Following the recent exhibition on the St Cuthbert Gospel in the front hall of the British Library, we're pleased to announce that the manuscript itself remains on display in our Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library. For the duration of the temporary exhibition, the St Cuthbert Gospel was displayed open for the first time in many years, so that visitors could view its beautiful uncial script. Now, on account of the manuscript's delicate late-7th-century binding, the St Cuthbert Gospel is once again exhibited in its closed position. Visitors to London will be able to see for themselves the intricate interlace decoration on the gospelbook's upper cover.

The whole manuscript can also be viewed for free on our Digitised Manuscripts site.

For those of you about to ask, you can find out more here why we don't wear white gloves when handling our manucripts.

For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.

Calendar pages for July, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile, Netherlands (Bruges), between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 7v-8

The strenuous work of summer continues in these two miniatures from the calendar for July, which focuses on the yearly harvest of wheat.  On the left folio four men are at work in a field, in what must be very warm weather; the men have all rolled up their sleeves, and two seem to have divested themselves of their trousers as well.  On the right, beneath a small and rather scowly lion (for the zodiac sign Leo) another group of men are bringing their harvest to a timbered barn.