Customer Reviews

Masterpieces of Illumination: The World's Most Famous Manuscripts 400 To 1600

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those interested in the sheer beauty of medieval illumination, this book is a wonder. Color repro values among the best I've seen, and the range of both period and style is superb. The huge size and great weight are the only reasons this did not get 5 stars - it is so big that I clamp it in my portable easel when I'm using it as an exemplar.

For those, like me, who also do illumination as a hobby this book offers a good range of exemplars of very high caliber. Just remember that this represents the best of many times and places, and don't be intimidated by the quality of the work displayed here. Codices Illustres is big enough to be a coffee table book, but is serves much better as a reference in the scriptorium.

YIS,
THL Ragnar Ketilsson

"Masterpieces of Illumination: The World's Most Beautiful Illuminated Manuscripts from 400 to 1600" is essentially a reprint of "Codices illustres: The World's Most Famous Illuminated Manuscripts 400 to 1600." The former is one of many 25th anniversary Taschen editions, and bears the series logo on its dust-jacket and bright green cover (rather than the classier illumination of the Limburg Brother's Anatomical Man that adorns the cover of the latter). "Masterpieces" is also slightly smaller (9 ¾" x 12 ½") than the original (10 ¼" x 13 ¼"). There are a few other slight differences between the two editions: different endpapers; white paper for the appendix in "Masterpieces," ivory in "Codices"; and slightly darker illustrations in Masterpieces (only noticeable if you actually compare the editions side by side). Otherwise the two editions are virtually identical.
This is a truly wonderful book. It contains discussions and representative illuminations from 167 of the most famous and influential extant codices, books of hours, psalters, Bibles and histories from Europe and Asia (23 or the 167 are from Persia, turkey and India) during the 1200 years in which manuscript illumination flourished as an art form (and at the end of the text proper are samples from yet another 29 manuscripts). The full-color and often full-page illustrations are beautifully and accurately rendered, and the accompanying descriptions are both authoritative and unusually informative. The appendix contains artist biographies, along with a comprehensive bibliography, glossary, and index. In short, this is more than just a coffee-table book; in fact, I use it in my university course on manuscript illumination (along with Christopher De Hamel's excellent "A History of Illuminated Manuscripts," which forms the perfect companion piece to this volume.).
At the current retail price ($29.95) this book is an absolute steal. If you only get one book on the subject of manuscript illumination, this should be the one!

Illumination has fascinated me since I was a boy. This is the best book I have seen of illuminations. The scope includes books in Greek, Latin, Old Church Slavonic, Persian, and Mayan. The printing is superb. Detailed descriptions tell who did the work, who patronized it, who owned the book, where it is now, and so forth. Great for browsing for enjoyment and as a source of inspiration. I expect this book to be a favorite for many years to come. Anybody who enjoys calligraphy and illumination would be delighted to own this book.

This book deserves a seven stars score, as it is magnificent in every sense: paper, colour palette reproduction, basic and reliable information accompanying every depicted facsimil, and specially because of the scope of the compendium, involving manuscript examples from arabic countries as well as a XIII century mexican manuscript (The Borgia Codex currently held at the Biblioteca Vaticana) This collection shows (as rarely done by supossedly comprehensive treatises) that Mesoamerican, Chinese and Arabic cultures do also possess a very rich medieval heritage, characterised by a colourful tradition in art production. I do recommend this book for anyone interested in Medieval illumination, whatever your particular interest may be. This book is also useful as a comprehensive reference for visiting great libraries and museums all over the world, where some of these manuscripts are exhibited. Do not forget to visit the Condé Museum, the Marmottan-Monet Museum and Trinity College Library, just to mention a few.

I agree with every word written in the previous reviews: this is a stunning work and one of my most prized possessions, ranging across manuscript illumination from the very earliest known through early to late Middle Ages and Renaissance, and geographically also ranging much more widely (i.e. outside Europe) than any work I've come across.

I paid £37 for it in the UK when it first came out ($75), and still thought it was an absolute bargain. So I am mystified why it is suddenly available (October 2007) at a fraction of the price: this must be being sold at a loss - or are Taschen simply offloading all unsold copies to Amazon? It might be worth Amazon specifying if this indeed the same as the original edition. You'll note that the cover picture is slighlty different from the one you get when you follow the link to the more expensive 'other editions' (even if the text content and reviews are identical).

This book is worth every penny! It has fantastic HUGE pictures full of great detail. As an artist who specialises in ancient illuminated manuscripts, I value this book above all others in my personal library. So many great manuscripts are represented here. Truely high art!

I was a medieval Monk in a past life. I was. I feel such recognition in illuminated manuscripts. I know the feel of the vellum, the dank of the library, the rough feel of the robe.

Taschen`s publication Masterpieces of Illumination: The World's Most Famous Manuscripts 400 To 1600 is EXTRAORDINARY. I will review it by simply sharing some of my sketches (ink on paper) and my medieval sock crow inspired by this book!

See the drawings and sock crow at [...]

Sent as gift. Recipient claims to love the book ... meaning to me that the product was as represented.

Taschen has done it again!! I cannot recommend this highly enough, even for triple or more the price. The five star customer reviews say it all. Rather than repeat them, I suggest this as the ultimate baseline work for illuminated manuscript history. 150+ full-spread reviews of the best illuminated manuscripts, and excellent prologue that give an overview of the history and process of illumination, and an appendix of shorter one-page illustrated reviews of some "lesser" works. Some other books may be more technical, and perhaps pick up where this leaves off, but this is one of the most astonishing art books Taschen has ever done, and certainly deserves a scholarly place at any art history table. It goes beyond the typical religious works into other genres, and even some non-western manuscripts. It is unfortunate that most art history deals only with "wall art", or sculpture. Some of the finest art of the millennium 500A to 1500A was in these manuscripts. Also a good relation to the stained glass mastery of the 1000A to 1500A period. No history of art is complete without this book. GET IT NOW!!!!!

This is a beautiful book! I was surprised that it was such a large table book.I bought it for a Christmas gift for my husband, but I don't know if I can wait that long to give it to him!