Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library, MS 53, fols. 189r-209v

Peterborough Bestiary Facsimile Edition

Our price

More Buying Choices

Request Info

Dating to the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Peterborough Bestiary is a charming example of English Gothic illumination. Bound with a slightly later psalter and chronicle, the twenty folios that comprise the bestiary contain over one hundred individual illuminations illustrating the animals described in the Latin text. Each creature is pictured with its descriptive text, set off in a colorful or gilded frame often filled with elaborate pink and blue diapering. Its Gothic Textura script is a particularly fine example.

The popular bestiary text was a compilation of Classical texts such as the Physiologus and early Medieval texts such as Isadore of Seville's Etymologiae. The descriptive nature of the text lent itself to extensive illustration. These images served as the primary depictions in medieval European art of animals native to Africa and Asia, and they were drawn from previous exemplars in the manuscript tradition rather than being drawn from life.

The Delightful Illuminations of English Bestiaries

The numerous surviving English Bestiaries are particularly lavishly illuminated, often accented with gold, indicating a healthy demand among the aristocracy for these manuscripts. Indeed, such books served a number of roles beyond being a record of the world's animals. They were objects to display wealth and erudition, they could serve as gifts among the elite, and the nature of the text with its engaging pictures made them excellent educational materials. The Peterborough Bestiary is certainly among the most finely crafted English bestiaries, made at the height of their popularity in the early thirteenth century.

Exquisite Gothic Script and Style

The Latin text of the bestiary is written in an exquisite Gothic Textura Quadrata script. Two columns of forty-two lines fill the large pages. The illuminations are placed somewhat irregularly within the column width lending the page a somewhat crowded appearance. Some folios have additional marginalia with the typical English drolleries of human heads, birds and hybrid creatures. The rest of the pages are further ornamented with ornamented initials with burnished gold ground and foliate scrollwork.

From the Library of Peterborough Abbey

The original patron for the Peterborough Bestiary is unknown. Bestiaries were popular books with both monastic libraries and the laity. Given the wealth and political connections of Peterborough Abbey at the turn of the fourteenth century, it is certainly possible the foundation commissioned the manuscript or acquired it in this time.

At some point before 1540, it was trimmed and bound with a slightly later psalter. After the Dissolution, it came to the ownership of Matthew Parker, who donated as part of his library to Corpus Christi College at Cambridge in 1574.

We have 2 facsimiles of the manuscript "Peterborough Bestiary":

Request Info / Price
Manuscript book description compiled by Amy R. Miller.
Please Read
International social justice movements and the debates that ensued prompted us to start considering the contents of our website from a critical point of view. This has led us to acknowledge that most of the texts in our database are Western-centered. We have asked the authors of our content to be aware of the underlying racial and cultural bias in many scholarly sources, and to try to keep in mind multiple points of view while describing the manuscripts. We also recognize that this is yet a small, first step towards fighting inequality.

If you notice any trace of racist or unjust narratives in our communications, please help us be part of the change by letting us know.

#1 Bestiario di Peterborough

Rome: Salerno Editrice, 2004

+ 1

The Peterborough Bestiary, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library, MS 053, fols. 189r–209v, Facsimile edition by Salerno Editrice
Facsimile edition by Salerno Editrice

+ 1

The Peterborough Bestiary, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library, MS 053, fols. 189r–209v, Facsimile edition by Salerno Editrice
Facsimile edition by Salerno Editrice
  • Commentary (Italian) by De Hamel, Christopher; Freeman Sandler, Lucy; Marucci, Valerio
  • Limited Edition: 300 copies
  • Full-size color reproduction of the entire original document, Peterborough Bestiary: the facsimile attempts to replicate the look-and-feel and physical features of the original document; pages are trimmed according to the original format; the binding might not be consistent with the current document binding.

This facsimile was published as a co-edition between Salerno Editrice, Faksimile Verlag, and Yushodo Co.

300 copies out of 1480 (numbered from 296 to 595) were reserved for Salerno.

Binding

Blind-tooled brown leather binding tooled using roulettes, showing motives of the griffon, the lion, and the dragon.

Our Price

More Buying Choices

Request Info

#2 Bestiarium aus Peterborough

Lucerne or Munich: Faksimile Verlag, 2003

+ 1

Bestiarium aus Peterborough, Cambridge, Parker Library in the Corpus Christi College, MS 53, Bestiarium aus Peterborough facsimile edition by Faksimile Verlag
Bestiarium aus Peterborough facsimile edition by Faksimile Verlag

+ 1

Bestiarium aus Peterborough, Cambridge, Parker Library in the Corpus Christi College, MS 53, Bestiarium aus Peterborough facsimile edition by Faksimile Verlag
Bestiarium aus Peterborough facsimile edition by Faksimile Verlag
  • Commentary (English, German) by De Hamel, Christopher; Freeman Sandler, Lucy; Zotter, Hans
  • Limited Edition: 1480 copies
  • Full-size color reproduction of the entire original document, Peterborough Bestiary: the facsimile attempts to replicate the look-and-feel and physical features of the original document; pages are trimmed according to the original format; the binding might not be consistent with the current document binding.

The academic commentary volume includes a complete transcription and translation of the texts, facilitating the understanding of the manuscript.

Binding

The volume comes in a hand-produced and blind-tooled brown leather binding. The cover is tooled using roulettes, showing motives of the griffon, the lion, and the dragon.

Our Price

More Buying Choices

Request Info