Manuscripts and Rare Books
With more than 900 illuminated manuscripts, 1,250 of the first printed books (ca. 1455 - 1500), and an important collection of post-1500 deluxe editions, this extraordinary collection chronicles the art of the book over more than 1,000 years. The collection is from all over the world, and from ancient to modern times. It features deluxe Gospel books from Armenia, Ethiopia, Byzantium, and Ottonian Germany, French and Flemish books of hours, as well as masterpieces of Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman manuscript illumination. It also includes important first printed editions of ancient texts by great thinkers such as Aristotle and Euclid, diaries written by Napoleon and intricate bindings crafted by Tiffany. The early printed book collection highlights the experimental nature of the first attempts at printing. Some of these books have been illuminated by hand, and many are unique objects.
With more than 900 illuminated manuscripts, 1,250 of the first printed books (ca. 1455 - 1500), and an important collection of post-1500 deluxe editions, this extraordinary collection chronicles the art of the book over more than 1,000 years. The collection is from all over the world, and from ancient to modern times. It features deluxe Gospel books from Armenia, Ethiopia, Byzantium, and Ottonian Germany, French and Flemish books of hours, as well as masterpieces of Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman manuscript illumination. It also includes important first printed editions of ancient texts by great thinkers such as Aristotle and Euclid, diaries written by Napoleon and intricate bindings crafted by Tiffany. The early printed book collection highlights the experimental nature of the first attempts at printing. Some of these books have been illuminated by hand, and many are unique objects.
Walters Ex Libris
Explore digitized manuscripts, bindings, and single leaves from the collection of the Walters Art Museum.
The Walters Ex Libris
Leaf from Miniature Manuscript Used as a Pendant: Portrait of Christ

Leaf from Miniature Manuscript Used as a Pendant: Portrait of the Virgin

Icones historiarum Veteris Testamenti : ad viuum expressae, extrema´que diligentia emendatiores factae, Gallicis in expositione homoeoteleutis, ac versuum ordinibus (qui prius turbati, ac impares) suo numero restitutis.

Single Leaf of a Mounted Figure Attacked by a Lion

Single Leaf of a Man Spinning Cotton

Five Poems (Quintet)
