ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT FONTS HOW TO

The use of gold leaf or foil, gold specks or dust, or silver, which is applied with a brush, is a characteristic feature of most books from the Middle Ages. Bibles were a frequent subject for illumination. These precious and expensive books were most commonly associated with religious manuscripts, and were often created in monasteries by monks and commissioned by wealthy patrons.

So an illuminated manuscript is one in which the text is embellished or enhanced with the use of decorative elements-including initials, borders, and other illustrations-using luminous colors, often including gold and silver.

They were known as illuminated manuscripts: “illuminated” from the Latin word lumen, meaning light, and “manuscript” from the Latin words manus meaning hand and scribere meaning to write. Books were all written and drawn by hand, with each step done by a different person: scribe, rubricator, illustrator, etc.

ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT FONTS HOW TO

In the Middle Ages, however, the process for making books was dramatically different and therefore books were not readily available to the general public, the majority of which did not know how to read anyway. A Brief Backgroundīooks today are available to almost everyone, as they are mass produced and affordable, as well as easily borrowed from libraries. A spread from a Book of Hours from the 16th century.

Illuminated manuscript fonts