For centuries philologists, linguists, and historians have read medieval books to study the language of a given work or to establish an accurate and readable text. Art historians also have considered illuminated manuscripts as important repositories for works of art. But in recent decades new interest has developed in the over-all physical format of the medieval book and its historical context - how manuscript books were made and how they have deepened our understanding of the intellectual and social milieu of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

One of the richest storehouses of early...