Berry Apocalypse Facsimile

Limited Edition; 900

Full-size color reproduction of the entire original document, Berry Apocalypse: 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 scientific commentary by Richard K. Emmerson provides studies of the history, the philological features, and descriptions of all the miniatures and initials of the original manuscript.

The facsimile and the commentary volume are presented in a sumptuous box.

Binding

The original binding is faithfully reproduced.

Made in Paris in the first years of the fifteenth century, the Berry Apocalypse is a remarkable late Gothic manuscript likely made for Jean, Duc de Berry, brother of King Charles V of France. The rich illuminations are idiosyncratic in their content, drawing from a variety of source materials to visualize the events from the Book of Revelation. The innovative iconography ties the corruption of the contemporary Church to the rise of the Antichrist.

From the Library of Jean, Duc de Berry

The Berry Apocalypse is so named due to a partly erased inscription, Ce libre est au Duc de Berry Jehan. While the duke's direct patronage is unknown, the miniature on fol. 71v depicts John the Evangelist with his eagle signifier and John the Baptist.

The unusual double portrait of Jean's namesake saints may indicate his direct commission. The manuscript passed to the Malvoisin family and through a series of counts before being sold at auction in 1879. Purchased by J.P. Morgan in 1900.