Hakob's Gospels : the life and work of an Armenian artist of the sixteenth century /

If Safavid Persia, where the "Armenian artist" of this book's title ended up, is a society fairly well known to specialists, then Keghi, near Erzurum (in today's Turkey), where the manuscript that is the book's focus was illuminated, will be strange territory to most. The proper publication of this late-16th-century Gospel book in comprehensive fashion demanded the explication and reproduction of its 66 full-page miniatures (including an astonishing and repeated cross-eyed God) in magnificent color with abundant details. It also required that they and the life of their painter, Hakob Jughayets'i, be set in ample cultural context. To do this in a slender volume that will satisfy scholars is the achievement of Greenwood (Univ. of St. Andrews) and Vardanyan (Matenadaran manuscript library in Yerevan). To accomplish as much in a manner still attractive to laypersons is the wonder worked by the publisher, a London art dealer whose role is mentioned only on the title page. Produced with all the slickness of a Sotheby's or Christies' auction catalog, the book is a model of what can happen when scholarship and profit motive cooperate. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduates; graduate students. A. Cutler Pennsylvania State University, University Park Campus