The Ormesby Psalter is a magnificently illustrated devotional manuscript. It is not a bestiary, but some of the marginal illustration are of animals, birds and bestiary stories, like the killing of the unicorn. There are also several grotesques and mocking scenes involving human-beast hybrids. There are no color images after folio 147v, only small preliminary sketches that were never completed.

The artist was a highly accomplished master painter. The illustrations are rich and detailed with strong colors. Mixed with all the fabulous grotesques and beasts are several highly accurate painting of birds, some readily identifiable as to species. There are fewer illustrations in this manuscript than in some other Psalters, but each one in this manuscript is a work of art.

Additional Descriptions

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Additional description 2 (digitized summary catalog)
Additional description 3 (digitized summary catalog)

Editions and Facsimiles

Digital facsimiles

Bodleian Library