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Morgan, Nigel (commentary).
The Lambeth Apocalypse [with] The Lambeth Apocalypse Manuscript 209 in Lambeth Palace Library: A Critical Study (Fine Art facsimile boxed set with Commentary volume].
Publisher: Harvey Miller Publishers, London;
Date of Publication: 1990
Stock Code: 6641
No 79 in a Limited Edition (number of copies not stated). Quarto, pp 112. 78 half-page painted and gilded miniatures with additional illuminated decoration and initial letters, and and 28 full-page tinted drawings of the Life of St John, Miracles of the Virgin Mary and other religious subjects; faithfully reproduced from photographic images of the original manuscript by James Austin of Cambridge. Full maroon morocco by Buchbinderei Richard Mayer of Stuttgart with 5 raised bands, Lambeth Palace library armorial crest to upper board and brass corners and clasps. Commentary volume: quarto, pp 383 with plate section to rear comprising 222 monochrome images of Comparative Illustrations of Apocalypse Scenes in the Metz, Lambeth and Gulbenkian Manucripts and 72 monochrome figures. Quarter maroon morocco with black cloth-covered boards and maroon label with gilt titles and border to upper board. Both volumes housed in maroon velour-covered drop-back box with leather and gilt armorial panel to upper board, and leather Limitation panel with gilt text and border inside; matching plain velour panel separating volumes. A little very minor scuffing to upper board of facsi
mile otherwise a Fine set. Each of the volumes stamped: “Kindly donated in 2015 to St Mary’s R C Church Loughborough by Graham and Mary Embleton”, respectively to first leaf and rear pastedown of facsimile, and to verso title page of Critical Study. The Lambeth Apocalypse is a late thirteenth century manuscript copy of the Revelation of St John and is one of the most treasured pieces in the collection of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace Library; it is the foremost of a group of three Apocalypse volumes made by a single workshop of artists, perhaps in London. The facsimile was produced in order to facilitate study by a wider audience whilst limiting the occasions upon which the original is handled, as the text is outstandingly important for its content, beauty of execution and artistic merit as well as for its religious content reflecting contemporary thought. The original manuscript is believed from heraldic evidence in the illustrations to have been commissioned for the Countess of Winchester, Lady Eleanor de Quincy (c. 1230-1274) and had passed into the hands of the Archbishops of Canterbury by the early seventeenth century. The commentary explores the patronage, context and function of the original, comparing it with the other contemporary Apocalypse texts. Sold