‘The Art of the Scribe’ is Patricia Lovett’s latest book published by the British Library in Spring 2025.
It is an informative as well as a practical book and focuses on the seven major periods of manuscript production in terms of script and page illumination and decoration – Uncials, Caroline Minuscule, English Caroline Minuscule, Gothic Textura (Black Letter), Bâtarde, Humanistic Minuscule and Italic. At the end of each of these chapters are three graded projects – foundation, intermediate and advanced – with clear photographs and step-by-step instructions covering layout and design, illumination, using shell gold, writing is a circle, and also in a spiral, as well as painting various manuscript styles.
The second part is comprehensive and detailed and includes materials, tools and techniques, covering everything from paper, vellum and parchment, quill curing and cutting, oak gall ink, making and using gesso and then gilding with leaf gold, painting a mediaeval miniature, and so much more; modern tools and materials are covered as well. There are also sections on analysing scripts, serifs, layout and design, spacing and book binding.
This book is the result of decades of learning, researching and perfecting the craft.