the opening leaf indicates that the book of hours was made for the wedding of a male member of the Serristori family. The manuscript entered in the collection of the present owner in 1970 and it was deposited at the Bibliothèque de Genève as part of Comites Latentes. Origin: Florence (Italy) Period: 15th century Image source: Genève, Bibliothèque de Genève, Comites Latentes 54: Book of hours (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bge/cl0054).