Publications

Thus the history is divided into eight chapters on Books for Missionaries, Emperors, Monks, Students, Aristocrats, Everybody, Priests, and Collectors. Despite the fact that grouping manuscripts according to the needsofparticular groups cannot allow for exact chronological sequence, there is a definite historical progression in the arrangement, and the angle of enquiry in each chapter represents a particular period in the chronology. Beginning with the needs of the missionaries to Ireland and Northumbria, the narrative culminates in the ferment of Renaissance Italy. Christopher de Hamel brings his extensive and specialist knowledge to bear on the varied circumstances in which these books were created: monks copying devotional works, commercial booksellers in Paris providing textbooks for university studies, celebrated artists painting delightful miniatures for aristocratic patrons, and humanists hunting down the manuscripts of classical authors to transcribe and illuminate. The story is one of development of the religious to the secular over the ages in a rich variety of scholarship and artistry. All the fundamental questions of book production are answered: who wrote and illustrated the books,who paid for them, what they contained and above all the purposes they served. The 250illustrations, many in full-page and colour reproduction, have been carefully chosen to show development in style, content, and book production,andemphasise the range and artistry of the medieval painter-illustrator. The captions themselves are genuine aids to scholarship, identifying as they do clues to dates of production and places of origin. The expansive bibliography on each chapter and index of manuscripts in addition to the general index are further guides to our reading. In this history Christopher de Hamel has set out to meet the needs of the multitude of those who love the manuscript as art form and document. The production evidences care and reproduction of a high order. BOOKS RECEIVED Art Kunst 14 (International Bibliography of Art Books 1985). Compiled and edited by Lukas and Willy Jaggi, W. Jaggi AG, Basel, Switzerland, 1985. The Beauty of Environmenr: A General Modelfor Environment Aesthetics. Yrjo Sepanmaa. Academia scientiarum Fennica, Snellmanink 9-11,00170Helsinki 17,Finland, 1986.184pp. ISBN: 951 4 1 05230. The Frank J. Malina Collection at the California Institute of Technology, Guide to a Microfiche Edition. Judith R. Goodstein and Carol H. Buge, eds. California Institute of Technology, U.S.A., 1986.40pp. Symmetry-Unifying Human Understanding. Istvan Hargittai, Pergamon Press, New York and London, 1985. Computers & Mathematics with Applications (special issue) 12B, 3/4. 11. Publications PERIODICALS Alba Launched at the end of June (1986), Alba is an international art magazine. It contains articles and interviews by and about artists. A oneyear subscription may be obtained from:Alba, Talbot Rice Arts Centre, University of Edinburgh, Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh, Scotland for €4. Glass on Metal A bimonthly newsletter for enamelists, Glass on Metal is a forum for articles concerning vitreous enamel and related arts. The newsletter also contains sections titled “Enameling Workshops” and “Questions and Answers”. A one-year subscription may be obtained from: Thompson Enamel, P.O. Box 310, Newport,KY41072,U.S.A.for$l8.50(U.S.A.), $22.50(Canada/Mexico) and $27.50(all other countries). Laser Arts Society for Education and Research (L.A.S.E.R.) News Published quarterly, Laser Arts Society for Education and Research News containsarticles, editorials and interviews concerning technical and esthetic approaches to holography, laser art, light sculptureand kineticart. Emphasis is placed on discussion by artists of their holography production techniques and hologram designs. A one-year subscription may be obtained from: L.A.S.E.R., Louis Brill, P.O. Box 42083,San Francisco, CA 94101 U.S.A. for $15.00 (U.S.A.) or $18.00 (all other countries). The Rutgers Art Review Published and edited by Rutgers art history graduate students from throughout the U.S.A. and abroad, The Rutgers Art Review contains articles on all facets of art history, including architectual history, art criticism, and the history of photography. Each volume of The Rutgers Art Review features an in-depth interview with a prominent art historian. A one-year subscription may be obtained from: The Rutgers Art Review, Rutgers University, 191 College Avenue, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903,U...