Wonderful overview of the subject. A reference book I go back to time and again. ( )

If you have a fascination with illuminated manuscripts, you will revel in this gorgeous book. Care has been taken with the presentation as well as content. The book begins with an overview of the art and history of manuscript illumination, before examining a great many key manuscripts, each accompanied by fine reproductions. They span the end of the classical world (c. AD 400) to the twilight of illumination (late 1500s), and include examples from the Islamic world, central Asia and India.

The descriptions tend to concentrate on the technical and art historical side of the illuminations. If, like me, you are also interested in the historical and social context, you might wish for more. But the amazingly gorgeous repoductions more than compensate. Taschen is to be congratulated: the production values of this volume are a tribute to the art of the book, as well as to the book's predecessor, the manuscript. ( )