If you do nothing else this week then please go and watch a brilliant new series called The Beauty of Books on BBC4. I had to watch it on the Iplayer as I have a telly set up that is positively medieval but "normal" people can watch it on cable/sky or freeview.
The first episode was about some of the first books to be written: Bibles. It amazes me how some people can think and speak of the past as if nothing important happened except the invention of the wheel. These old Bibles are absolute works of art, the skill that went into illuminating the manuscripts is just fabulous. The hours it must have taken them to complete even one of those illuminated letters must have been staggering. The fact that these books are still around is even more amazing. I would expect books to be the first thing that would have been destroyed as one people conquered another. Books and knowledge can so easily be the first casualties of war but some of these early books have survived even to this day. The Winchester Bible has never even left it's perch and has always been where it was created all those ears ago... in Winchester Cathedral. So looking forward to the next episode!!
One side effect of the program is that I now really want to go and buy some more books.... must not give in!
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