The Faithful Fine Art Facsimile Edition of the Speyer Pericopes

The facsimile edition of the Speyer Pericopes (Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe, Bruchsal 1) is being published by Quaternio Editions Lucerne in a unique, hand-numbered edition, limited worldwide to just 280 copies.

Containing twenty-one individual pictures spread across a total of seventeen full-page miniatures; one page ornamented in gold, and seventy initials (some of them resembling miniatures), the seventy-seven-page codex is richly illustrated. Some miniatures have brilliant gold backgrounds decorated in fine, arabesque chasing. All of the pages are reproduced in the original dimensions of approximately 33.2 x 25.3 cm.

The cover of the facsimile is a faithful copy of the magnificent medieval cover; it features a gilded, sculpted figure of Christ on the front, along with ten silver niello plates, ornamented with either figures or floral design, and it is set with fifty-four decorative stones and gems. Back and spine are covered in Bordeaux red velvet and edged in a gilded framework. Two leather clasps are ornamented with decorative fittings.

The facsimile and the commentary volume are delivered in an elegant, black leather display case with a transparent inset, so that the valuable edition is protected from dust, and can be decoratively displayed at the same time.

The Commentary Volume is the Key to the Work

Harald Wolter-von dem Knesebeck, Professor of Art History at the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Bonn, describes the illumination, with initials and all of the miniatures, and examines the iconography of the manuscript, as well as the significance of this type of book in the cultural environment of thirteenth-century German art.

Ute Obhof, Head of the Manuscript Department at the Badische Landesbibliothek, discusses the codicology, the cover, and documents the manuscript’s path to its current home at the Library.

Commentary available in German.

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