In collaboration with Job Kwakman - Books Expert
Imagine yourself in a 14th century bookstore looking to purchase a book. The experience was far different than that of today. You could walk into nearly any city bookshop and order a manuscript, say a small prayer book in a 'littera rotunda' for example, to be made for you. You would then wait for about a year for its completion. But why did it take so long to complete? Keep reading to find the answer and discover why illuminated manuscripts are successful at online auctions today.
How Manuscripts Were Made
Remember that the entire book, from start to finish, was produced by hand. The process for creating a manuscript was very time consuming and labour intensive. Medieval manuscripts were generally written on parchment made from animal skin which would first need to be treated, stretched, scraped and cut into sheets. A scribe would then smooth the parchment to make it receptive to the ink and created guidelines for himself in order to keep the text uniformly straight. The text was then written using a quill. In a world before pencils and erasers, it may be surprising to learn that mistakes could be corrected by simply scraping away the text with a pen knife.
The scribe would also leave blank spaces for the illuminations. Once the text was complete, the illustrator could begin. He would sketch out the design first in charcoal or with a metal point and develop the sketch into an ink drawing. Next the gold leaf was applied. For the areas that would receive gold leaf, a layer of gesso would first be applied for support. After this, colours were added and finally the artist would finish off the work with outlines, drapery and details. The last step in creating a manuscript was binding it all together between wooden boards, often covered with leather and lavishly decorated with gold.
Successful Illuminations
A year after your order was placed, you would receive your beautifully completed manuscript and maybe it stayed in your family until present day or perhaps it was uncovered by a lucky finder who now wants to sell it for profit, at online auction for example. Of course most 'manuscripts' appearing at our weekly Books auctions are actually just leaves cut from full manuscripts.
Our book experts point out that most manuscripts were written in Latin, as shown on the left, but today manuscripts in the vernacular, such as the one on the right below written in Dutch in Haarlem, are even more popular. In fact, this Dutch leaf from a manuscript Book of Hours of Geert Groote of the Brethren of the Common Life. Find out how much it sold for here.
The Latin text on the left is a page from a 16th century Paris manuscript. Find out how much it sold for here.
Below are two further examples of successful manuscript sales on our auctions. On the left is pictured a simple manuscript page without illuminations. Although handwritten, it sold for less than the ornate page on the right. Find out how much this modest manuscript sold for here.
The lavishly decorated page on the left comes from a 16th Century Parisian manuscript. Find out how much more it sold for than the modest manuscript here.
Illuminations obviously made books much more expensive and the most beautiful manuscripts were ordered by noblemen, who had them richly decorated and finely illuminated (the Limbourg brothers, for example, produced breathtaking illuminations for John, Duke of Berry).
It’s clear to see why such lavishly decorated manuscripts are still popular today, not only for their beauty, but also for their history.
So Why Are Illuminated Manuscripts Successful?
According to our book experts, one of the main reason that illuminated manuscripts (or just the illuminations themselves) sell well at our auctions is simply because they are beautiful. And obviously the fact that they are often several hundred years old and completely hand-made (making them unique) appeals to buyers as well. If you have a manuscript or illumination that you wish to sell, sign up here to get started.
Catawiki’s weekly Books auctions offer an array of rare, exquisite and beautiful books making it the ideal place to begin the next chapter in your own story.