Early Medieval

The 6th century Silver Bible, written in gold and silver ink on purple vellum in the Gothic of Bishop Wulfila 4th century translat...

The oldest surviving illuminated Biblical codex, a 6th century Greek Book of Genesis written in silver ink on purple-dyed parchmen...

A 6th century Greek gospel book famous for its series of painted scenes of the life of Christ, the earliest surviving cycle of gos...

Two gospel books kept at the monastery of Abba Garima in Tigray, radiocarbon dated between 390 and 660 CE, making them possibly th...

The oldest surviving Irish manuscript, a psalter of the late 6th or early 7th century associated by tradition with St Columba hims...

The oldest fully decorated Insular gospel book, made around 650 to 700, a generation before the Book of Kells. Its carpet pages of...

Written and illuminated around 700 by Eadfrith, bishop of Lindisfarne, in honor of St Cuthbert. Its extraordinary carpet pages and...

A 7th century pocket gospel book of John found virtually intact in the coffin of St Cuthbert when his shrine was opened in 1104. I...

The oldest complete Latin Bible in one volume, made around 700 at the twin monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow and carried to Rome as a ...

A golden gospel book made around 870 at the Carolingian court, written entirely in gold ink with jeweled narrative miniatures. Ass...

The most influential manuscript of Carolingian art, a psalter of around 830 with 166 dynamic pen drawings illustrating every psalm...

The world's earliest dated printed book, a Buddhist scroll produced by woodblock on 5 May 868 and found in the sealed Library Cave...

The oldest most authoritative manuscript of the Masoretic Hebrew Bible, precise point by Aaron ben Asher around 930 in Tiberias. V...

One of the oldest and most complete early Quran manuscripts, dated to the late 7th or 8th century. Written in Hijazi-style script ...

Quran parchment leaves found in 1972 in the western loft of the Great Mosque of Sanaa, hiding an erased lower text from the early ...

Two parchment leaves radiocarbon dated with high probability to between 568 and 645 CE, within the lifetime of Muhammad according ...

A famous luxury Quran manuscript of the late 9th century written in gold Kufic script on indigo-dyed parchment, unique in its colo...

The supreme masterpiece of Western calligraphy, an illuminated gospel book made around 800 by monks of Iona or Kells. Its dense pa...

A mid 8th century Gospel book from southern England, probably Canterbury, written in gold, silver and ink on alternating purple-dy...

An 8th century Psalter made in Canterbury, among the earliest English manuscripts with historiated initials, including David playi...

A 9th century Irish manuscript containing the oldest documents about St Patrick, including his Confessio, alongside a nearly compl...

A 10th century copy of Beatus of Liebana's Commentary on the Apocalypse, painted by the artist Maius, probably at the monastery of...

Made around 1000 for the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, one of the masterpieces of Ottonian book painting. A famous double page show...

The oldest surviving manuscript of the Digest of Justinian, copied in the 6th century not long after the law code was completed in...

Tens of thousands of documents sealed in the Library Cave at Mogao around 1000 and rediscovered by the Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu in ...