The Speyer Pericopes - Herstellung

From the Original to the Faithful Facsimile Edition: the Creative Challenge

Almost 800 years ago the most talented book illuminators and goldsmiths created a first-class, total work of art. Today digital specialists work with the most modern technology, cooperating with restorers, artisans, and bookbinders to revive this work of art, which has been locked away in a vault, and to turn it into an accessible facsimile edition.

Replicating the Magnificent Cover: Many Specialists Working Together

First, digitalization specialists at the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (Northwestern Swiss Technical University) scanned the cover with a 3D scanner, in order to be able to make a cast of heavily undercut, three-dimensional figure of Christ without having to touch it. Despite all of the technical developments, a restorer still had to work over the detailed chasing on the head and feet by hand. Experts in metal casting and galvanizing finished the figure and ornamental frame, which was then passed on to a silversmith. Gemmologists selected stones that resembled the original stones as closely as possible, and then made replicas of the gems, while a jeweller produced the settings. Engravers and goldsmiths worked on replicating the niello plates. Textile experts found fabric that resembles medieval velvet as closely as possible.

Latest Photographic and Print Technology

All of the pages of the Speyer Pericopes were photographed in the library, using special digital technology developed for photographing medieval manuscripts. During the process, restorers from the Baden State Library handled the manuscript with the utmost care. With the help of the photographer, the lithographer prepared the digital data for printing. Back at the Baden State Library, the proofs were compared, page by page, with the original. Even the smallest deviations of colour were corrected, so that the brilliance of the medieval colours would be faithfully rendered.

Luminous Golden Surfaces, the Finest Chasing

Additional steps were required in order to faithfully reproduce the brilliant gold leaf sections of the miniatures’ and initials’ large golden backgrounds. Since there is no technique that will capture gold and silver leaf as such, the lithographer must spend a great deal of time preparing the metal surfaces by hand. An undercoat has to be applied to the exact spots where the gold leaf will later be applied by thermal transfer. Some of the gold backgrounds must also be ornamented with fine, arabesque chasing, which is a very meticulous process. In the last step, a patina is applied, in order to reproduce the traces of age left by the passing of centuries.

Binding Done by Hand, Using Traditional Craftsmanship

The printed sheets are trimmed to the same size as the original, then folded by the bookbinder, gathered into quires, and bound into book blocks. Since the cover is about four centimetres thick, the spine of the book must be specially reinforced, so that it will not break when the facsimile is opened. After sewing the book blocks into the velvet cover, the restorer has to mount each one of the 150 individual pieces of the ornamental cover. He also refines the details on the gilded figure of Christ, while the jeweller places the fifty-four decorative and semi-precious stones and gems into the settings; the silver niello plates made by the engraver and the goldsmith are attached to the gilded frame. Finally, two leather and metal clasps are attached to the side.

Many specialists have collaborated to create a total work of art in the form of a book, which does justice to the concept of a “facsimile” (the Latin phrase, fac simile, means “make it similar”), down to the very last detail.

The black leather display case with a stamped gold label on the spine and a transparent inset is also made by hand by the bookbinder.

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