A unique exploration of the beginnings of biblical illustration and decoration.

This richly illustrated study addresses the essential first steps in the development of the new phenomenon of the illuminated book, which innovatively introduced colourful large letters and ornamental frames as guides for the reader's access to the text. Tracing their surprising origins within late Roman reading practices, Lawrence Nees shows how these decorative features stand as ancestors to features of printed and electronic books we take for granted today, including font choice, word spacing, punctuation and sentence capitalisation. Two hundred photographs, nearly all in colour, illustrate and document the decisive change in design from ancient to medieval books. Featuring an extended discussion of the importance of race and ethnicity in twentieth-century historiography, this book argues that the first steps in the development of this new style of book were taken on the European continent within classical practices of reading and writing, and not as, usually presented, among the non-Roman 'barbarians'.

For 2000 years the Bible has provided evidence and witness for the beliefs of three major world religions. Some consider the Bible dangerous, while others have died for it, but the response to the Bible is always passionate. This book relates the story of such passions, from the Roman Empire to the present. It is a story primarily about individuals, the drama of their lives woven into the tapestry of their times: barbarian invasions, Black Death, Waldensian heresy, the pageantry of medieval romance, the debauchery of the medieval Vatican, the spirit of the Renaissance, the tradition of monk and scholar. All of these historical currents influenced the text--now corrupted and distorted and existing in a confusing number of versions. This book tells how today's Bible came to be what it is and provides an understanding of the richness of its text.

The Honey of Souls is the first full-length study of the Explanation of the Psalms by Cassiodorus. While the Explanation became a seminal document for the monastic movement in the West and was eagerly read and widely quoted for centuries, it has languished in relative obscurity in the modern period. Derek Olsen explores Cassiodorus and his strategies for reading as a window into a spirituality of the psalms that defined early Western biblical interpretation.

This volume offers unparalleled coverage of all aspects of art and architecture from medieval Western Europe, from the 6th century to the early 16th century. Drawing upon the expansive scholarship in the celebrated 'Grove Dictionary of Art' and adding hundreds of new entries, it offers students, researchers and the general public a reliable, up-to-date, and convenient resource covering this field of major importance in the development of Western history and international art and architecture.