The word “rubric”

In Swedish, headings are called “rubriker”. That’s also the word for news headlines. I learned that the name comes from rubrica, a Latin word that’s about the red ochre pigment. a word or section of text that is traditionally written or printed in red ink for emphasis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubric Then the text says: Rubric can also mean …

Foliate borders: An intricate illumination

Houghton Library has the manuscript from the 1400s, that has the small title part “Foliate borders” I zoomed in on this illuminated manuscript fragment, and it just kept adding more detail. I remain very impressed with these. Right, this is a time where one ought to use those “download the whole image” kind of tools …

Pictorial sources in books

Nerd alert. I was reading a (modern classic) book about medieval costume in different centuries. The book was written in the 1960s, when pictorial evidence was hard to come by. “The British Museum has published a photograph postcard of the tomb effigy, which is rather good.” Now, the book mentions manuscript & effigy sources for …