Images in the Margins

Margot McIlwain Nishimura

Images in the Margins is the third in the popular Medieval Imagination series of small, affordable books drawing on manuscript illumination in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum and the British Library. Each volume focuses on a particular theme and provides an accessible, delightful introduction to the imagination of the medieval world.

An astonishing mix of mundane, playful, absurd, and monstrous beings, called marginalia, are found in the borders of English, French, and Italian manuscripts from the Gothic era. Unpredictable, topical, often irreverent, like the New Yorker cartoons of today, marginalia were a source of satire, serious social observation, and amusement for medieval readers. Through enlarged, full-color details and a lively narrative, this volume brings these intimately scaled, fascinating images to a wider audience. It accompanied an exhibition that was on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum from September 1 through November 8, 2009.

Margot McIlwain Nishimura teaches the history of medieval art at the Rhode Island School of Design.