Categories of Illuminated Manuscripts
- Religious Works: Bibles, psalters, and prayer books, frequently richly adorned to highlight their sacred significance.
- Liturgical Manuscripts: Antiphonaries, missals, and other church-service books, often enhanced with detailed illustrations and musical notation.
- Bestiaries: Illustrated animal collections that commonly include moral teachings or symbolic interpretations.
- Historical and Literary Texts: Classical writings, histories, and narratives, including works associated with figures such as Virgil and Homer.
- Cookbooks and Travel Accounts: Recipe books and travel narratives that offer insight into the everyday life and culture of their era.
Searching for Manuscripts
A shelf mark, a unique combination of letters and numbers, identifies and tracks an item’s physical location. Unlike standard decimal systems like Dewey, they use codes based on ownership, language, or physical shelf location.
Shelf marks formula:
[Library Prefix] + [Collection Name or Language] + [Manuscript Number/Size/Location].
– Library Prefix: Identifies the institution (e.g., BL: British Library, BnF: Bibliothèque nationale de France).
– Collection Name: Often named after donors or sources (e.g., Cotton: Sir Robert Cotton, Harley: Robert and Edward Harley).
– Language or Subject Abbreviations: Group manuscripts by language (e.g., MS. Lat.: Latin Manuscript).
– Folio Size Letters (Sometimes Used): Indicate manuscript size (e.g., b. = Large folio, d. = Medium book, f. = Small book).
British Library’s “Physical Location” categorizes books by size.
Lindisfarne Gospels (Cotton MS Nero D.iv) is categorized as a large folio (b).
