Drawings in Books in Medieval Britain from the Ninth Century to the Reformation
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€198.40
A01=Julian Luxford
Art Historical Study
Author_Julian Luxford
Book-bound Drawings
British Medieval Art
Category=AGA
Category=AKHM
Category=JBCC2
Category=NHDJ
Drawing Techniques
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Historical Relationships
Manuscripts
Medieval Art
Medieval Books
Medieval Britain
Medieval Codicology
Psychology of Drawing
Visual Arts
Product details
- ISBN 9781837653430
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 31 Mar 2026
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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The first broad and long study of a major aspect of British medieval art, examining the historical relationships between medieval drawings and books.
The art of drawing and its products had a determining relationship to the visual arts of the Middle Ages. They also had other purposes, which if understood, help one to grasp the broader availability and usefulness of the medium. This groundbreaking study deals particularly with the historical relationships between medieval drawings and books. Using a wide range of material and documentary evidence, it explains how book-bound drawings may be defined, classified, and understood in relation to their physical settings and the ends they were made to serve. In orientation, the study is primarily art historical: most of its arguments emerge from curiosity about the psychology and experience of making drawn images. As such, it tackles a surprisingly neglected field. Because it deals with a pervasive aspect of book-design, it also makes a basic contribution to medieval codicology. There are six substantial chapters, the first two dealing with the definition of drawings, existing scholarly approaches to them, and issues of artistic status and agency. These lay the groundwork for the rest of the study, which analyses the placement of drawings at the fronts and backs of books (chapters 3, 4), and drawings embedded in the bodies of manuscripts that were mainly devoted to text (chapters 5, 6). Drawing emerges as an accessible, flexible medium of expression to rank with writing.
JULIAN LUXFORD is Professor in the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews.
