Magazine

MEDITATIONS IN MINIATURE. BYLINE Sylvia Brooks, Dispatch Religion Reporter They were produced to educate and edify the faithful. Today, hundreds of years later, rarely seen medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts still do that. Some 500 works items such as a Latin Bible from A.D. and a linen fragment of the Egyptian Book of the Dead will be displayed later this month at the Pontifical College Josephinum. The display, in part a fund raiser for the college, reflects the art, craftsmanship and faith of earlier times. Illuminated manuscripts are books written and decorated by hand, usually before the advent of printing.
They were written on prepared animal skins called vellum or parchment. The works for exhibit at the Josephinum are from the collection of Bruce Ferrini, an Akron dealer in rare works and a major private collector. Ferrini said no one should fear touching such rare documents. It is amazing to me that you can handle something from the 4th century B.C. The works have a charm and are tactile. The greatest pleasure you can have is examining one and satisfying your curiosity.
It was Ferrini who helped expose the theft from the Vatican of several leaves of rare artwork. Anthony J. Melnikas, a retired art history professor at Ohio State University, pleaded guilty to eight federal counts related to the theft. Ferrini, one of only six dealers in the world specializing in medieval manuscripts, was asked by Melnikas to help sell the documents. Their quality was so good Ferrini suspected forgery. He consulted a medieval art historian at Princeton University, who discovered the manuscripts that had contained the leaves had been locked in the Vatican Library for years. The Vatican Library confirmed the leaves were missing. Melnikas was sentenced to months in prison.