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Emblematic Illumination;
OR,
Forms, Colours, and Emblems

SUITABLE FOR

ILLUMINATING TEXTS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE

IN LARGE STYLE,

IN OILS OR WATER-COLOURS.

COLLECTED AND EDITED
By F. M. R.

London: Day and Son, Lithographers to the Queen,
6 GATE STREET, LINCOLN'S-INN-FIELDS.

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Price 5s. 6d.

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The Editor of the following pages has no desire to offer them in competition with thenumerous and useful Handbooks on Illumination already published. All those thatthe writer has met with—some eight or ten—have been almost exclusively directed to thestudy of Missal Painting and Illuminating on the most minute scale. The exceptions to thisrule are a few occasional remarks, merely hinting at the larger and more popular style.

The principal omission, however, which this little book is designed to supply, is theemblematic branch of the subject. Amateurs most generally confine themselves to illuminatingtexts of Holy Scripture on a large scale, to assist in which numerous printed outlines arenow published. But, from complete ignorance of the rules of ecclesiastical colouring, theamateur not only becomes hopelessly bewildered as to what colour to select for particularwords, but, in falling back upon his own taste for guidance, commits errors which destroythe emblematic beauty of his work. The significance of colour is greater than is generallysupposed, and will be found a subject of much interest.

Such sacred symbols as could easily be introduced into illuminated scrolls have beendescribed, in the hope that, by their assistance, a taste for strictly appropriate ornamentationmay be more largely cultivated, to the exclusion of those unmeaning and tawdry decorationswhich offend the eye.

Instead of furnishing copies of antique capitals, of which so many excellent collectionsnow abound, it has been thought more useful to supply the reader with some specimens ofemblematic letters (which may suggest other similar designs), suitable for particular texts,several of which are also subjoined.

The instructions for the mechanical part of the work are given on the authority ofexperience, while the significations of colours and emblems have been carefully collectedfrom larger and standard publications.

F. M. R.

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A Selected List of Requisite Materials.