Pretty Books

Here are some pictures of pretty books and things that I have studied in my History of the Book class :)

The November page of the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (Very Rich Hours of the Duke de Berry)

(source: http://www.streetprophets.com/story/2009/11/16/164554/02)

My favorite part about this book is the nifty astrological calendar drawings on the top of each page. Books of hours were what we would call devotional books today; they were used to guide people in their daily/monthly/yearly prayers and listed all the major holidays, saints' days, and so forth.

Manicule from Cicero, Manuscript: Cicero, De Officiis, 1465.

edit: the image was too large to fit, so take a look here!: http://eprints.utas.edu.au/8522/

I think manicules are so nifty! A "manicule" is one name (there is technically no official term, but manicule is the most accepted) for the various types of pointing hands you see marking important passages in books. They can be either drawn (like this one) or printed. I think they're fun and also sort of creepy! Here's another:

(source: http://www.revue-textimage.com/01_en_marge/barre2.htm)

and another:

(source: http://manchesterdante.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/the-hand-of-god/)

We also looked at John Bulwer's Anthropometamorphosis (1653). Here are some images:

(source: http://ouhos.org/2010/06/16/john-bulwer-anthropometamorphosis/)

(source: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/webexhibits/bookusebooktheory/howtobesomebody.html)

So there are a few fun images of books we have studied! I think they are nifty :)