Искусства и ремесла Средневековья

3 62 Arts апd Cl'afts in the Middle Ages

same nine rich Histoгies, and fol' getting it bound and covered, thirty crowns in gold." At the time of the Renaissance there was а rage for " tiny books," miпiatuгe copies of famous ,vorks. :М. \Vi.iгtz possessed а сору of the Sonnets of PetrarcЬ, written iп italics, in bro,Yn iвk, of ,vhich the leпgth ,Yas one inch, and tЬе bl'eadtЬ five-eighths of an iпch, sЬow­ ing fifty lines on а page. The text is only visiЫe tЬгough а glass. It is in Italian taste, ,vith several miniatures, and is bound iп gold filigree. Thc valнe of illнminated books is enormous. Ан Electo1· of Bavaгia once offered а town for а siнgle book; Ьпt the шonks liad sufficient worldly \Yisdom to know that he could easily take the to,vn agaiн, and so declined tЬе excliange ! . With tl1e iпtгodнction of pгiнting, tЬе art of illumina­ tion was doomed. Tl1e pe1·sonal шessage fгom tl1e scгibe to the readei· was шегgеd in the more compгehensive message of the press to the puЬlic. It was по longer necessary to speвd а year on а ,vork that could Ье accomplished in а day; so tl1e aгtists foнnd themselves reduced to painting initial letteгs iп p1·inted books, sometimes on velluш, but more ofteн on paper. This art still flourishes in many localit.ies; but it is no more illumination, though it is often so desigпated, than photography is portrait painting. Both а1·е useful iн their depaгtments and for tЬeir seveгal pшposes, but it is incorrect to confouпd tl1eш. Once, while examiпing an old choral book, I was par-