Illumination

A few people who have made the mistake of asking what I've been doing in the last few weeks will know I've been reading various religious texts in an attempt to plug an enormous knowledge gap. My earlier blog refers to part of an experiment concerning looking at condensations of the texts - it wasn't really concluded, because my reading certainly hasn't been; but essentially there are insurmountable disadvantages to trying to shortcut the Real Thing, so I'm just sticking to the translations of the main texts. Anyway, apart from provoking extreme annoyance because I can't even attempt to read anything that isn't in English, Anglo-Saxon or Latin (yeah, useful languages...), it's proving to be a really fun little (HUGE!) project. So, when I found out that the British Library's major exhibition at the moment is Sacred (not "scared" as my secret dyslexic self tried to pretend), I jumped at the chance to go and have a look (somewhat to the detriment of the planned socialising - apologies to EH & LVW!).

There is too much to say to get it all down here without using up more than my fair share of the web-waves. Just a few notes, then, of things I found interesting or surprising or delightful. Where possible, links are provided so you can get a bit of a look at what I'm talking about; but I really recommend you go and visit if you can. Entrance is free, and it's on until 23rd September. If you can't go, the website (linked above) is an extremely good taster, with high-resolution images of lots of the texts - though there's nothing like seeing them for real. (If you're very keen but still can't get there, the book is well worth getting).

In no particular order:

1) Anyone who has chatted to me about my academic interests, if I thought they really wanted to hear what I like doing (which if I'm honest isn't often), will know that the period between 1450 and 1700 is where I'm happiest. Conveniently this essentially covers English Bible history (we'll ignore the Anglo-Saxons for now) - from Tyndale's first English New Testament in the early 16th century, through the Great and Geneva Bibles, to the King James Authorized. More than averagely enthusiastic about these things...
It was great to see, therefore, a copy of the Tyndale text. Hadn't realised it, but there are apparently only three known copies surviving. It's a straightforwardly lovely object. So vital historically, this one has an almost academically sentimental value for me. Similarly,

2) The Great Bible (or [Thomas] Cromwell's Bible). Again, the historical milieu (and its literary consequences) is 'my thing'. But something made me laugh: of importance because of its use of the vernacular, the title page depicts the monarch (Henry VIII - top centre) giving English Bibles to his subjects. The texts he's handing them, though, are inscribed with the words: "VERBUM DEI". Whoops!

3) Though I've seen it in modern texts (indeed, employed it myself in doodles), I hadn't realised that micography was something very specifically Jewish. Plundering the Sacred exhibition, here, for a definition: "the weaving of minute lettering into abstract, geometric and figurative designs." It looks amazing - bet the scribe got hand cramp (or maybe he was only a few inches high and used a correspondingly tiny nib).

4) Whenever looking at incredible collections like this, I often wonder what this era is going to leave future historians in terms of the written language. So much correspondence and publishing is done online that it's likely that this so-called Age of Communication is going to leave little material in its wake. Unlike letters of important figures past, emails aren't going to be found in dusty attics centuries later. It was good to see a contemporary parchment manuscript in the exhibition, then! The Saint John's Bible is big, very big; and the two very plain pages on display at the British Library made me wonder for a moment what the point was - why are we trying to copy a style belonging to centuries ago? But looking at the website linked above it became much clearer - all the illustrations and illuminations are, though adhering to old principles, strikingly modern in design. It looks good, and it looks relevant. It's also very pretty! Take a look.

5) There were a fair few Biblical picture books on display, which made me smile. The book really does have the most fantastic set of stories, and it's easy to forget that when people start preaching Hell and Damnation. As I said in the earlier blog, one of the best ways to experience the Bible is, I think, to get hold of a good illustrated children's version - clearly they figured that out in the 14th century and earlier!

6) The marginal creatures in manuscripts have always made me chuckle. There's a good bit in The Name of the Rose about the subject too (was going to give you a page reference or two, but just read the book - after the first 80 pages or so it's one of my favourites). There are so many bizarre and wonderful figures in the borders of medieval pages, and hours have been spent getting lost in them. There were lots to see in the exhibition, and they're as fun as ever.

7) Just the age of some of this stuff is enough to make you gasp. So much of it is incredibly well preserved (I've no idea how - anything like that mammoth they've found in the Siberian permafrost?!). To think that some of these texts have been around for nearly 2000 years. What have they seen? Less anthropomorphically, who's touched them?

8) I liked seeing the various Arabic scripts employed in the different Qur'ans - they're so distinct, and all so beautiful; and each fulfils a different function. Actually, the calligraphy generally - in all different languages (and there are a lot of languages in this exhibition) - is beautiful.

Do go and see Sacred if you have the opportunity and are interested in religion, religious history, calligraphy, pretty things, books, display cases......

With thanks to the British Library for its excellent website!