The Harley Psalter

This is a fascinating study of the making of the Harley Psalter, an illustrated manuscript which was produced at Christ Church, Canterbury over a period of about 100 years, from c. 1020 to c. 1130.

William Noel (Author)

9780521096768, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 January 2009

252 pages, 83 b/w illus.
24.4 x 17 x 1.3 cm, 0.41 kg

This is a fascinating study of the making of the Harley Psalter, an illustrated manuscript which was produced at Christ Church, Canterbury, over a period of about 100 years, from c. 1020 to c. 1130. The Harley Psalter was closely based on the Utrecht Psalter, the most celebrated of all Carolingian illuminated manuscripts. Through meticulous observation of the Harley Psalter, William Noel analyses how the artists and scribes worked with each other and with their manuscript exemplars in making their illustrated text. The author demonstrates that this work is best understood not as a copy of the Utrecht Psalter, but rather as one of a series of Anglo-Saxon manuscript experiments that incorporated its imagery. This is a crucial work for understanding the development of art, script and book making during what has been termed the 'golden age' of Anglo-Saxon art.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Note on the Psalm texts
Introduction
1. Quires ruled by the artists
2. Quires ruled by the scribes
3. The origin and dates of the Harley Psalter
4. Four perspectives on the making of the Harley Psalter
5. Reading the Utrecht and Harley Psalters c. 1000– c. 1150
Conclusion
Appendix I: The Harley Psalter: a tabulated description
Appendix II: The Utrecht and Harley Psalters: parallel collations
Select bibliography
Indices.

Subject Areas: Palaeography [history of writing CFL], Medieval & Renaissance music [c 1000 to c 1600 AVGC2]