Welcome to the History of English Podcast, a podcast about the history of the English language.

This is Episode 106, an illuminating development.

In this episode, we're going to look at a brand new industry that was popping up around

Western Europe in the early 1200s.

The bookmaking industry and the book Trade.

For the first time, books were starting to be mass-produced, and most of those books were

filled with much more than words on a page.

They were also filled with color.

Most books produced during this period were literally works of art.

The pages were adorned with pictures and decorations known as illuminations.

For the production of a medieval book required much more than a scribe and a pen.

It required a team of trained artisans who worked together to assemble these literary

works.

And for the first time, most of this work was being done by craftsmen in private workshops,

not by monks in a church or monastery.

So this time, we'll explore the birth of bookstores and the book trade.

We'll also look at how color influenced that industry and influenced the English language.

But before we begin, let me remind you that the website for the podcast is History of

EnglishPodcast.com.

And you can sign up to support the podcast at patreon.com slash History of English.

And as always, you can reach me by email at kevinathistoryofenglishpodcast.com.

Now over the past few episodes, I've discussed the importance of an early 13th century

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