Book Covers of the Damned

[hadrian6]

Saint Sebastian. 17th.century. Venetian School. oil/canvas. http://hadrian6.tumblr.com

[rubenista]

Sandro Botticelli, Coronation of the Virgin (the San Marco Altarpiece) (detail), 1490-92. Tempera on panel, 378 x 258 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

[arunawayhorse]

Anastasio Fontebuoni (1571-1626)

Madonna di Pistoia

[arunawayhorse]

Orazio Gentileschi

David Contemplating the Head of Goliath

1610

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[arunawayhorse]

Giovanni Lanfranco

Arcangelo Raffaele trionfa sul demonio

1611

[arunawayhorse]

Macrino d'Alba

Madonna and Child

[thebeautifulbook]

BOOK OF HOURS [use of St-Brieuch or Dôl in Latin and French] (1425-1430)

Held by the Boston Public Library.

[arunawayhorse]

St. Aloysius Gonzaga by Giambattista Tiepolo

[bookcoversofthedamned]

[thebeautifulbook]

Cumdach of the Stowe Missal (Ireland, 1025-1052) Wood, brass, silver gilt, glass cabochons;

The Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters has in its collection a curious early 20th-century reproduction of the 11th-century Cumdach of the Stowe Missal. A cumdach, or book shrine, is an Irish form of reliquary case made for books associated with important religious figures. Only five early examples of cumdachs exist.

Held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[thebeautifulbook]

CODEX ROTUNDUS (Flanders, c.1480)

Held by Dombibliothek Hildesheim, Germany.

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[aduckmentalistin]

Amazing book cover!

[thebeautifulbook]

MOBY DICK by Herman Melville. (Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1930). Illustrations by Rockwell Kent. Art binding by Exeter Bindery.

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[ducissatenebrarum]

Frontispice de Bracquemond pour Les Fleurs du Mal, Charles Baudelaire, Seconde édition, 1861

[thebeautifulbook]

THE LITTLE STRAWMAN by Cora Work Hunter (Chicago/New York: Rand McNally, 1914).

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[thebeautifulbook]

THE WHITE ELEPHANT; or, The Hunters of Ava and the King of the Golden Foot by William Dalton. (New York: Lovell, 1881). Illustrated by Harrison Weir.

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[erikkwakkel]

Dreamy eyes

Heart-shaped books from medieval times frequently make their rounds on social media (here is a really nice post devoted to them). For good reason, of course, because they are as unusual as they are pretty. Dating exclusively from the 15th and 16th century, they commonly contain songs, poetry and other short texts devoted to Love. As much as I love actual surviving books, this depiction in a painting from c. 1480 speaks to me because of the context it provides - lacking when you hold the real medieval book in your hand. There he is, the reader, walking around town, holding the heart-shaped pages with love poetry in his hand. He looks dreamy, as if contemplating his love, lost or waiting at home. It’s an unusual snapshot of how those heart-shaped books were used for real - or at least how I would like them to be. 

Pic: Metropolitan Museum, Accession nr. 50.145.25 (Young Man Holding a Book, anonymous, c. 1480). More info here, as well as a Hi-Res image.