Illuminated Manuscripts and other Facsimiles

Recently-produced facsimiles, published in very limited editions, are so skillfully made, so true to the originals, that it is sometimes hard to identify them at first glance as copies. The rich leather bindings have been fashioned to mimic the originals as closely as possible, sometimes even to the point of including metal clasps and mounted imitation jewels. The pages are replicas of the originals, as clear and as close to the colors and lines used by the medieval illuminators and calligraphers as photographic reproductions can be. Even the worm holes and other damage to the pages of the original manuscripts are reproduced in the facsimiles.

It has only been within the last thirty years or so that modern book-making technology has been able to produce facsimiles as good as these. They have been extremely useful to scholars of medieval studies because they make the unique, carefully guarded manuscripts, usually locked away in European libraries, museums,or cathedral treasuries, accessible to American art history graduate students. Although art historians are generally taught that there is no substitute for a close examinination of the original artwork that one is studying, it is excusable in some cases to rely on a well-made reproduction.

Two of the finest and most heavily used of the Stanford Art & Architecture Library's collection of illuminated manuscript facsimiles are those of the Douce Apocalypse (Bodleian Library; Douce 180) and the Utrecht Psalter (Utrecht, Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit; MS 32/484), landmark works in the history of medieval painting and book production. Our facsimiles were produced in 1981 and 1982 respectively by Akademische Druck und Verlagsanstalt, the Austrian firm that is one of the premier publishers of illuminated manuscript facsimiles. The Douce Apocalypse, which is in the collection of the Bodleian Library at Oxford Univesity, illustrates the Book of Revelation with 97 illuminations, which were probably painted between 1250 and 1275. Our facsimile faithfully reproduces the clarity, delicacy, and muted colors of the original illuminations. The Utrecht Psalter (owned by the University of Utrecht) is a ninth-century manuscript from northern France in which the psalms are illustrated with 166 vibrant pen drawings that give the appearance of having been executed with great speed and lightness.

In addition to medieval illuminated manuscripts, artists' sketchbooks of the 19th century and illuminated manuscripts of Middle American indigenous peoples are categories of codex that have occasionally been the subject of facsimile production.

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Selected Facsimiles in the Stanford University Libraries Collections

Medieval European

Douce Apocalypse: Vollstandige Faksimile-Ausgabe im Originalformat der Handschrift Ms. Douce 180, Apokalypse, aus dem Besitz der Bodleian Library, Oxford. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1981-1983.
2 v. (vii, xii, 12 leaves, 97 p.; [8], v-vii, [1], [241], [41] pages of plates): ill. (some col.); 32 cm. (Codices selecti phototypice impressi; v. 72)

Art Locked Stacks, Medium BS2825.B59 1981 f

Evangeliorum quattuor Codex Lindisfarnensis; Musei Britannici Codex Cottonianus Nero D. IV permissione Musei Britannici totius codicis similitudo expressa. Prolegomenis auxerunt T.D. Kendrick [et al.] Oltun, Urs Graf, 1956-60.
2 v. illus. (part col.) mounted plate, maps, diagrs., facsims. (part col.) tables. 41 cm.

Art Locked Stacks BS2554.A63 L5 f

Das Lorscher Evangeliar. (Hrsg.: Wolfgang Braunfels. Faks.-Ausg.) Munchen: Prestel, 1967.
111, 124 l. with illus. 38 cm.

Art Locked Stacks BS2552.L6B7 f

Psautier d'Ingeburge de Danemark = Ingeborg psalter: Ms. 9 olim 1695, aus dem Besitz des Musee Conde, Chantilly: vollstandige Faksimile-Ausgabe im Originalformat der Handschrift. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, c1985.
[200] leaves: col. ill.; 32 cm. (Codices selecti phototypice impressi; v. 80)

Art Locked Stacks ND3357.I5D4 1985 f

Sakramentar von Mets. Fragment. Ms Lat. 1141, Bibliotheque nationale, Paris. Graz, Akadem. Druck-u. Verlagsanst., 1972.
2 v. (in case) 31 cm. (Codices selecti phototypice impressi, v.28)

Art Locked Stacks BX2037.A3.M4736 1972

Der Stuttgarter Bilderpsalter. Bibl. fol. 23, Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart. Stuttgart, E. Schreiber, 1965.
2 v. with facsims. 28 cm.

Art Locked Stacks ND3357.S7A32

Trierer Apokalypse; vollstaendige Faksimile-Ausg. im Originalformat des Codex 31 der Stadtbibliothek Trier. Kodikologische und palaeographische Beschreibung, von Richard Laufner. Der Kodex und sein Bildschmuck von Peter K.Klein. Graz, Akademische Druck-u. Verlag., 1975.
2 v. plates(part col.) 27cm. (Codices selecti phototypice impressi, v.48)

Art Locked Stacks ND3361.R5.L39

Utrecht-Psalter, aus dem Besitz der Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht: Vollstandige Faksimile-Ausgabe im Originalformat der Handschrift 32. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1982-1984.
2 v.: ill.; 35 cm. (Codices selecti phototypice impressi; v. 75)

Art Locked Stacks BX2033.A35U86 1982 f

Vergilius Romanus, Vat. Lat. 3867, entstanden im 6. Jahrhundert Zurich: Belser, c1985.
[44] p.: col. ill., facsims.; 35 cm. (Codices e Vaticanis selecti; Nr. 66)

Art Locked Stacks PA6801.A1V4 1985

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Middle American

Codex Dresdensis, Sachsische Landesbibliothek Dresden (Mscr. Dresd. R 310).Vollst. Faks.-Ausg. des Codex im Originalformat. Graz: Akadem. Druck- u. Verlagsanst., 1975.
1 case (2 sheets ; 25 x 221 cm., 25 x 138 cm. fold. to 25 x 10 cm. & commentary 93 p., [25] leaves of plates): ill. (some col.), col. facsims.; 26 cm. (Codices selecti phototypice impressi; v. 54)

Spec Coll Rare Books Ref F1435.3.P6C54 1975

Codex Peresinaus (Codex Paris), Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Einleitung und summary [von] F. Anders. Graz, Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1968.
41 p. illus (part col.) 26 cm. and facsim: 12 fold. l. 26 x 14 cm. (Codices selecti phototypice impressi. 9)

Spec Coll Rare Books Reference F1219.C66

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Nineteenth-century European

Constable's sketch-books of 1813 and 1814 reproduced in facsimile / Victoria & Albert Museum ; introd. by Graham Reynolds. 2d ed. London: H.M. Stationery Off., 1979.
3 v.: ill.; 9-19 cm.

Art Locked Stacks NC242.C5A4 1979

Delacroix, Eug`ene, 1798-1863. Le voyage au Maroc. Paris: Editions du Sagittaire: Sagittaire Communication, [1992].
6 v.: ill. (chiefly col.), facsims., map, ports.; 25 cm.

Art Locked Stacks ND553.D33A2 1992

Turner, J. M. W. (Joseph Mallord William), 1775-1851. The 'Wilson' sketchbook; with an introduction by Andrew Wilton. London: Tate Gallery, 1988.
36 p., ca.127 p.: col. ill.; 13 cm.

Art Locked Stacks NC242.T9T87 1988

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More on Facsimiles at Stanford

For additional information on manuscript facsimiles at Stanford University Libraries, visit the pages for John Rawlings, Curator for Medieval Studies,especially the section devoted to Manuscripts.