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In the days before printing,
books
were painstakingly hand-written by scribes and monks who put extraordinary
effort into creating magnificently decorated texts. Gold
was a favorite medium in which the scribes and monks worked and they often used
it lavishly, creating marvelous illuminated letters, designs, and
pictures (called miniatures). Indeed the books were so carefully
scribed and the scribes so talented that these books are truly works
of art from the middle ages.
Because of the labor and expense involved, people wishing to own one of these treasures would pay dearly. Over the centuries, the historical value and artistic beauty of the individual leaves have attracted many collectors who display them as personal treasures from a time long past. |
