Rubrication

Rubrication is the highlighting of particular parts of the text in a manuscript or old printed book with red paint (cinnabar), for the purpose of structuring and decoration. The name comes from the Latin rubrum — 'red.' In red were highlighted headings, chapter titles, opening letters, the names of church feasts, instructions for the reader in liturgical books, and the first words of paragraphs. Rubrication performed above all a navigational-structural function: in early texts lacking modern paragraph division, it helped the reader to orient themselves by demarcating sense-parts; at the same time, the red elements adorned the page, contrasting with the black main text. The rubricator was the master who did this work in the scriptorium after the copyist. The term 'rubric,' denoting a section or heading, derives precisely from here. Rich rubrication is characteristic of early Ukrainian manuscript Gospels and Ukrainian old prints, notably the Lavra and Ostroh editions.