Fra Vincentius a Fundis, and Fra Vincentius a Fundis,
‘Missal of Bishop Antonio Scarampi’, 1567, Tempera and gold leaf on parchment bound between pasteboard covered with original brown Morocco.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Around the 9^th century, the skills of reading and writing became encouraged among monks. An increase in the ability to read, lead to the need for books and libraries inside monasteries and within the religious communities; one of the goals of the church was to teach children to read. Most manuscripts were mainly reproduced by the monasteries, by monks studying and copying texts whilst attending to other jobs and responsibilities, meaning some projects could take years to complete. Due to the cost and time it took to produce, books were a luxury only for the church and upper classes, those who could afford to be educated and had enough money to purchase these manuscripts. This meant that the numbers of manuscripts needed increased, and the monks were struggling to keep up, leading to scribes being hired to keep libraries up to date. By the 12^th century, early schools had started giving an education as an option for people all across Europe, becoming less dependent on the monasteries, meaning that more people had the opportunity to read and write their own books. Monks could not keep up and by the 1200s, there is evidence of classes and workshops in writing and decorating books, making new books and trading in second hand books. As booksellers were becoming more and more common, monasteries couldn’t make their own manuscripts and bought from these sellers instead, with a few exceptions of some small religious communities. These booksellers would take commissions if a layman wanted a Book of Hours, scribes, illuminators, parchment makers and binders would be hired and paid by the work, not hours, often guild members in the 15^th century.                         

An illuminated manuscript contains gold or silver, to reflect light, whereas a decorated page refers to only painted designs and the extravagance of these designs usually depended on the importance of the text. Bibles, choir books, pocket bibles and Book(s) of Hours, among others, were typically illuminated or decorated using similar techniques throughout the centuries and did not change much over time. Master manuals are instruction manuals that were found to contain materials and production directions to create illuminated manuscripts. These manuals gave details about parchment, paper, quills, mediums, glue, gold leaf and pigments.