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Facsimile Finder Facsimile Finder is the most complete catalogue of illuminated manuscript facsimiles for sale in the world.

Our facsimiles are new from publishers or come directly from the antiquarian market. We cover all the publishers available on the market (and even those not longer in business!). We supply facsimiles, both new and "like new", to libraries, scholars, and collectors worldwide.

03/06/2026

Watch the full video on YouTube (link in bio).

What if one medieval manuscript could be a prayer book, a miracle collection, a heroic legend, a music anthology, and even a travel guide?

This is the Codex Calixtinus of Santiago de Compostela (Archivo de la Catedral de Santiago de Compostela, CF.14), created in the twelfth century and considered the earliest and most complete surviving version of the Liber Sancti Jacobi — the Book of Saint James.

At its heart lies one of the great sacred destinations of medieval Christendom: the shrine of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. But the Codex is much more than a devotional book.

Liturgy, legend, music, memory, and pilgrimage all meet between its pages — preserving a vivid portrait of medieval Europe and helping shape the identity of the Camino de Santiago.

What a journey through the U.S.!After starting at ARLIS/NA, Giovanni traveled from Rochester to Ann Arbor and Carleton, ...
01/06/2026

What a journey through the U.S.!

After starting at ARLIS/NA, Giovanni traveled from Rochester to Ann Arbor and Carleton, leading workshops and talks on the craft, history, and teaching power of manuscript facsimiles.

Then Clara joined him in Kalamazoo for the International Congress on Medieval Studies, where days were filled with conversations, familiar faces, new encounters, and the joy of seeing so many people gather around facsimiles with genuine curiosity.

Giovanni also spoke with Michael Symonds of WMUK and co-led the “From Hand to Mind” workshop with Susan M. Steuer, exploring how facsimiles can bring medieval manuscripts to life in the classroom.

A special thank-you to everyone who joined the Facsimile Finder Raffle, stopped by our booth, asked questions, or simply spent time with us.

The Darmstadt Mirror of Human Salvation belongs to the tradition of the Speculum humanae salvationis, one of the most po...
25/05/2026

The Darmstadt Mirror of Human Salvation belongs to the tradition of the Speculum humanae salvationis, one of the most popular devotional picture books of the later Middle Ages.

Copied by a single scribe in Gothic Textualis, it is arranged in long single columns, with red and blue capitals marking the rhythm of the poetic couplets.

For medieval viewers, this manuscript was not only a devotional object, but also a tool for fixing meaning in the mind. It transformed sacred history into something ordered and memorable.

25/05/2026

A medieval picture book where every image speaks across time.

Created around 1360 in northwestern Germany, perhaps in Cologne, the Darmstadt Mirror of Human Salvation (Darmstadt, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt, MS 2505) presents the history of salvation from the fall of Lucifer to the Last Judgment through 68 full-page miniatures.

What makes this manuscript especially fascinating is its unusual layout: instead of placing text and images on the same page, the miniatures appear in facing-page pairs, inviting the viewer to compare four related scenes at once. New Testament episodes are visually connected with Old Testament events, creating a rich network of medieval interpretation, symbolism, and storytelling.

A remarkable witness to medieval devotion, visual thinking, and the art of seeing connections.

Facsimile Finder has moved office! 📦✨ We’ve spent the past weeks moving everything that comes with an office… plus a sma...
27/04/2026

Facsimile Finder has moved office! 📦✨

We’ve spent the past weeks moving everything that comes with an office… plus a small army of magnificent books that are both extremely precious and surprisingly heavy.

Now we’re settling into our new space, surrounded by familiar treasures in a fresh new home.

Same Facsimile Finder, new address, slightly stronger arms. 💪📚

The Book of Kells is equally admired for its extraordinary decorated letters, which transform the written page into a ma...
20/04/2026

The Book of Kells is equally admired for its extraordinary decorated letters, which transform the written page into a masterpiece of medieval illumination.

Its great initials and incipit pages are filled with intricate interlace, spirals, and small figures, where birds, animals, and human forms emerge from the decoration with exceptional creativity.

These elaborate illuminated initials and playful drolleries are among the manuscript’s most distinctive features, helping explain why the Book of Kells remains one of the most celebrated treasures of medieval manuscript art.

The Book of Kells (Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS 58) is one of the most famous illuminated manuscripts in the worl...
20/04/2026

The Book of Kells (Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS 58) is one of the most famous illuminated manuscripts in the world, celebrated for the extraordinary beauty of its full-page miniatures.

Among its most striking images are evangelist portraits, symbolic representations, and scenes connected to the life of Christ, each created with remarkable visual richness and intensity.

These magnificent paintings elevate the manuscript far beyond a Gospel book, securing the Book of Kells a central place in the history of medieval art, Irish manuscripts, and manuscript illumination.

30/03/2026

In the Paris Epistle of Othéa, mythology meets medieval chivalry.

Each miniature pairs a scene from Greek legend—Hercules, Jason, or the Trojan heroes—with Christine de Pizan’s moral commentary, guiding young nobles toward ideal conduct.

The refined courtly style of the illuminations reflects the intellectual and artistic culture of early fifteenth-century France.

With 116 nearly full-page illustrations, the Kraków Gladiatoria offers one of the most vivid surviving records of late m...
23/03/2026

With 116 nearly full-page illustrations, the Kraków Gladiatoria offers one of the most vivid surviving records of late medieval combat.

Among its most remarkable features is the depiction of the so-called Hungarian shield, shown in scenes of unarmored fighting alongside single-edged swords. This detail is especially significant because the Kraków manuscript preserves the only known trace of this shield’s existence.

Unframed and immediate, the paintings capture not only fighting techniques but also the visual drama of the encounter: heraldic shields, patterned textiles, and carefully rendered weapons all contribute to the manuscript’s distinctive character.

23/03/2026

The Kraków Gladiatoria (Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, MS germ. quart. 16) is a rare fifteenth-century German fight book, created in the 1440s as a visual guide to judicial combat.

Its painted scenes present pairs of fighters demonstrating techniques with spears, swords, daggers, and other weapons, each image marked by unusual clarity and energy.

Practical in purpose yet striking in ex*****on, the manuscript transforms martial instruction into image, with bright color, expressive movement, and close attention to armor, gesture, and the visual rhythm of combat.

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