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A huge thank you to all who donate; 2026 Q3 Web hosting $52.02 / $300.
Galleries: index · 
· 
![[picture: book cover]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/tn/0000-cover-q50-360x500.jpg "[picture: book cover]")
Images scanned from The Art of Illuminating As Practised in Europe from the Earliest Times by W. R. Tymms, with an Essay and Instructions by M. D. Wyatt, Architect. London. Published April 2nd 1860 by Day and Son, Lithographers to the Queen.
There are 100 full colour plates in the book done in chromolithography, as well as a chromolithographed title page. I have only scanned a few because my scanner damages the binding. The text is by Matthew Digby Wyatt and the images appear to have been made by W. R. Tymms (and not Symms, as this page used to say).
Title: The Art of Illuminating As Practised in Europe from the Earliest Times
Date: 1860
Total items: 133
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
![[picture: ]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/wm/big/65-Fourteenth-century-23-08-L-dark-102x200.jpg "[picture: ]")
[$]
![[picture: Decorative initial letter I from fifteenth Century Nos. 4 and 5.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/wm/big/074-medieval-red-blue-initial-letter-i2-116x200.jpg "[picture: Decorative initial letter I from fifteenth Century Nos. 4 and 5.]")
Decorative initial letter I from fifteenth Century Nos. 4 and 5.
Decorative initial letter I from Fifteenth Century No. 4. [more...] [$]
![[picture: Fourteenth Century Initial Letter M from Plate 65]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/wm/big/65-Fourteenth-century-23-02-M-q85-259x200.jpg "[picture: Fourteenth Century Initial Letter M from Plate 65]")
Fourteenth Century Initial Letter M from Plate 65
A calligraphic decorative letter “M” from a 14th century manuscript, reproduced in this 1860 book. [$]
![[picture: Decorative initial letter ``J'' from 11th century.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/wm/big/025-eleventh-century-05-j-q90-41x200.jpg "[picture: Decorative initial letter ``J'' from 11th century.]"){kind=small}
Decorative initial letter “J” from 11th century.
This decorative capital letter J could be used for either “I” or “J”—in either case, with the tail probably going off into the margin. [more...] [$]
![[picture: Plate 17.---Ninth Century. Nº 5.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/wm/big/017-Ninth-Century-05-overview-131x200.jpg "[picture: Plate 17.---Ninth Century. Nº 5.]")
Plate 17.—Ninth Century. Nº 5.
All except Figure 7 are from the Bible of Charles the Bald, and Figure 7 is from the Gospels of Lothaire. [more...] [$]
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