Glossary

  • A copy or reproduction of a manuscript that is made to be as true to the original source as possible. This differs from other forms of reproduction as facsimiles aim to replicate its given source as accurately as possible in terms of colour, scale, etc. Facsimiles have been used scholarly research and aid in the conservation of fragile objects like illuminated manuscripts.
  • The side of parchment of vellum that is generally whiter and smoother.
  • Decorative penwork that emanates from an initial.
  • Deriving from the Latin wordfolium, which translates as ‘leaf’. Equivalent to a ‘page’, a folio is an individual leaf of a parchment or vellum. Illuminated manuscripts are numbered by leaves opposed to pages. Folding parchment or vellum in half makes two connected leaves, known as bifolium. See also Recto and Verso.