Friar Jerome's Beautiful Book: A.D 1200

Friar Jerome's Beautiful Book is a brief poetic narrative by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, originally published in the late 19th century. Set in the year 1200, the poem tells the story of a devoted monk laboring over an illuminated manuscript.

This work embodies the romanticism of medieval craftsmanship that captivated many American and British writers of the era. The edition included in the Nettle Hale Rand Collection likely emphasizes this theme through its physical presentation. The materiality of this book echoes a celebration of books as sacred, aesthetic labor.

As a meditation on artistic devotion and timeless beauty, Friar Jerome's Beautiful Book resonates deeply with the ethos of fine printing. It reminds readers that the act of creating a book, whether in 1200 or 1900, is itself a form of reverence, one that binds past and present through shared awe of the written word.