London, British Library, MS Add. 10546

Moutier-Grandval Bible Facsimile Edition

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The Moutier-Grandval Bible is a majestic monument of Carolingian book culture, produced around 835 in the renowned scriptorium of Saint-Martin of Tours. Now preserved in the British Library, the vast codex contains the Latin Vulgate Bible revised in the scholarly tradition of Alcuin of York. With 449 folios, monumental dimensions, and a weight of nearly 22 kilograms, it was not the work of a solitary hand but of a coordinated atelier: around twenty scribes participated in its production, giving the manuscript the character of a collective act of devotion, discipline, and imperial learning.

A Workshop of Many Hands

The Bible’s pages reveal the extraordinary organization of the Tours scriptorium, where scribes worked with remarkable consistency across a massive text. Their Caroline Minuscule is clear, measured, and elegant, embodying the Carolingian ideal of readable Scripture. The scale of the project was immense: hundreds of parchment leaves, prepared from carefully treated animal skins, were ruled, copied, corrected, and ordered into a single authoritative volume.

Four Pages of Sacred Vision

Its visual power centers on four full-page miniatures, placed at decisive thresholds of biblical history: before Genesis, before Exodus, before the Gospels, and after the Apocalypse. The Genesis miniature unfolds the drama of Creation and the Fall in narrative registers. The Exodus image presents Moses receiving the Law and teaching Israel, turning divine command into communal memory. At the Gospels, Christ in Majesty appears among the symbols of the evangelists, joining prophecy and fulfillment. The final image, linked to Revelation, gathers the Lamb, the Lion of Judah, and the evangelist symbols around the opened mystery of Scripture.

A Bible of Memory and Majesty

Although born in Tours, the manuscript became inseparable from Moutier-Grandval, where it was treasured for centuries. Its grandeur lies not only in size, gold, or image, but in the harmony of many hands working toward one sacred purpose.

We have 1 facsimile edition of the manuscript "Moutier-Grandval Bible": Bibel von Moutier-Grandval facsimile edition, published by Verein Schweizerischer Lithographiebesitzer, 1971

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Manuscript book description compiled by the publisher.
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Bibel von Moutier-Grandval

Bern: Verein Schweizerischer Lithographiebesitzer, 1971

  • Commentary (German) by Duft, Johannes; Fischer, Bonifatius; Bruckner, Albert; Beer, Ellen J.; Schmid, Alfred A.; Irblich, Eva; Frede, Hermann J.
  • Limited Edition: 1020 copies
  • This is a partial facsimile of the original document, Moutier-Grandval Bible: the facsimile might represent only a part, or doesn't attempt to replicate the format, or doesn't imitate the look-and-feel of the original document.

This edition features both facsimile and commentary in one volume, and contains 42 plates reproducing leaves from MS Add. 10546 on a larger white background.

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