Macclesfield Alphabet Book

Macclesfield Alphabet Book

Likely used in a late medieval artist’s workshop, the Macclesfield Alphabet Book is a recently discovered masterpiece of medieval book art. Named after its erstwhile owners, the Earls of Macclesfield, it is an incredibly rare specimen – only one other late medieval English pattern book has survived to the present. Examples have been found in various illuminated manuscripts and printed books with woodcuts that appear to have been based on the Macclesfield Alphabet Book. With the help of supporters like the National Heritage Memorial Fund, The Art Fund, and many individuals, the British Library was able to acquire the manuscript for £600,000 in 2009 against an offer from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

A Wealth of Illumination

Aside from alphabets in Gothic script, one alphabet features initials with faces while others have foliate, zoomorphic, and anthropomorphic initials. Two different types of borders are also presented, some fully colored and illuminated with gold leaf. Other features of the manuscript include sketches and drawings featuring grotesques and other figures, a list of names from Adam to Zacharias, a drawing of an uprooted tree with a shield inscribed “R.B.”, and a colorful emblem with three flowers and two gold gloves.

Provenance of a Rediscovered Masterpiece

The origins of the manuscript remain unclear, but there are various clues that shed light on its mysterious past. An inscription as well as a shield marked “RB” indicate that it was owned by a certain Friar Baldry, who may have been Roger Baldry, who was part of the Cluniac Priory of St Mary of Thetford, Norfolk during the early 16th century. Another 16th century owner appears to have been a man named Francis Blyths. Ultraviolet light reveals another inscription for George Coppin, possibly Sir George Coppin, Clerk of the Crown and Chancery Courts, who was knighted in July 1603. Sometime before 1750, the manuscript found itself in the library of Shirburn Castle, family seat of the Earls of Macclesfield and was affixed with a bookplate bearing their arms and motto Sapere aude or “Dare to be Wise”.