Margot Nishimura

The third book in the Getty Museum's series of short, lavishly illustrated books about aspects of medieval manuscripts. This is also the book of the manuscript exhibit at the Getty Museum on the same topic. The majority of the mss. in the book are from the Getty's collection, and in some cases show pages not normally displayed. The text is brief but explains the tradition from which the marginalia arose (inhabited initials), what is normally depicted (everyday life, animals, mythical beasts, hybrids, and the world turned upside down), and how the images relate to the text (sometimes literally, sometimes evoking additional traditions, and sometimes nothing at all). The photos are better than the exhibit in that they are larger and well-lit. The photos are less perfect than the exhibit because they don't show the play of light on the page as it, or the reader, moves, and not all pages in the exhibit are in the book (I particularly miss a complex knotted Q I was hoping to peruse at my leisure). Recommended for the beautiful pictures and as a decent overview of the topic.… (meer)