Illuminated manuscripts are one of the most important historical artefacts and creations regarded in the graphic design history and evolution.But what are these illuminated manuscripts ? These are large handwritten books which are decorated with gold or silver , vibrant colours , miniature pictures or elaborate designs.The longest and probably the most highly developed tradition of manuscripts was done in Europe.The term ''manuscripts'' comes from the latin for handwritten. Before the invention of printing all that was made , was all done by hand .This means , time consuming and intensive process of work which it could take months in order to finish a single book. The term ''Illumination'' originally means the embellishment of the text of handwritten books with gold , or more rarely silver , giving the impression that the page had been literally illuminated.More over illumination comes from latin word ' lit up ' or ' enlightened' which refers to the used of bright colours and gold, to decor initial letters or to portray an entire scene. In medieval times books were written and presented in the same way as the height of the late roman Empire. To produce such illuminated manuscripts will cost lot of money as it requires a lot of precious materials to be done , and also these are considered as luxurious way of presenting written work..Despite that they did not have papers at that time they produced the manuscripts on parchments , also know as vellum , which is made from stretched treated animal skins. A large manuscript might require one whole cow , or sheep skin to make a folded sheet of two to four pages , and a thick box could require the hides of entire herds. As the process was very expensive and took time ,only the very wealthy people and organisations could afford to create such illuminated manuscripts.Even also religious organisations which were very wealthy and had holy scriptures which were high in moral value to the public. References :
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