The power of the English currency has been, till of late, largely based on the national estimate of horses and of wine: so that a man might give any price to furnish choicely his stable, or his cellar; and receive public approval therefore; but if he gave the same sum to furnish his library, he was called mad, or a bibliomaniac. And although he might lose his fortune by his horses, and his health or life by his cellar, and rarely lost either by his books, he was yet never called a Hippo-maniac, nor Oino-maniac; but only Biblio-maniac, because the current worth of money was understood to be legitimately founded on cattle and wine, but not on literature. The prices lately given at sales for pictures and MSS. indicate some tendency to change in the national character in this respect, so that the worth of our currency may even come in time to rest, in an acknowledged manner, somewhat on the state and keeping of the Bedford Missal, as well as on the health of Caractacus or Blink Bonney. — John Ruskin
- Foreword
- A Question of Value: The Illuminated Book in Nineteenth-Century Britain
- Glossary
- Lenders to the 1987 exhibition
- Sources of supplemental images for this amplified web edition of Victorian Bibliomania
Editorial note: In creating this amplified web-version of the original catalogue, I have worked in the spirit of those Victorians who collected and created illuminated books by adding decorated initial letters from Victorian and later books to Alice Beckwith's text. A few, like the P in the commentary for Westwood's Paleographia Sacra Pictoria and the T in Henry Noel Humphrey's A History of the Art of Printing, were created by Thackeray for Vanity Fair; others come from Victorian periodicals and other books. — George P. Landow.
Sacred Texts
- 1. Job and His Daughters by William Blake
- 2. The Order for Morning Prayerby Owen Jones
- 3. Front cover, The Preacher by Owen Jones
- 3b. Rear cover, The Preacher by Owen Jones
- 5. Cover, The Victoria Psalter
- 5b. Evening Prayer from The Victoria Psalter
- 6. The Good Shunammite
- 7.Parables of Our Lord by Henry Noel Humphreys
- 8. Miracles of Our Lord by Henry Noel Humphreys
- 8b. Water turned into wine by Henry Noel Humphreys (currently no plate)
- 9. The Sermon on the Mount by the William James Audsley and George Ashdown Audsley
- 10. Te Deum Laudamus by Emily Faithfull and Esther Faithfull Fleet
- 11. Laudes Beatae Mariae Virginis by William Morris
- 12. The Trinity by Robert Anning Bell
History of the Book
- 13. A “Facs” or Ornamental Letter from Piers Plowman by Thomas Frognall Dibdin,
- 14. Illuminated Ornaments by Henry Shaw
- 15. Paleogrphica Sacra Pictoria by J. O. Westwood
- 16. Introduction to Plate XII, Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages by Henry Noel Humphreys
- 16b. Calendar and text page from the thirteenth-century Psalter from Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages by Noel Humphreys
- 17. Opening of St. Luke's Gospel from The Origin and Progress of the Art of Writing by Henry Noel Humphreys
- 18. Two pages from Dialogus Creatorum by Henry Noel Humphreys
- 19. Botany of the 13th Century [Apple tree and Cyclamen] by J. J. Laing
- 20. Examples of the Art of Illumination
- 21. A Note by William Morris on His Aims in Founding the Kelmscott Press
- 22. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimeé by Lucien Pissarro and Charles Ricketts
- 23. Little Girl Lost from Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake
Secular Literature
- 24. Marmion by Sir Walter Scott
- 25. A Book of Christmas Carols by Joseph Cundall
- 26. Gray's Elegy by Owen Jones
- 27. Half-title, Ancient Spanish Ballads by Owen Jones
- 28. Sea King's Daughter from over the sea, Alexandra from A Welcome to Her Royal Highness by Owen Jones
- 29. The Bridal Souvenir, binding by John Leighton
- 30. Sentiments and Similes of Shakespeare by Henry Noel Humphreys
- 31. Byron's The Prisoner of Chillon by William James Audsley and George Ashdown Audsley
- 32. The Lover's Parting from Roadside Songs of Tuscany by Francesca Alexander
- 33. The Story of the Glittering Plain by William Morris
- 34. A Dream of John Ball by William Morris
- 35. Vellum binding, The Kelmscott Chaucer by William Morris
- 35b. Opening pages, The Kelmscott Chaucer by William Morris
- 36. Love is Enough by William Morris
- 37. Merlin Taketh the Child Arthur into His Keeping by Aubrey Beardsley
Architecture and Design
- 38. Ladies of the Twelfth Century by Henry Shaw from Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages
- 38b. King Henry VI and His Court by Henry Shaw from Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages
- 39. Alphabets, Numerals, and Devices of the Middle Ages by Henry Shaw
- 40. A Thurible or Censer by Henry Shaw
- 41. Dedication, An Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture in England by August Welby Northmore Pugin
- 42. Frontispiece, The Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament by August Welby Northmore Pugin
- 42b. Oak paneling from the rood screen, Dickleburgh Church, Norfolk from The Glossary
- 43. Frontispiece, O Crux Ave by August Welby Northmore Pugin
- 43b. Cover, Floriated Ornament by August Welby Northmore Pugin
- 43c. Title-page Floriated Ornament by August Welby Northmore Pugin
- 44. Nave Roof, Aldenham, Herts. from Sketches Graphic and Descriptive by Edward Lushington Blackburne
- 45. Commencement and Termination of a Scroll from Gothic Ornaments by James Kellaway Colling
- 46. Plate XIV, The Alhambra by Owen Jones
- 47. Celtic No. 2 by Owen Jones
- 48. Plate 1 — “A” from A Thousand and One Initial Letters by Owen Jones
- 49. Title-page, The Art of Illuminating by Wyatt and Tymms
- 50. Specimens of 14th and 15th Century Illuminated Initials from Polychromatic Decoration by William James Audsley and George Ashdown Audsley
- 51. Gothic Architecture: A Lecture for the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society by William Morris
Manuals and Examples of Hand Illumination
- 52. Gospels of Mac Durnan from The Art of Illumination and Missal Painting by Henry Noel Humphreys
- 53. Frontispiece and Title-page Elementary Instruction on the Art of Illumination by David Laurent de Lara
- 54. Title-page, Suggestions for Illuminating by William Randle Harrison
- 55. Illuminated Letters from the 14th and 15th Centuries from Medieval Alphabets and Initials by Freeman Gage de la Motte and J. Willis Brooks
- 56. Frontispiece and title-page, Guide to the Art of Illuminating and Missal Painting by William James Audsley and George Ashdown Audsley
- 57. Frontispiece and title-page from A Practical Manual of Heraldry by F.J. Baignent and C.J. Russell
- 58. Caddy Lidded Colour Box by George Rowney & Co.
- 59. Ogmund comes to Midfirth by William Morris
- 60. Thy Kingdom Come by unknown artist
- 61. Prologue for a Book of Hours by Helen Reid Cross
Historical Chronicles and Heraldry
- 62. John Ball Preaching from Illuminated Illustrations of Froissart by Henry Noel Humphreys
- 63. Cover and The Battle of Poictiers from A Record of the Black Prince by Henry Noel Humphreys
- 64. Arms of the See of Worcester from Arms of the Episcopates of Great Britain by A.H. Warren and John Woodward
- 65. Howe our cristen men chosen a very patriarke in Iherusalem from The History of Geoffrey of Bologne by William Morris
- 66. Page 1, Froissart's The Chronicles of Fraunce, Inglande, and Other Places Adjoynynge by William Morris
Related Material
References
Beckwith, Alice H. R. H. Victorian Bibliomania: The Illuminated Book in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Exhibition catalogue. Providence. Rhode Island: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1987.
Last modified 18 December 2013