Off-Topic but Very Cool Illuminated Manuscript

[Max Magee]

I think I may have heard about this project in the 1990's, but then hadn't thought about it since then. In a discussion of my interest in typesetting and early manuscripts, the project came up as I was perusing Julie McKuras' book collection alongside Tom Gottwalt, President of the Norwegian Explorers, and we struck up a conversation.

We were discussing the Book of Kells in Dublin when Tom mentioned the Saint John's Illuminated Bible project and that it is available for viewing at Saint John's University in Collegeville, MN.

See story and illustration source here.

The next time I'm in the area, I am going to try to carve out time to visit/view it, and if you're as interested in the topic as I am, I welcome you to join me. (The drive is about an hour to 90 minutes each way from Minneapolis, so it'll need to be planned out ahead of time, most likely.)

Oh my! I just realized that I think I saw several leaves/folios of this at a travelling exhibit at the Chazen a few years back. The pages for the Song of Solomon looked very familiar. I didn't realize the scope or the depth of the undertaking of this project back then!

If there is enough interest, I may request a guided tour for us, otherwise, the hours for self-guided tours are as follows:
Gallery Hours:
Mondays through Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
From June 11 through December 10 the Bible Gallery will be open on Saturdays from noon until 4:00 p.m.
Closed Sundays.

The Bible Gallery will be closed on the following days in 2022:
Wednesday, November 23
Thursday, November 24 (Thanksgiving)
Friday, November 25
Saturday, November 26
December 23, 2022 through January 2, 2023 (Christmas and New Year Holidays)
The gallery will reopen again on January 3, 2023.

Here's a video about the project including an interview with the project's Artistic Director, and one of the foremost Illuminators in the world, Donald Jackson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY0onA4WAb0

It's neat that such a tremendous and monumental undertaking was centered around a relatively local group of passionate and dedicated folks.

Max