Paint Your Own Illuminated Letters: A Fascinating Guide to the History of Illumination with More Than 25 Practical Projects

You know, I'm quite fond of this book, and it isn't because the instructions in this book are greatly better than any of the others in the marketplace, although I would certainly recommend this book before, say, "The Creative Calligraphy Sourcebook," "The Calligrapher's Project Book," or "Illumination for Calligraphers: The Complete Guide for the Ambitious Calligrapher" to someone looking for information on painting medieval-style illuminated letters. Like Seligman and Noad's "The Illuminated Alphabet," this book is concerned with teaching you how to draw and paint illuminated letters based primarily on pre-1600 examples, and it offers 25 projects towards that end--more than almost any other such book. Its materials and methods are modern rather than pre-1600, unfortunately, so the emphasis here is not on reproductions but bringing the style of the past into the modern world. Materials lists and step-by-step instructions are provided for each project.However, what I really love about this book is Mr. Oliver's skill level. I do not mean that he is exceptionally wonderful. Mr. Oliver is indeed good at what he does (otherwise, why would anyone publish him, right?), but what is exceptional here is that Mr. Oliver allows himself to be imperfect. Man, that takes confidence. It also allows the illuminated letters to be beautiful as handcrafted works of art. I'm actually kind of tired of instructional manuals that feature art works that seem to be so precise that the work could have been painted by a computer-guided robot arm rather than a real human being.

Excellent for those who want to paint their own medieval-style illuminated letters. The shading of the paiting leaves a little to be desired, but the book is overall informative on the techniques and styles of manuscript illumination.