Vulgate Bible (Latin), France, 13th century.
The Vulgate Bible was the Bible translation used by medieval readers, based on St. Jerome’s late 4th- and early 5th-century translation of Hebrew and Greek texts into Latin. During the 13th century theologians in Paris somewhat standardized the text of the Bible, organizing books of scripture in a set order and creating chapter divisions (chapter numbers appear in the margins of this manuscript). Besides the Biblical text, this manuscript also contains a table of liturgical readings, a chart showing the harmony of the gospels, and a prologue by Jerome.
Old Testament (Latin), France, 1468.
This illuminated Bible contains the books of Genesis to Psalms, with apocrypha (Tobias, Judith, the 3rd and 4th Books of Esdras), and prologues by St. Jerome. Highly illuminated, it is decorated with three full-page borders of painted flowers, forty-one large initials in gold and colors with marginal decorations.
Book of Kells, British Isles, 8th century.
A full-color facsimile of the Book of Kells (Library of Trinity College, Dublin, Ms. 58), one of the most famous medieval manuscripts in the world. The manuscript contains the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and is renowned for its lavish decoration and Insular script. The book would have sat at the high altar of a church instead of being kept in a monastic library for reading and consultation.
The Lindisfarne Gospels, British Isles, circa 700.
A full-color facsimile of the British Library's Cotton MS Nero D.iv, another famous gospel book, which was produced at Lindisfarne Monastery of the coast of Northumberland, England. The book also features the first recorded attempt at translating the Bible into a form of English; in the 10th century, a monk named Aldred added a word-for-word transliteration of the original Latin scriptural text in Anglo-Saxon between the lines of the manuscript.