The McCarthy Collection (3-volume set)
Special offer for the full set. Also available separately (see Vol I, Vol II and Vol III).
The McCarthy collection is arguably the largest and most important private collection of illuminated cuttings, miniatures, and leaves in the world. This substantial, highly regarded three-volume set explores this remarkable collection in depth.
Volume I
The McCarthy Collection: Italian and Byzantine Miniatures (published 2018) by Gaudenz Freuler is dedicated to medieval Italian manuscripts, which cover a period from the late 9th to the late 15th centuries, and are enriched by a few Byzantine items, appropriately included discussed by Georgi Parpulov. The focus on late 13th- and early 14th-century illumination in the collection demonstrates McCarthy’s predilection for the medieval and early Gothic world.
Volume II
The McCarthy Collection: Spanish, English, Flemish & Central European Miniatures by Peter Kidd (published 2019) is the smallest in the set, with sixty-three entries, divided between eight Spanish (and perhaps Portuguese) entries, eleven English ones, ten from the southern Netherlands, and finally thirty-four from across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Bohemia.
Volume III
The McCarthy Collection: French Miniatures by Peter Kidd (published 2021) is the largest in the set, with approximately ninety-five entries. The fact that the French material is the largest group overall is partly a reflection of Robert McCarthy’s early interest in French Gothic art, inspired by youthful visits to Chartres and other Gothic cathedrals.
About the books
Published by Ad Ilissvm
The McCarthy Collection: Italian and Byzantine Miniatures
By Gaudenz Freuler with Georgi Parpulov
November 2018
300 x 240 mm, hardcover
304 pages, 250 colour illus.
ISBN: 978-1-912168-07-1The McCarthy Collection: Spanish, English, Flemish & Central European Miniatures
By Peter Kidd
September 2019
300 x 240 mm, hardcover
248 pages, 150+ colour illus.
ISBN: 978-1-912168-13-2The McCarthy Collection: French Miniatures
By Peter Kidd
May 2021
300 x 240 mm, hardcover
336 pages, 350 colour illus.
ISBN: 978-1-912168-18-7In the press
"A visual and scholarly feast. The high-quality reproductions are lavish, the gold leaf positively shimmering from the page." —Apollo Magazine
"luxurious and extensively illustrated three-volume catalogue. . . These catalogues are an important addition not just to field of fragmentology, but to manuscript studies as a whole and will form an invaluable jumping off point to further research."—The Burlington Magazine
"An invaluable addition to the field of Italian and Byzantine manuscript studies."—Manuscript Studies
"The commentary is discursive, well written, and not overly long .. [it is] magnificent in terms of production values, as we have come to expect from Paul Holberton Publishing and its imprints ... a pleasure to peruse ... and is as much a testament to the learning of its authors as it is to the discernment of the collector." –Fragmentology: A Journal for the Study of Medieval Manuscript Fragments (vol 1)
"Among the most accurate, systematic, and careful examples of their kind ever produced .. . a model of the genre." –Fragmentology: A Journal for the Study of Medieval Manuscript Fragments (vols 2 & 3)