What a Picture is Worth: Thoughts on the Illuminated Manuscript and the Picture Book
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human Soul –
~ Emily Dickinson
It took me to be much older than a child to fully appreciate the treasure of a picture book. To recognize that by turning the pages I could encounter a new land, a new people and ideas I would never have thought of on my own. It wasn’t until I began sharing with a child the discovery process of a picture book that the layers nestled within, filled with gifts and wonder for the reader, became evident and profound.
If you tap in the words “history of the picture book” in Google search bar, you’ll find a link to what is considered the first children’s picture book: John Comenius’s Ortis Sensualium Pictus. This picture book was first published in 1658 in both Latin and German, and was used as an educational text to cover a vast array of topics. The text was embellished with sometimes peculiar, yet often detailed black ink woodcut prints. This picture book was eventually used for educational purposes throughout Europe and possibly even China, indicating the obvious need for mass production. (McNamara, 2014)
It was this onset of mass production that was frowned upon by both William Blake in the 18th century and John Ruskin in the 19th century. Both of these men valued the individualism of illuminated manuscripts, which essentially were formal and sacred picture books for adults, popular during the medieval era. Illuminated manuscripts consisted of intricately crafted paintings embellishing books filled with psalms, prayers or texts. Although Blake and Ruskin differed in their reasonings for pursuing the continuation of this unique work of art, respectively with one proclaiming the printed book as a threat to spiritual sanctity, while the other declaring it a threat to true art, their passion for keeping tradition is admirable. (Keep et al., 1993-2001)
One of the more iconic illuminated manuscripts mentioned on the Electronic Labyrinth website (http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/) is entitled The Book of Hours. In the 21st century, the common citizen can purchase a printed version of The Book of Hours through an online vendor. Interestingly, if you take time to read the reviews on the available versions of this book {i.e. amazon.ca}, readers give a present-day account of an awe-inspiring experience. Even in its mass production, the illuminated manuscript is breath-taking.
Is it possible that Ruskin’s fear of mass production stealing away the artisan’s “opportunity for individual expression” and “expertise and aesthetic sensibility” has been overcome by present-day technology? (Keep et al., 1993-2001, John Ruskin, William Morris and the Gothic Revival, para 1) Can the same awe-inspiring experience that Blake and Ruskin felt in relation to illuminated manuscripts be situated with a picture book in the 21st century? Can we open up a mass produced Caldecott winner and feel our breath taken away? Are we transcended beyond ourselves as we meander through the pages of illustration and text? Ong suggests that the “electronic transformation of verbal expression has both deepened the commitment of the word to space initiated by writing and intensified by print and has brought consciousness to a new age of secondary orality.” (Ong, 1982, p.132). Is it possible that the electronic transformation of art to print can bring a similar deeper consciousness to the reader’s mind and experience?
Keep, C., McLaughlin, T., & Parmar, R. (1993-2001). John ruskin, william morris and the gothic revival. Retrieved from: www2.iath.virginia.ed
Keep, C., McLaughlin, T., & Parmar, R. (1993-2001). William blake and the illuminated book. Retrieved from: www2.iath.virginia.ed
McNamara, Charles. (2014). In the image of god: John comenius and the first children’s picture book. Retrieved from: http://publicdomainreview.org/
Ong, Walter. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London: Methuen.