Illuminated manuscripts are books rooted in religious beliefs that were common among the nobility and lay class during the medieval period, serving as indicators of wealth by how ornately they were decorated, with the rarest and most expensive having black-dyed parchment. Due to their rarity and methods of creation, most of the seven existing black hours manuscripts are in poor condition. Traditional focus on the materials used to create these manuscripts to further conservation treatments has left a gap in the overall knowledge and awareness of these rare manuscripts. Through an examination of Western museum curation of medieval manuscripts, as well as the conservation techniques of rare books, this new curatorial approach aims to understand the complexities of black hours manuscripts. Analysis of three black hours manuscripts, housed at various museums and institutions, in comparison to the Morgan Library’s Black Hours, supports that the books should be reordered into distinct categories to accurately describe their conservation history, digital record, and place in exhibitions. This new approach to examining and re-categorizing black hours manuscripts adds to current discussions regarding the impact of the materials on the books’ conservation, why there has been a lack of circulation of these rare books in museum collections, and how the context of these books’ creation impacts their value in museum exhibitions today. Better understanding these rare books will increase their accessibility to the general public and help develop our current understanding of the medieval period and potential conservation techniques.

For more information: ighelm@eckerd.edu