This study deals with the work of the most prolific Dutch book illuminators, the so-called Masters of the Dark Eyes, named after the most conspicuous aspect of their style: the dark, heavily accentuated shadows round the eyes of the figures. With their elaborately illuminated manuscripts, these masters completely dominated book production in the County of Holland during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Their work is characterized by an overwhelming wealth of decorative and pictorial richness, which is especially evident in the unusually ornate programmes of the Books of Hours, and a new type of border decoration derived from the Ghent-Bruges School. This style of painting was practised by many artists of differing talents, as demonstrated by the large number of surviving manuscripts. Not all of the illuminators worked in Holland. Some of them settled in the Southern Netherlands, others emigrated to England, where they illuminated manuscripts for members of the English court. This monograph seeks to order, analyze and evaluate the work of the Masters of the Dark Eyes, and to position their achievements within the context of book illumination in the Northern Netherlands during the 'Waning of the Middle Ages'. It explores a virtually uncharted territory of Dutch manuscript painting. The accompanying descriptive catalogue provides complementary information on more than 70 manuscripts, many of which have never been published at length before. The work is illustrated with a wide selection of colour and black-and-white reproductions.

Medieval manuscripts resisted obsolescence. Made by highly specialised craftspeople (scribes, illuminators, book binders) with labour-intensive processes using exclusive and sometimes exotic materials (parchment made from dozens or hundreds of skins, inks and paints made from prized minerals, animals and plants), books were expensive and built to last. They usually outlived their owners. Rather than discard them when they were superseded, book owners found ways to update, amend and upcycle books or book parts. These activities accelerated in the fifteenth century. Most manuscripts made before 1390 were bespoke and made for a particular client, but those made after 1390 (especially books of hours) were increasingly made for an open market, in which the producer was not in direct contact with the buyer. Increased efficiency led to more generic products, which owners were motivated to personalise. It also led to more blank parchment in the book, for example, the backs of inserted miniatures and the blanks ends of textual components. Book buyers of the late fourteenth and throughout the fifteenth century still held onto the old connotations of manuscripts—that they were custom-made luxury items—even when the production had become impersonal. Owners consequently purchased books made for an open market and then personalised them, filling in the blank spaces, and even adding more components later. This would give them an affordable product, but one that still smacked of luxury and met their individual needs. They kept older books in circulation by amending them, attached items to generic books to make them more relevant and valuable, and added new prayers with escalating indulgences as the culture of salvation shifted. Rudy considers ways in which book owners adjusted the contents of their books from the simplest (add a marginal note, sew in a curtain) to the most complex (take the book apart, embellish the components with painted decoration, add more quires of parchment). By making sometimes extreme adjustments, book owners kept their books fashionable and emotionally relevant. This study explores the intersection of codicology and human desire. Rudy shows how increased modularisation of book making led to more standardisation but also to more opportunities for personalisation. She asks: What properties did parchment manuscripts have that printed books lacked? What are the interrelationships among technology, efficiency, skill loss and standardisation?

About the Book: Jules Verne, the "Father of Modern Science Fiction," is indeed immortal and eternally young across three centuries. In Masters of the Sea: The Adventures of Jules Verne's Mathias Sandorf, we pay tribute to Verne, who inspired pioneers throughout the world for generations. Here, we take Verne's ultimate prediction of communication with our friends of the watery deep to its outer limits. In fact, communication with these friends was heralded throughout the world when, in 2003, America used dolphins to clear mines designed to hamper the invasion from the port of Unn Qasr in southern Iraq. For the first time, a pioneering research Preface underscores why and how Verne proclaimed Mathias Sandorf his greatest epic science fiction masterpiece. His dedication of the original work claims "...I tried to make of Mathias Sandorf my Monte Cristo of extraordinary science fiction adventures." Verne drew his Austrian heroic character, Dr. Mathias Sandorf, from the reality of the battleground of Germany's conquests of Austria and France during the 30-year period prior to World War I. About the Author: George J. Rios, M.P.A., Ph.D. has distinguished himself with nine Public Service appointments including three White House assignments spanning five presidential administrations and is a former New York City Commissioner. He renders a unique service to science-fiction aficionados with his scholarly researched and adapted translation of Jules Verne's preeminent novel.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower" by Cecil Louis Troughton Smith. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.