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Facsimile Finder Facsimile Finder is the most complete catalogue of illuminated manuscript facsimiles for sale in the world.

Our facsimiles are new from publishers or come directly from the antiquarian market. We cover all the publishers available on the market (and even those not longer in business!). We supply facsimiles, both new and "like new", to libraries, scholars, and collectors worldwide.

21/09/2026

In a king's book of prayers, a place was kept for his dead.

Known in Spain as the Capitulario de Felipe II, the Prayer Book of Philip II opens with a calendar and follows the liturgical order through readings and prayers for selected offices. Then comes the common of saints. And then something more personal: readings and prayers for the King's own deceased relatives.

That final section is what gives the book its weight. A liturgical manuscript becomes an act of family remembrance.

Written in Latin in a humanistic minuscule, the manuscript is still kept at the Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (MS Vitr. 9), in the monastery Philip founded and also conceived as a resting place for his dynasty.

A book for praying in one lifetime, and for remembering beyond it.

Created for Philip II, King of Spain, this sumptuous sixteenth-century prayer book transforms private devotion into a sp...
14/09/2026

Created for Philip II, King of Spain, this sumptuous sixteenth-century prayer book transforms private devotion into a spectacle of color, architecture, and sacred presence.

Produced in Spain in the second half of the sixteenth century, the Prayer Book of Philip II contains readings and prayers arranged according to the liturgical year. Its pages are enriched with full-page miniatures, intricate initials, and elaborate trompe-l’œil frames filled with flowers and architectural motifs.

The paintings, attributed to Andrés de León and Julián de la Fuente el Saz, reveal the influence of Italian Mannerism, giving familiar scenes from the lives of Christ, the Virgin, and the saints a heightened sense of drama and elegance.

A book made for prayer—but conceived with the magnificence of kingship.

07/09/2026

Back at our desks, and Monte Titano decided to welcome us with this. 🌅

Fields cut, light going soft, everyone back to work — medieval calendar pages had September figured out centuries ago.

Inboxes are open and we've got some gorgeous editions to share with you very soon.

Hope your summer was a good one.

17/08/2026

Watch the full video on YouTube (link in bio)!

What does the end of the world look like in a medieval manuscript?

Created in Normandy around 1320–1330, the Cloisters Apocalypse transforms Saint John’s visions into an extraordinary sequence of Gothic illumination. Its seventy-two surviving miniatures unfold across parchment in refined colors, delicate draperies, and carefully staged compositions.

Yet the manuscript begins unexpectedly. Instead of opening directly with the Apocalypse, four full-page miniatures recount the Infancy of Christ, from the Annunciation to the Flight into Egypt.

Sacred history and prophetic vision thus meet within the same book: Christ’s arrival in the world becomes the prelude to Saint John’s vision of its final transformation.

Today, the manuscript is preserved at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Turns out, filming a manuscript facsimile page by page takes… quite a few pages!A little behind-the-scenes glimpse at a ...
10/08/2026

Turns out, filming a manuscript facsimile page by page takes… quite a few pages!

A little behind-the-scenes glimpse at a new Facsimile Finder project currently in the works.

We’ll tell you more soon. 👀

05/08/2026

Watch the full video on YouTube (link in bio)!

Turn the pages, and two medieval worlds unfold.

The first miniatures of the Great Canterbury Psalter, painted in Canterbury, glow with gold, sharp outlines, stylized landscapes, and densely packed stories. More than a century later, Catalan artists continued the work with fuller figures, expressive gestures, and a new Italianate elegance.

On seven remarkable pages, the two traditions overlap, with Canterbury drawings still visible beneath the later paint.

Among the manuscript’s layered texts survive rare Old English glosses.

Then, without warning, the Psalter stops midway through Psalm 98—leaving its final chapter unfinished and its mystery unresolved.

In the First Darmstadt Haggadah, animals take over the page. Created around 1430 in Ulm, the manuscript surrounds its He...
03/08/2026

In the First Darmstadt Haggadah, animals take over the page.

Created around 1430 in Ulm, the manuscript surrounds its Hebrew text with an unusually varied menagerie. The selected details reveal how closely the illuminator observed the natural world—and how freely he departed from it.

A blue tit and a goldfinch perch above a monumental initial, while a leopard, bear, and monkey parade below with their tongues extended. Elsewhere, two dragons twist their long necks together, their wings, tails, and brightly colored bodies merging with the surrounding ornament. Birds appear repeatedly among the foliage, alongside watchful owls and creatures that combine recognizable animal forms with exaggerated claws, scales, wings, and faces.

These animals rarely illustrate the Passover text directly. Instead, they animate letters, borders, and decorative fields, shifting between careful observation, heraldic display, and playful invention. Real species and imagined beasts inhabit the same visual world, making each folio feel unpredictable.

Swipe through the carousel and look closely: which creature would you choose as your guide through the manuscript?

27/07/2026

Behind the scenes at Facsimile Finder: some facsimiles require careful hands, teamwork, and a very large table.

The Tabula Chorographica Armenica is so large that it extends beyond our conference table. In this reel, we carefully unroll it across the tabletop, gradually revealing its impressive scale before moving in for a close-up of its hundreds of drawings, inscriptions, cities, monasteries, and landscapes.

A glimpse into how we handle and film one of the largest facsimiles to pass through our office.

Both of these tiny manuscripts were created for women at the heart of sixteenth-century court life. One belonged to Clau...
20/07/2026

Both of these tiny manuscripts were created for women at the heart of sixteenth-century court life.

One belonged to Claude de France, queen of France. The other became closely associated with Mary, Queen of Scots. Small enough to be carried and held close, these books accompanied private moments of prayer far from public ceremony.

Within their miniature pages, color, gold, and delicate painting created a personal world meant to be seen at the closest possible distance.



Around 1517, Claude de France commissioned a prayer book she could keep close and carry with her.

Created in Tours by the artist now known as the Master of Claude de France, the tiny volume reflects the personal world of the young queen. Her coats of arms and family emblems appear among its pages, turning the manuscript into an object closely connected to its first owner.



The Prayer Book of Claude de France contains 132 illustrations across only 104 pages.

Scenes from the life of Christ unfold through full-page and double-page compositions, leaving remarkably little space for text. Landscapes, gestures, clothing, and facial expressions are rendered on pages measuring just 6.9 × 4.9 centimeters.

How much can an artist fit into the smallest possible space?



The Altshausen Hours was created in France between 1510 and 1515 and later entered the possession of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Over the centuries, the tiny book passed through the hands of royal and aristocratic women, traveling across France, Scotland, England, and finally Württemberg. Its name preserves the memory of its most famous owner, but its history connects several generations of European women.



At only 4.8 × 3.2 centimeters, the Altshausen Hours is among the smallest books of hours ever created.

Its fourteen full-page miniatures are surrounded by delicate flowers, inse

20/07/2026

Some medieval manuscripts are so small that they can almost disappear inside the palm of a hand.

Why would artists spend months painting on pages only a few centimeters high?

Miniature manuscripts were made for closeness. Unlike large choir books or display volumes, these tiny prayer books could be carried, held, and opened during private devotion. Their size made reading a personal act: the owner had to bring the book near and enter a world of images visible only at close range.

Creating them required extraordinary precision. Illuminators worked on very fine parchment with minute brushes, building faces, flowers, animals, landscapes, and architectural details through tiny strokes of pigment. Gold leaf and powdered gold added light to pages that were often smaller than a modern credit card.

The Prayer Book of Claude de France measures just 6.9 × 4.9 cm, yet its pages contain an astonishing sequence of richly detailed scenes. The Altshausen Hours of Mary, Queen of Scots is even smaller, measuring only 4.8 × 3.2 cm.

These books may be miniature in size, but their visual world is immense.

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