Holkham Bible

This celebrated medieval picture-book tells the Biblical story, with the help of illustrations of everyday 14th-century England. It is only loosely based on the Bible and includes plenty of apocryphal episodes, for example Christ 'surfing' on sunbeams as a child. The costumes, tools, weapons and buildings in the pictures give us a near documentary-style representation of many occupations in the age of Chaucer, such as dyer, smith, carpenter and midwife. This distinctive manuscript has now been carefully photographed and reproduced on special paper designed to replicate the look and feel of the original vellum. The facsimile includes Michelle's Brown's full transcript and translation of the text, and a commentary based on her unrivalled knowledge of the period.