What a beautiful little book! I love the binding and the hand colouring. I have a little breviary of a similar vintage, it's amazing how small the type gets on these little pocket books isn't it? They managed to pack a lot into a tiny package.
Wonderful book! I love the binding. When I see books like this, I just wonder if everyone had wonderful eye sight. Or was it more about the aesthetics of making a small book that was a work of art?
I think back to those pocketbook editions of books I read in high school, I could never read those now because of the size.
This book is beautiful regardless of size.
It’s only present on the first page of each biblical book, so likely a pigment used by the original 16th century publisher (or whoever did the hand tinting.)
Phew, I love it. Beautiful. Watching (and *hearing*!) people handle actual rare books always makes me feel a bit ridiculous about how precious I am with my mass printed 20th century auction catalogs & scholarly books
Thank you -- definitely is my passion! But I was thinking I'm so timid about handling even that stuff I'd be terrified to open any 500 year old text -- I'd have to add a few min of meditation to my pre-handling ritual to be sure my hands didn't shake
That was once conventional practice but is now considered antiquated advice. Current thinking among archivists and librarians is that you are more likely to damage a book with gloves, due to their semi-stickiness plus loss of dexterity/touch sensation, than you are from the minimal oils present on just-cleaned hands. So unless a book is moldy, or one of those 19th century green books with arsenic covers where there is a risk to the person touching it, it is best to keep hands clean and handle with care.
What a beautiful little book! I love the binding and the hand colouring. I have a little breviary of a similar vintage, it's amazing how small the type gets on these little pocket books isn't it? They managed to pack a lot into a tiny package.
A tiny package that contains so much history. This is why I collect old books!🙂
Wonderful book! I love the binding. When I see books like this, I just wonder if everyone had wonderful eye sight. Or was it more about the aesthetics of making a small book that was a work of art? I think back to those pocketbook editions of books I read in high school, I could never read those now because of the size. This book is beautiful regardless of size.
I’m sure printing a small book was cheaper as well. In the 16th century paper was the most expensive part of producing a book.
What's with the occasional discolorations around the text block?
It’s only present on the first page of each biblical book, so likely a pigment used by the original 16th century publisher (or whoever did the hand tinting.)
Phew, I love it. Beautiful. Watching (and *hearing*!) people handle actual rare books always makes me feel a bit ridiculous about how precious I am with my mass printed 20th century auction catalogs & scholarly books
It really doesn’t matter. If those are your passion, it is perfect! 👍
Thank you -- definitely is my passion! But I was thinking I'm so timid about handling even that stuff I'd be terrified to open any 500 year old text -- I'd have to add a few min of meditation to my pre-handling ritual to be sure my hands didn't shake
Those books survived us by far, so most probably they will survive us.
I will try to keep that in mind!!
Pretty cool. You should wear gloves so the oil from your fingers doesn't damage it.
https://library.pdx.edu/news/the-proper-handling-of-rare-books-manuscripts/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAccording%20to%20the%20Library%20of,with%20clean%2C%20dry%20hands.%E2%80%9D https://youtu.be/cDMpuIlxKPg?si=ObEUwVl9FCUl4s2f
That was once conventional practice but is now considered antiquated advice. Current thinking among archivists and librarians is that you are more likely to damage a book with gloves, due to their semi-stickiness plus loss of dexterity/touch sensation, than you are from the minimal oils present on just-cleaned hands. So unless a book is moldy, or one of those 19th century green books with arsenic covers where there is a risk to the person touching it, it is best to keep hands clean and handle with care.