The Bent Page

Before the invention of the printing press, comic books, iPads, and other forms of delivering images with the written word, there was the illuminated manuscript. I like that term. All sorts of meanings lurk within it. While visiting Spain, I came across a number of such books in both original form and modern reproductions.

The colors pop off the page, giving your imagination a bit more fuel than words alone.

Some are bolder than others in both imagery and colors. The example above, with its reds really grabs the eye.

There’s also plenty of white space in the margins, which makes me wonder if the original owners of these might have written some notes on the pages not shown. Hard to tell and the curators didn’t seem like the type to let me page through.

Someday, I’d like to get permission to look through books like these. It would be a fascinating journey into the past and inspirational for future works. I’ll have to find a friendly librarian to bribe.