Although nothing can compare to turning the pages on an original medieval manuscript, holding in one’s hands a facsimile of a beautiful and authentically reproduced illuminated manuscript comes as close as possible for most of us. Those of us whose scholarship focuses on medieval manuscripts cherish working with the originals, but regularly traveling to see them can be prohibitively expensive. Owning the facsimile or having access to it at our university libraries is therefore essential for our research. Even more importantly when teaching students, faithfully produced facsimiles are indispensable, since they reproduce the size, weight, proportions, and feel of the original, crucial factors for the history of the codex that cannot be ascertained by examining online digital images.
