Before moving on from the blog Medieval Books, if only temporarily, and indeed with the additional and topical theme of purchasing presents for oneself of others, I would like to share another pair of related posts from it about largely forgotten feature of the studies of mediaeval scholars and scribes.
The first is about the evidence from illuminations of book carousels which would enable a scholar to consult several books at once while sitting at his desk. This would suggest that these were by no means uncommon devices in the later mediaeval period. They would still be useful today, unless the computer screen has taken over completely.
The article can be seen at Medieval Book Carousels
The second item is about the work of scribes and copyists and how they did so using not only a carousel but other aids. It also shows that the folding and portable box writing desk, which one instinctively associates with the nineteenth century, was already in existence by the mid-twelfth century on the evidence of a sculpture on the west front of Chartres Cathedral.
That article can be viewed at Medieval Desktops
2 comments:
Another riveting read, John. Thank you.
Reference the illustration on “Medieval Books” (Fig. 2. Brussels), whereby one book (the “exemplar”) is on the top desktop/shelf, and the other book (being produced by copying) is on the lower desktop/shelf.
This is, in fact, a classic example and reproduction of how Printers always had two “Type Cases” in front of them when composing (obviously after the invention of Movable Type by Gutenberg circa 1440). One Type Case was up above, containing Capital Letters, and another Type Case was below it, containing Small Letters.
When the Printer/Compositor required a Capital Letter, he just reached up into the higher Type Case, and then carried on using Small Letters from the lower Type Case.
Hence, the phrases we use these days: UPPER CASE (meaning Capitals) and LOWER CASE (meaning SMALL LETTERS).
Thank you for sharing this this! Our predecessors were just as modern as we are, everything but electronic technology and medicine!
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