Went up to the Morgan Library this afternoon with my old friend B, a medievalist in training at Oxford. Our object was the exhibition "Pages of Gold: Medieval Illuminations from the Morgan." At right is the one of 
which they're proudest, "Scenes from the Life of David" from the Winchester Bible (c. 1160-8) - you can examine it in glorious detail here - though I was more taken by the comic book-like Eadwine Psalter (1155-60), of which I can alas find no images online.
I learned some new words, too: (1) biblioclasm - a word American Otto F. Ege (1888-1951) used to describe his cutting up of old books and reframing the illustrations in helpful suites of contrasting styles for educational purposes. (2) grangerization - cutting illustrations from one book to decorate another, named after 19th century Brit James Granger.
These terms describe the founding sin of collections of illuminations. Almost all the illuminations we saw had been victims of either biblioclasm or grangerization or both - since the eighteenth century sellers have known they can get a lot more for an illustrated book by cutting it up and selling each image separately. (This is why the great psalters - like the Winchester and the Eadwine - survive only in a few images, sold to different collections.) The practice continues to this day. One caption told the horrifying story of someone who'd got his hands on a medieval manuscript, had cut it in tiny slivers, and was selling them on eBay starting at $1 each.
Is there any way of stopping this? The exhibition curators allowed themselves a mischievous wish, in a caption next to three forgeries (by the Spanish Forger, a turn of the (20th) century artist whom the Morgan has turned into a cottage industry!). "Unfortunately no new forger has come forward to help satisfy the demand for single leaves and cuttings, and some dealers are still shamelessly cutting up manuscripts."
which they're proudest, "Scenes from the Life of David" from the Winchester Bible (c. 1160-8) - you can examine it in glorious detail here - though I was more taken by the comic book-like Eadwine Psalter (1155-60), of which I can alas find no images online.I learned some new words, too: (1) biblioclasm - a word American Otto F. Ege (1888-1951) used to describe his cutting up of old books and reframing the illustrations in helpful suites of contrasting styles for educational purposes. (2) grangerization - cutting illustrations from one book to decorate another, named after 19th century Brit James Granger.
These terms describe the founding sin of collections of illuminations. Almost all the illuminations we saw had been victims of either biblioclasm or grangerization or both - since the eighteenth century sellers have known they can get a lot more for an illustrated book by cutting it up and selling each image separately. (This is why the great psalters - like the Winchester and the Eadwine - survive only in a few images, sold to different collections.) The practice continues to this day. One caption told the horrifying story of someone who'd got his hands on a medieval manuscript, had cut it in tiny slivers, and was selling them on eBay starting at $1 each.
Is there any way of stopping this? The exhibition curators allowed themselves a mischievous wish, in a caption next to three forgeries (by the Spanish Forger, a turn of the (20th) century artist whom the Morgan has turned into a cottage industry!). "Unfortunately no new forger has come forward to help satisfy the demand for single leaves and cuttings, and some dealers are still shamelessly cutting up manuscripts."
