The Carpentin Hours is one of the most dazzling manuscripts illuminated in Bruges at the height of the so-called Northern Renaissance, and it is also one of the least known.Made for Jean de Carpentin (d. 1501), a gentleman from Picardy, the manuscript was illuminated in the early 1470s by one of the most celebrated artists of the period, known to posterity as the Master of the Dresden Prayer Books. This illuminator, active in the Burgundian Netherlands from the late 1460s to c. 1520, was iconographically ingenious, compulsively inventive, and exceptionally skilled. Jean de Carpentin’s book of hours is among the finest examples of his work.

The manuscript remained in the family’s hands until 1927. In 1940 it was stolen from a Parisian bank vault by Nazi forces. After the war it was returned to its owner in New York, where it remained unseen until 1997.

This eBookTreasures facsimile edition contains the complete manuscript.

The Golden Haggadah is one of the finest of the surviving Haggadah manuscripts from medieval Spain. The Haggadah, which literally means “narration”, is the Hebrew service-book used in Jewish households on Passover Eve at a festive meal to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt.It is one of the most frequently decorated Jewish prayer-books. Its absorbing contents, and the fact that it was intended for use at home and its main aim was to educate the young, provided ample scope for artistic creativity.

The Golden Haggadah was probably made near Barcelona in about 1320. In addition to the Haggadah text itself the manuscript contains liturgical Passover poems according to the Spanish rite. The text is preceded by a series of full-page miniatures depicting scenes mainly from the Book of Exodus. These sumptuous illuminations set against gold-tooled backgrounds earned the manuscript its name and were executed by two artists in the northern French Gothic style.

This eBookTreasures facsimile edition contains the complete manuscript along with audio and text commentary on selected pages.

The Rylands Haggadah is a masterpiece of medieval art, and it is the most important Hebrew manuscript in the John Rylands Library. It is over 650 year old, dating from the mid-fourteenth century, and was made in Spain (possibly Catalonia). Haggadot (the word means ‘telling’) tell the story of Exodus, the flight of the Jews from Egypt. The text is recited during the annual feast of Passover.The Rylands Haggadah is illustrated with a series of wonderfully vivid miniatures. These show the plagues visited upon the Pharaoh and his people, and the parting of the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to escape. The text is recited here by Rabbi Shlomo Ellituv, Minister of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation in Manchester.

This is an eBookTreasures facsimile edition, which includes specially-recorded recitation.

This manuscript, also known as Mozart’s Thematic Catalogue, is the record of his compositions in the last seven years of his life.During this period, from February 1784 until December 1791, he composed many of his best-known works, including his five mature operas, several of his most beautiful piano sonatas, and his last three great symphonies, as well as several famous lesser works. It was a turbulent time of his life, with financial crises, family tragedy, and his ongoing unsuccessful search for a permanent court position.

Mozart organised the entries in the catalogue in the order in which they were completed. On the left-hand page he entered five compositions, each with its date, title, and often its instrumentation. He sometimes added further information such as the name of the singer, where it was composed, or who had commissioned the piece. He divided the right-hand page into five pairs of staves on which he wrote the opening bars of each work.

According to the description on the front cover, Mozart planned to include all his compositions, but there are a few minor omissions. Intriguingly, there are also entries in the catalogue for a number of works that have since been lost.

Mozart made his last entry in the catalogue just three weeks before his early death in December 1791. His last great work, a requiem, was not entered as it remained unfinished at his death.

This is an eBookTreasures facsimile edition, which includes specially-recorded music throughout the book, as well as text commentary on every page.

The draft score of Handel’s oratorio ‘Messiah’ is one of the greatest musical treasures in the British Library. Handel established and developed the English oratorio as a musical genre, and ‘Messiah’ is its best known and best loved example. As only fragmentary sketches survive, this manuscript is the source for Handel’s first known ideas for the work; it also includes many of his alterations for later performances. It illuminates his working methods and includes performance directions. Its detailed dating reveals the composer’s characteristic speed of composition: the work was begun on 22 August and completed just 24 days later on 14 September, 1741.George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was born in Germany, but settled in England after 1713. He composed Italian operas for the London stage, and established an opera company which gave performances in the new theatre at Covent Garden. By 1737 he had established a reputation in England through his choral works, but despite aristocratic and royal patronage of his theatre works, he found it increasingly difficult to gain enough subscribers to fund a regular opera season.

This is an eBookTreasures facsimile edition, containing additional interpretative text and selected recordings from ‘Messiah’.