Oak Knoll

First softcover edition. A fine copy. This catalogue highlights eighty of the most significant illuminated manuscripts held in public collections throughout the greater Philadelphia area that were exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from March 10 through May 13, 2001. Essays on Bibles, Psalters, Books of Hours, liturgical manuscripts, literary and secular texts, the history of collecting manuscripts in Philadelphia, and the making of medieval manuscripts add to the value of this volume. The delicate paintings with their jewel-like colors, intimate scale and often whimsical marginalia, are rich historical sources which reveal the art, customs, and styles of the times and provide an especially engaging view into the past. Included here are such treasures as a superb Book of Hoursonce owned by the Earl of Pembroke and an elegantly illustrated copy of Saint Augustine's City of God. With 142 color and 43 black and white illustrations, bibliography and indexes.