The Communication Circuit. Robert Darnton, "What Is the History of Books?," Books and society in History. Papers of the Association of College and Research Libraries Rare Books and Manuscripts Preconference, 24-28 June, 1980, Boston, Massachusetts. Edited by Kenneth Carpenter. New York: Bowker, 1983, p. 6.

French royal court, 1525. The choir has to share one large book, the royal couple have large folio missals, ladies in waiting have small octavos, probably Books of Hours.

French colporter, 16th century. Paris, BN.

Novice reading, before 1450. Choirstall, Bamberg Cathedral. Destroyed in WWII.

A clerical reader, with eyeglasses, c. 1435.

Hours of the days of the week for the liturgy of the psalter (all 150 psalms are sung each week) and the Book of Hours (shorter Office of the Virgin, Office of the Dead, prayers). The liturgical year.

Several of the following images are from Digital Scriptorium funded by the Mellon Foundation that allowed UC Berkeley and Columbia University to photograph, scan, and place on the web leaves of their medieval manuscripts.
Manuscript psalter, large, for the choir. A page with the hymn and antiphon which accompanied the psalm.

Manuscript psalter (621 x 458mm) with the normal monastic decoration of large initial at beginning of psalm and alternating red and blue initials for psalm verses.

Manuscript psalter, Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Typographical MS2. A historiated initial including the fool, beginning of psalm "Dixit insipiens." Red and blue initials alternate for psalm verses.

Printed psalter, Cologne: Conrad Winters, 1482. Copy 1, Paris, BN, Res. B2787, f. 27verso. Tuesday, matins, Psalm 38, "Dixi custodiam." Normal monastic functional decoration. Copy 2, New York Public Library. Illumination, border around page, blank space for antiphons, all of which add up to ownership by a private, non-clerical reader. Illumination of secular choir singing, beginning of day, psalm "Cantate domino."

Book of Hours, Duke de Berry. Vigil of the Dead. The illumination, with elaborate border, pictures monks with books (psalters) and nuns around a funeral bier in church, an illustration of what rites would be due to an aristocratic personage.

Psalter, King Henry VI of England (1421-1471) as a boy. British Library, Cotton MS Aa-XVII, f. 14v. All of the illuminations in Henry's psalter depict various religious orders so that the book served as a guide to religious habits. These are Dominican nuns (with books). The Franciscans had no books.