Codex Caesareus Upsaliensis: An Echternach Gospel-Book of the Eleventh Century

Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1971. 2 Vols., folio (377 x 279 mm), limited to 500 copies, commentary volume with text in English:164pp., illustrs., orig. vellum-backed cloth, covers slightly spotted, facsimile volume: 320pp., of coloured facsimiles, full vellum, endpapers slightly spotted, slip-case. The Emperor's Bible (Uppsala, UUB ms C 93; Swedish: kejsarbibeln), also known as Codex Caesareus, Codex Caesareus Upsaliensis or the Goslar Gospels,[1] is an 11th-century illuminated manuscript currently in Uppsala University Library, Sweden. Despite its name, it is not a Bible but a Gospel Book. The book was made in the scriptorium of Echternach Abbey, and is one of four preserved large Gospel Books made there during the 11th century. It was commissioned by Emperor Henry III and donated by him to Goslar Cathedral, where it remained until the Thirty Years' War. It was then lost for about 100 years. The book later appeared again in the possession of Swedish diplomat and civil servant Gustaf Celsing the Elder [sv]. At the death of his son, it was acquired by Uppsala University. The manuscript is richly decorated with miniatures, including full-page depictions of the Four Evangelists, illuminated canon tables and a depiction of the emperor donating the book to the patron saints of Goslar Cathedral. It is written in Carolingian minuscule and is overall well-preserved.