As Carolyn Clay walked into the South entrance of Booth Library, the colorful pieces in the Illuminated Manuscript Facsimiles exhibit caught her eye.

Marlene Slough, art bibliographer for Booth Library, intended for the exhibit to do just that.

The facsimiles are “perfect” replicas or reproductions of original manuscripts. The replicas, including handwritten books and rolls with painted decoration and illustration, are intended for study and research.

Illuminating manuscripts were especially popular in Christian medieval Europe in the 6th to 16th centuries before the invention of the printing press.

“They are made to look old. Every dot and imperfection is put into the replica,” Slough said.

She said because many people were illiterate during those times, the pictures would represent what the words said. The replicas include commentaries for the student in which every page is described and interpreted.

Allen Lanham, dean of Booth Library, said the manuscripts are “wonderful examples of what artists had to do before mass printing.”

The size of the manuscript reflected the use of it, Slough said.

The Book of Hours is a devotional text for personal use, so it is smaller. The Medieval Psalters is a book of Psalms and other devotional materials for church use and is therefore larger.

Slough said Eastern purchased these facsimiles within the last five years. She said they are printed in very small issues by specialized companies and are expensive to purchase.

They are kept in the library’s special collections and put on reserve for some classes, Slough said.

“These pieces are relevant to many disciplines,” she said.

She added that the most common use for these is by the medieval studies minors, but art and history classes use them, as well.

Slough said she first became interested in the manuscripts when Tarble Arts Center hosted an event in November titled “The Ceremonial Function of Illustrated Manuscripts in the Middle Ages,” which made special reference to the manuscript facsimiles in the library.

Since that program, Slough wanted to bring attention to the manuscripts.

“I’m not sure people know we have this on campus; they may want to use them,” she said.

Lanham said the exhibit is catching students’ attention.

“I’ve caught students stopping to look at them and talking to each other about them,” he said.

Clay, a freshman health studies major, stopped to look at the exhibit as soon as she entered the library.

Clay said she liked the Book of Hours because she has a similar book that she prays with in the mornings. Another manuscript in the exhibit, The Book of Psalters, reminded her of books at church, she said.

Clay said she was interested to stop and learn about the manuscripts.

“You learn something new every day, and this is what I learned today,” she said.

Sara Cuadrado can be reached at 581-7942 or at slcuadrado@eiu.edu..