Luttrell Psalter Facsimile Edition

Named for its patron, the Luttrell Psalter is a masterpiece of English Gothic art. Made around 1325-1335 in Lincolnshire, the manuscript is a Christian devotional book whose principal text is the biblical psalms. It is a grand manuscript in its large scale for a private prayer book and in its illumination's quantity, variety, and quality. It is especially famous for the images in its margins, which include scenes of rural daily life, sequences of scenes from the infancy and Passion of Christ, and an array of fantastic—mostly hybrid—creatures.

The Latin text includes a calendar, the psalms, and additional devotional texts. Written by a single scribe and illuminated by at least four artists, the Luttrell Psalter is among the most visually complex and delightful psalters surviving from the period, each page having its own unique charm.

Gentle on the Eyes

Various colors, from bright blue to pale pink, create a soft aesthetic. Gold enhances decorated capitals and highlights details. The manuscript is illuminated throughout, although the final eighty leaves are more sparsely decorated than the preceding. The psalms are divided into ten groups, some determined by the placement of individual psalms in Christian liturgy. A large historiated initial introduces each group. The immediately proximate biblical text inspires the subjects of those initials.

Detailed Depictions of Everyday Life

The manuscript features dozens of activities of medieval English country life in the bas-de-page ("bottom of the page" or lower margin). Farming scenes predominate and outline the annual tasks associated with raising and preparing crops, from plowing to harrowing to harvesting to milling (fols. 170r-181r). The images often include details particular to the season depicted: for example, in the vignette focused on the winter task of plowing, the workers wear mittens (fol. 170r)

A pair of bas-de-page scenes depict the preparations for a feast enjoyed by members of the Luttrell family (fols. 207v-208r). The scene with the most gold is also the only bas-de-page scene to extend across two facing pages. It shows a royal carriage drawn by horses (fol. 181v-182r).

A Book of Personal Devotion

The text is written in Textus Praescissus, an elegant and artificial variant of Gothic Textualis with many letters cut off squarely at the baseline. The calendar features red and blue inks in addition to the primary text ink. Multicolored pen flourishes and painted line fillers enhance the text throughout.

"Lord Geoffrey Luttrell Had Me Made"

Rare for a medieval manuscript, the Luttrell Psalter includes the name of its patron, Geoffrey Luttrell (d. 1345), in a proclamation above a portrait of him dressed in armor on his war horse and attended by his wife and daughter-in-law (fol. 202v). A succession of English noble families then owned the book. Among the owners were William Howard (1563-1640), Nicholas Shireburn (1658-1717), Humphrey Weld (1612-1685), and Thomas Weld (1750-1810). It was sold to the British Museum in 1930 with the aid of a loan from J. P. Morgan (1867-1943), which was repaid by public subscription. It entered the collection of the British Library upon its foundation in 1973.