Bas-de-page

The "bottom of the page"; also "foot of the page."

A bas-de-page illustration is found at the bottom of a manuscript page. These were executed as part of the manuscript's decorative program but they may or may not illustrate the accompanying text. Doodles or drawings added by later users are better described as Marginalia. Bas-de-page may also refer to textual items such as corrections or footnotes that exist outside the main text block but were added by the original scribe. Glosses (annotations that traditionally acompany the text, found in Bibles and books of Canon law) may also appear bas-de-page but are rarely described as such.

  • German:
    Unterer Rand des Blattes
  • Italian:
    Pié di pagina, in calce
  • Portuguese:
    pé de página
  • Spanish:
    Pie de página