Illustrated Manuscripts

• The Book of Kells online through Trinity College Dublin; open access to each page of the manuscript and their images.

• British Library—open access to one of the richest collections in the world of medieval and renaissance illuminated manscripts; catalogue descriptions and visual images, searchable; includes extensive bibliography of scholarship. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/

• The Cambridge Illuminations: virtual exhibition – a representative selection of images from some of the most sumptuous manuscripts displayed in the Cambridge Illuminations exhibition (Fitzwilliam Museum, 26 July – 30 December 2005); includes flash animation of how manuscripts are made http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/gallery/cambridgeilluminations

• Cloisters Apocalypse — from the Cloisters Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; digitized copy of the entire codex, full page display (in high resolution color), browsable and searchable; open access without cost.  Reproduction restrictions apply.  http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/471869
  • Cloisters Apocalypse also available through Internet Archive in a full, digitized facsimile (lower quality images) at: https://archive.org/details/TheCloistersApocalypseAnEarlyFourteenthCenturyManuscriptinFacsimile

   

• Digital Scriptorium – an image database of medieval and renaissance manuscripts, intended to unite scattered resources from many institutions into an international tool for teaching and scholarly research http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/digitalscriptorium/

• Dyson Perrins Apocalypse, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, MS. Ludwig III 1, English, ca. 1255-1260. Also known as “The Getty Apocalypse.” Page through the manuscript book, open access, without cost, at http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=1574

• Getty Museum: The Getty Open Content Program – provides free, open access to over 10,000 images from all media and historical periods, many from medieval illustrated manuscripts: http://www.getty.edu/about/opencontent.html

• Hill Memorial Library, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, the Special Collection department of the University, holds facsimiles of medieval and renaissance books and manuscripts, some of them illustrated:  Bibles, books of hours, martyrologies,  sacred music, church law. Access is public, on site only, free of charge. http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/cc/sg/med-ren-mss-facs.pdf
  • Hill Library also owns an original manuscript Book of Hours (French, ca. 1450) and  reproductions of early printed books, including the Gutenberg Bible (1455), the Cologne Bible (1478), and the first printing of the King James Bible (1611). http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/cc/sg/religion.pdf

  • Policies and visitor guide at: http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/about/contact.html

• Luttrell Psalter–open access to this magnificent 14th-century British illustrated manuscript;  full page images of the codex, not just a picture gallery. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/luttrell/accessible/introduction.html

• Manuscripts on the Web–an extensive list of digitization projects of medieval manuscripts underway throughout the world; complete access; some manuscripts are illustrated. http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/sechard/512digms.htm

• New York Public Library – possesses more than 2,000 manuscript pages and associated illuminations dating from the 9th through the 16th centuries, one of the largest collections in North America. Open access to the images, free: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/?col_id=173

• Oxford University, Early English Text Society http://users.ox.ac.uk/~eets/

• PhiloBiblon – a bio-bibliographical database of early texts produced in the Iberian Peninsula. Contains links to the Bibliografía Española de TextosAntiguos (BETA), Bibliografia de TextosAntigosGalegos e Portugueses (BITAGAP), and Bibliografia de Textos Catalans Antics (BITECA). http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/PhiloBiblon

• Saint Albans Psalter — University of Aberdeen, Scotland; digitized copy of the entire codex, full display (text and image), of each page, with transcription and translation; navigational menu, browsable and searchable. Open access without cost. Reproduction restrictions apply. http://www.abdn.ac.uk/stalbanspsalter/english/translation/trans002.shtml
  • Saint Albans Psalter — selected images available through open access at Muller & Schindler, who offer a complete facsimile of the codex for purchase: http://www.muellerundschindler.com/St.%20Albans%20Psalter,%20Albani%20Psalter,%20Saint%20Albans,%20Englische%20Pslater,%20Faksimile%20Psalter,%20Faksimile%20St.%20Albans%20Psalter

   

• Sexy Codicology. Open access blog that showcases images from medieval manuscripts. Provides an exhaustive list of the libraries that have placed free, digitized medieval manuscripts online. http://sexycodicology.net/blog/