M. Moleiro Editor is a publishing house specialising in high-quality

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, Old master print, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from ...

reproductions of

codices The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

, maps and

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

s. Founded in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in 1991, the firm has reproduced many masterpieces from the history of illumination.

Background

In 1976, whilst still a student, Manuel Moleiro created Ebrisa, a publishing house specialised in books on art, science and cartography which collaborated on a variety of joint enterprises with other publishers including

Times Books Times Books (previously the New York Times Book Company) is a publishing imprint owned by the New York Times Company and licensed to Henry Holt and Company. Times Books began as the New York Times Book Company in 1969, when The New York Times C ...

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

Edita Edita is a female first name, a form of Edith. It may refer to: *Edita Abdieski (born 1984), Swiss singer *Edita Adlerová (born 1971), Czech opera singer *Edita Aradinović (born 1993), Serbian singer *Edita Brychta (born 1961), English actress *E ...

, Imprimerie Nationale and

Franco Maria Ricci Franco Maria Ricci (2 December 1937 – 10 September 2020) was an Italian art publisher and magazine editor. Amongst his publications is '' FMR'', a Milan-based bi-monthly art magazine published in Italian, English, German, French, and Spanish for ...

. In 1991, Moleiro decided to create a company with his own name and brand. Since then he has specialised in identical reproductions of some of the greatest medieval and Renaissance bibliographic treasures, obtaining authorisation to do so from libraries and museums of great universal renown such as the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

, the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, the

Morgan Library & Museum The Morgan Library & Museum, formerly the Pierpont Morgan Library, is a museum and research library in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is situated at 225 Madison Avenue, between 36th Street to the south and 37th S ...

, the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York, the

National Library of Russia The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...

, the

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Mar ...

and the

Gulbenkian Foundation The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation ( pt, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), commonly referred to simply as the Gulbenkian Foundation, is a Portuguese institution dedicated to the promotion of the arts, philanthropy, science, and education. One of ...

, Lisbon. To certify this labour of cultural diffusion, each facsimile has a companion volume of studies by manuscript experts.

Publishing activities

As a result of publishers applying the term “facsimile” to different types of reproduction of poor quality in recent decades, M. Moleiro Editor decided to label their codices “quasi-original” to reflect the accuracy of their reproductions. In 2010, the French newspaper ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' wrote, "The Spanish publishing house Moleiro has invented the “quasi original”, a more appropriate term for describing the extremely painstaking artisan work involved in manufacturing these works which are more like clones than facsimiles". Indeed, no expense is spared in any of their editions to duplicate the texture, smell, thickness and variable density of paper and parchment, the gold in the miniatures, the leather bindings, and thread used to sew them. The resulting copies are therefore deemed to be clones and not merely reproductions. All this publisher's editions are unique, first editions, limited to 987 numbered copies authenticated by notary public. In 2001, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' described the work of this publishing house as “The Art of Perfection”. One year later in the same newspaper, Allegra Stratton wrote that "the Pope sleeps with one of Moleiro's quasi-originals by his bed".

Landmark works reproduced by M. Moleiro Editor

M. Moleiro Editor has reproduced several works by

Beatus of Liébana Saint Beatus of Liébana ( es, Beato; 730 – c. 800) was a monk, theologian, and geographer from the former Duchy of Cantabria and Kingdom of Asturias, in modern Cantabria, northern Spain, who worked and lived in the Picos de Europa mountains ...

– the ''Cardeña Beatus'', the ''Arroyo Beatus'', the ''Silos Beatus'', the ''Beatus of Ferdinand I and Sancha'' and the ''

Girona Beatus The Gerona Beatus is a 10th-century illuminated manuscript currently housed in the museum of Girona Cathedral, Catalonia, Spain. The manuscript contains two separate documents: the Commentary on the Apocalypse by Beatus of Liébana, a late eight ...

'' – and also the three volumes of the '' Bible of Saint Louis'', deemed to be the most important bibliographic monument of all time with a total of 4887 miniatures. Their catalogue also features many books of hours such as the ''

Isabella Breviary The ''Isabella Breviary'' (''Ms. 18851'') is a late 15th-century illuminated manuscript housed in the British Library, London. Queen Isabella I was given the manuscript shortly before 1497 by her ambassador Francisco de Rojas to commemorate the dou ...

'', the ''Great Hours of Anne of Brittany'' and the ''Book of Hours of Joanna I of Castile''; medicinal treatises such as the ''Book of Simple Medicines'' and ''

Tacuinum Sanitatis ''Taqwīm aṣ‑Ṣiḥḥa'' ( ''Maintenance of Health'') is originally an 11th-century Arab medical treatise by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad. In the West, the work is known by the Latinized name taken by its translations: ''Tacuinum'' (sometimes '' ...

'' and cartographic masterpieces such as the ''

Miller Atlas The Miller Atlas, also known as Lopo Homem-Reineis Atlas, is a richly illustrated Portugal, Portuguese partial world atlas dated from 1519, including a dozen charts. It is a joint work of the cartographers Lopo Homem, Pedro Reinel and Jorge Rein ...

'' and the '' Vallard Atlas''.

Complete list of “quasi-original” editions

* Beatus of Liébana, Codex of Ferdinand I and Sancha of Castille and León * Beatus of Liébana, Gerona Codex *Beatus of Liébana, Monastery of San Andrés de Arroyo *Beatus of Liébana, Monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña *Beatus of Liébana, Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos *

Bible moralisée of Naples The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a v ...

* Bible of Saint Louis * Book of Felicity *Book of Hours of Charles VIII *Book of Hours of Louis of Orleans *Book of Hours of Maria of Navarre *Book of Simple Medicines *Book of Testaments * Book of Treasures *''Catalan Mappa Mundi'' *Christopher Columbus’s Chart *Genealogy of Christ *

Grandes heures of Anne of Brittany The Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany (''Les Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne'' in French) is a book of hours, commissioned by Anne of Brittany, Queen of France to two kings in succession, and illuminated in Tours or perhaps Paris by Jean Bour ...

* Heures de Charles d'Angoulême *

Great Canterbury Psalter The Great Canterbury Psalter (also called the Anglo-Catalan Psalter or Paris Psalter) is an early 13th- and mid 14th-century illuminated manuscript with the shelfmark MS lat. 8846 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. It was made in ...

* Hours of Henry VIII * Hours of Henry IV of France * Hours of Charles of Angoulême * Hours of Jean de Montauban *

Martyrology of Usuard The ''Martyrology of Usuard'' is a work by Usuard, a monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.Miller Atlas The Miller Atlas, also known as Lopo Homem-Reineis Atlas, is a richly illustrated Portugal, Portuguese partial world atlas dated from 1519, including a dozen charts. It is a joint work of the cartographers Lopo Homem, Pedro Reinel and Jorge Rein ...

*Prayer Book of Albert of Brandenburg * Romance of the Knight Zifar *''

Splendor Solis ''Splendor Solis'' ("The Splendour of the Sun") is a version of the illuminated alchemical text attributed to Salomon Trismosin. This version dates from around 1582. The earliest version, written in Central German, is dated 1532–1535 and is ...

'' *''

'' *The Apocalypse of 1313 *The Flemish Apocalypse * The Golf Book (Book of Hours) *The Gulbenkian Apocalypse *The Book of Hours of Joanna I of Castile, Joanna the Mad *''Theatrum Sanitatis'' *Theriaka and Alexipharmaka *

Tractatus de Herbis The ''Tractatus de Herbis'' is an illustrated treatise of medicinal plants painted in 1440. It is housed under shelfmark Sloane MS 4016 in the British Library, in London. Background The Medieval medicine of Western Europe was much influenced ...

*Universal Atlas of Diogo Homem * Universal Atlas of Fernao Vaz Dourado * Vallard Atlas

References

External links

Moleiro.com: M. Moleiro Editor website

Moleiro.com: ''The Times'' article
(April 23, 2001)

(September 30, 2010)
Moleiro.com: ''Le Monde'' article
(November 19, 2011)
Lefigaro.fr: ''Le Figaro'' magazine article
(January 13, 2011)
Moleiro.com: ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' article
(January 2, 2011) {{Authority control Book publishing companies of Spain Illuminated manuscripts Mass media in Barcelona Companies based in Barcelona Publishing companies established in 1991 Spanish companies established in 1991