An album of 52 full page color plates

Lizzat Al-Nisa' or 'Pleasures of Women' was written by Ziya' al-Din Nakhshabi, a Persian physician living in India in the 14th century. The book is derived from the Sanskrit treatise on sex Ratirahasya or 'Secrets of Love', and comprises 10 parts, covering such topics as the types of intercourse and foods and medicines with aphrodisiac effects. The miniatures in this collection are from an 1824 manuscript held by the Wellcome Library, London.

A complete illuminated manuscript in 64 full color plates

Johannes von Tepl (c.1350-c.1415) composed Der Ackermann aus Bohmen (The Plowman from Bohemia) around 1401. It is considered one of the most important works of late medieval German literature. The poem's 34 short chapters are a dialogue between a plowman, whose beloved wife has recently died, and Death. In odd-numbered chapters the grieving plowman accuses Death for his loss, and in even-numbered chapters Death responds to the plowman's emotions with cold cynical logic. In the penultimate chapter God appears and...

Illustrations from the Tovar Codex in 44 full page color plates

The Tovar Codex (also known as the Ramirez Codex) is a 16th century Mexican manuscript entitled Relacion del origen de los indios que habitan esta Nueva Espana segun sus Historias (lit. Relation of the origin of the Indians who inhabit this New Spain according to their histories). The codex narrates the history of the Aztecs from their gradual migration into the Anahuac valley to the fall of Tenochtitlan. Attributed to Juan de Tovar (1543-1623), a Jesuit priest and writer, most scholars believe that the work is...

A collection of 101 full page color plates

Lam Qua (1801-1860) was an artist from Canton province in Qing Dynasty China, who specialized in western-style portraiture. He developed a following among the foreign community in Canton and Macau and was the first Chinese portrait painter to be exhibited in the West. From 1836 to 1855, Peter Parker, an American medical missionary, and founder of the Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton, commissioned Lam Qua to paint more than 100 pre-operative portraits of patients with large tumors or other major deformities. Parker displayed the...

A complete illuminated manuscript in 52 full page color plates

Berault Stuart, seigneur d'Aubigny (c. 1452-1508) was a French soldier and diplomat who belonged to the notable Scottish family the Stewarts of Darnley. Over a distinguished career he served as chamberlain and royal counselor to the King of France and held various military and diplomatic positions in service of the monarchy. In 1508, shortly before his death, he dictated the Traite Sur l'Art de la Guerre (Treatise on the Art of War) to his chaplain. The treatise is a practical discourse on warfare and...

Illustrations from the Duran Codex in 62 full page color plates

Diego Duran (c. 1537-1588) was born in Seville and moved as a child to Texcoco in Mexico where grew up speaking the Nahuatl language and observing local customs. After entering the Dominican order in 1556 he was asked to produce a study of the history and customs of the native peoples to assist with the order's missionary work. In 1581 he completed Historia de las Indias de Nueva Espana y islas de Tierra Firme (lit. History of the Indies of New Spain and Islands of the Mainland), also known as the Duran Codex....

A complete illuminated manuscript in 34 full page color plates

The Royal Choirbook is a collection of six motets produced in 1516 for Henry VIII, King of England, and his wife, Catherine of Aragon. The manuscript is believed to have been commissioned and designed by Petrus de Opitiis, an Italian merchant, and his son Benedictus, the King's new privy chamber organist. The motets, composed by Benedictus and one Magister Sampson, believed to be a composer from the Netherlands, are preceded by an elegiac poem and richly illustrated frontispiece honoring Henry VIII and the union...

A complete alchemy manuscript in 36 full page color plates

Ars Notoria Sive Flores Aurei (The Art of Magic or Golden Flowers) is attributed to Apollonius of Tyana (c. 15-100), a Greek neo-Pythagorean ascetic and philosopher from the town of Tyana in Cappadocia in Asia Minor. It is a practical text in which direct knowledge is sought by means of incantation. Its numerous prayers include long series of invented and exotic names as well as instructions for their use. The present manuscript, created in France c. 1225, is held by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,...

A complete manuscript in 42 full page color plates

Arithmetic books are practical textbooks used for mathematical calculation. The oldest preserved examples are of Indian and Arabic origin and date from around the 10th century. The earliest known European examples are from early 13th century Italy and were used as an aid for commerce. The present text, which includes tables for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, was created in Bavaria / Austria in 1510. It is currently held by Heidelberg University Library.

A complete illuminated manuscript in 60 full page color plates

The Regia Carmina is a poem of praise for Robert of Anjou King of Naples (1278-1343) from the town of Prato in Tuscany. It beseeches the King to protect Prato, to unite Italy under his rule, and to restore the papacy to Rome from Avignon, where it had relocated 30 years earlier. The poem's author, Convenevole da Prato (c.1270-1338) was a writer, ambassador and educator and is well known as the boyhood teacher of Petrarch. The manuscript's illuminator, Pacino da Bonaguida (c.1300-c.1350) was a prolific Florentine...