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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;hotwheelsearl, post: 114772, member: 1471&quot;]The Getty Center here in LA had a very nice exhibition of psalters a couple of years ago.&nbsp; The majority were in large print for the simple reason that they were too expensive and hard to make multiple copies of.&nbsp; For a 10-man choir, they could crowd around this large book and all would be able to see.</p><p>At the museum, the largest book I saw was about 4 feet tall - no joke.&nbsp; It was insanely huge, so I&#039;m guessing they must have had an insanely large choir as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>There do exist small, pocket-size psalters as well, but these must have been for either very rich churches, or for personal practice.&nbsp; Again, these were not mass produced and as such were terribly time consuming to make.</p><p><br /></p><p>The books were torn apart because of two reasons: 1) artistic value - it is hard to appreciate the prettiness in a thick, closed book.&nbsp; 2) monetary value - one could get much more money out of parting out one of these books than selling them whole.</p><p>This is the same reason why many altarpieces were split up.&nbsp; These days, it is very very difficult to find a complete altarpiece, but that&#039;s the way the cookie crumbles.&nbsp; Shame, really, but I do believe that this parting-out kept more artifacts alive than they destroyed!&nbsp; Many altarpieces and psalters would have been burned or otherwise destroyed, if not for the parting out.</p><p><br /></p><p>Source: I&#039;m the art history guy who ended up getting a meteorology major instead...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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