"The Saint John's Bible and Making Bibles in the Middle Ages" (plenary lecture)

This extensively illustrated lecture will compare the modern experience of making The Saint John's Bible with the practices of manuscript making in the 12th century: cost (huge, both then and now), choice of scribe, the preference of text, extent, and subjects of illumination. It will look at how scribes and illuminators struggled and dealt with questions of supply of materials, page design, collaboration among craftsmen, and the tedium and the joy of a commission which might occupy many years.