View a Preview ClipA World Inscribed: The Illuminated Manuscript Video (DVD/VHS). "Writers write so that the future may learn," a 5th-century French monk once inscribed in a diligent hand. This program is a concise history of the illuminated manuscript and book production. The everyday lives of the writers, scribes, and illustrators are revealed, and honor is paid to the best known: Einhard, biographer of Charlemagne; Gerald of Wales; the Abbot of Wearmouth Jarrow; the poor miscreant scribe, Raulinus; and Jean Mielot, scribe of the court of Philip the Good of Burgundy. The work of husband-and-wife illuminators, Richart and Jeanne de Montbaston, is shown and discussed, along with the operation of Florentine bookseller Vespasiano da Bisticci-book agent to kings and nobles. The program ends with the arrival of the printing press and movable type. (24 minutes.) Art History, Art and Photography. 1996
