Birth of a Book

A short vignette of a book being created using traditional printing methods.

For the Daily Telegraph. Shot at Smith-Settle Printers, Leeds, England. The book being printed is Suzanne St Albans’ ‘Mango and Mimosa’ published as part of the Slightly Foxed series.

Shot, Directed & Edited by Glen Milner

via Birth of a Book on Vimeo.

The Morgan Library & Museum Online Exhibitions – The Black Hours

This Book of Hours, referred to as the Black Hours, is one of a small handful of manuscripts written and illuminated on vellum that is stained or painted black. The result is quite arresting. The text is written in silver and gold, with gilt initials and line endings composed of chartreuse panels enlivened with yellow filigree. Gold foliage on a monochromatic blue background makes up the borders. The miniatures are executed in a restricted palette of blue, old rose, and light flesh tones, with dashes of green, gray, and white. The solid black background is utilized to great advantage, especially by means of gold highlighting.

The anonymous painter of the Black Hours is an artist whose style depended mainly upon that of Willem Vrelant, one of the dominant illuminators working in Bruges from the late 1450s until his death in 1481. As in the work of Vrelant, figures in angular drapery move somewhat stiffly in shallowly defined spaces. The men’s flat faces are dominated by large noses.

Although, in general, well preserved, this manuscript has some condition problems. The black of its vellum—the very thing that makes the codex so striking—is also the cause of some serious flaking. The carbon used in the black renders the surface of the vellum smooth and shiny—a handsome but less than ideal supporting surface for some of the pigments. The Morgan’s Black Hours is awaiting conservation treatment. In the meantime, we are pleased to offer a virtual facsimile.

via The Morgan Library & Museum Online Exhibitions – The Black Hours.

Stabyourself.net – Mari0

Two genre defining games from completely different eras: Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. and Valve’s Portal. These two games managed to give Platformers and First-Person Puzzle Games a solid place in the video game world. But what if Nintendo teamed up with Valve and recreated the famous Mario game with Portal gun mechanics?

via Stabyourself.net – Mari0.