The letter
itself was formed of some fabulous long-necked and long-tailed animal or
bird, mostly a dragon as conceived by the medi?val artist. The head
framed more or less on that of the mastiff or lion, or both; the legs of
a bird of prey; the body and tail of a serpent; wings of heraldic
construction to suit the form of the letter. While the body of this
unspeakable beast formed the body of the letter, the tail was
indefinitely extended to sweep down the margin of the text and round the
base of it, so as to form a border, while not unfrequently slender
branches would spring from it to form coils here and there ending in a
kind of flower-bud, the extremity of the tail forming a similar coil.
Very soon, however, the animal form was abandoned, and the letter made
simply as a decorated initial or capital. If possible, one of its limbs
was made to sweep up and down the "margin" and along the bottom or top
as before. Where the interior is not occupied by a "history," we find
coiled stems ending in profile leaves or buds.
At the same time the text has diminished in size, sometimes down to
dimensions no greater than those of an ordinary printed book of to-day,
but often beautiful and regular as the clearest printing. Such a book is
the Bible written by a certain William of Devon, now in the British
Museum (Roy.
Pages:
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163