Cover created by Transcriber, using an illustration from theoriginal book, and placed in the Public Domain.
ILLUMINATION
AND ITS DEVELOPMENT
IN THE PRESENT DAY
There are some who
follow the arts from poverty
and necessity, also for gain,
and for love of the art; but
those who pursue them from
love of the art and true
nobleness of mind are to
be commended above all
others.—Cennino Cennini.
Sidney Farnsworth
1920
ILLUMINATION
AND ITS DEVELOPMENT
IN THE PRESENT DAY
BY
SIDNEY FARNSWORTH
Illustrated with Drawings
and Diagrams by the Author
NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
Printed in Great Britain
PREFACE
This book is the outcome of a series of articles whichappeared in Drawing and Design. At the suggestionof the Editor of this periodical, the whole of thechapters originally published have been entirely rewrittenand considerably enlarged; at the same timea large amount of quite new matter has been added.
The additions that have been made include achapter on the development of writing in the past,together with a number of alphabets based on historicalexamples. I have also added a brief sketch of thehistory of Illumination, as I felt that the book wouldnot be complete without some reference to this sideof the subject. Some attention has been given tothe colours and gilding methods of the mediævalartists, and it is hoped that the notes given may beof interest to the student. Extensions have also beenmade in connection with the use of colours and materialsby the student to-day.
Chapters on the further development of illumination,the illumination of the printed book, and printedbook decoration, are also amongst the additions.The chapters on the application of lettering anddecoration from the commercial standpoint have alsobeen developed considerably, and at the end of thebook some notes have been added on books for furtherstudy.
2I have tried to write in as simple a manner aspossible, so that the youngest student should have nodifficulty in understanding the instructions that aregiven.
So many books have been written on the subjectof Illumination that it may seem quite superfluous toadd yet another to the long list. Still, I think that awork treating the matter from the present-day standpointought to be of some service to the student whois desirous of practising this art to-day.
I have felt for some time past that there was aneed for a work that would deal with the variousways in which this art could be applied in a time likethe present. I have found that most of the booksthat have been written on Illumination treat thesubject either from the standpoint of the arch