Replicating a Medieval Manuscript
I liked this book, so I made my own
Did you ever see something beautiful and think āI wish I had one of those!ā I saw a Dutch medieval prayer book I liked, so I made my own: first, I hand-copied it in the original language, keeping as close as possible to to the original calligraphy, letter by letter.
Then (why not?) I translated it into English. Iām currently working on making my own English version, remaining faithful to the original lettering and decoration.
Right: a printed copy of the original medieval prayer book, in Old Dutch. Left: my hand-copy of that page from the manuscript, in the original language. As faithful a copy as I could manage: word-for-word, stroke-for-stroke.
Right: a printed copy of the original manuscript. Left: my hand-copied replica.
The first page, depicting the miracle of Pentecost. Left: a printed copy of the original manuscript. Right: my hand-made replication.
Bottom: the original manuscript. Top: my hand-copied replication of that manuscript.
What fun is copying a manuscript if you can't read it? I translated the Old Dutch into English, and am currently working on making an English verison.
What good is having an English version of a medieval manuscript if you don't have the pictures, too? Here I am working on replicating the illustration of Pentecost from the first page.