It will cover book illustration and decoration from the beginning to the invention of printing, with greater emphasis on the period 500-1200. The weekly programme will be arranged as follows:

1. What types of books were there? What kinds of illustration were there?

2. How were books made? What sort of inks, pens and paints were used?

3. Who made these books and why?

4. The Author Portrait.

5. The Historiated Initial.

6. Bible Illustration, or people could vote for which of the various types of illustration they would like to study this session.

Just getting to see some of these original works could be an ongoing project, as they are held in country churches or city libraries, provincial museums or cathedral treasuries, here and abroad. You could, for instance, visit Ranworth Church in Norfolk, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Durham Cathedral treasury, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin or the monastic library at St Gallen in Switzerland.

Precious and delicate books are not available to be handled by the general public, but facsimiles are accessible (but not usually on loan) at libraries such as the Norfolk Studies Centre in Norwich Millennium Library. The internet has some excellent sites (more information will be given in class). Better still is Turning the Pages at www.bl.uk/turningthepages.