To Emulate a Book...

   

Recently the Calligrapher's Guild of Carolingia (and friends) went on a field trip to the Houghton Library at Harvard University. We saw, handled, and examined in detail a selection of manuscripts from their extensive collection. The Curator pulled pieces for us that aren't digitized yet, so we were seeing pieces that we couldn't view online.

Among the selection were a letter from Elizabeth 1 from before she was Queen, and a letter from Charles V, penned by his own hand.

The viewing also included a tiny leather bound book of 203 pages. It is beautiful - and tiny. 6cm across, 8cm high, 4cm deep. It fits in the palm of your hand. It just capivated me in a way that other books have not, and so I've decided that one of my side research projects will be to learn more about the book and eventually create a book in that style and size on a subject I'm not settled on yet. I don't want to exactly replicate the book, I'd rather take the elements, learn from them, and create a book that could be it's second half.

Photos of the book can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KXzNptk4vSSGFSkd8