Keisha Lindsey British Literature 3 rd block 10 blue group Up to the twelfth century most medieval manuscripts were written by monks living in monasteries Each monastery would have a scriptorium a room where the monks would produce the books for use in religious ceremonies a ID: 227561
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Slide1
Bookmaking in the Middle Ages
Keisha Lindsey
British Literature
3
rd
block
#10 blue groupSlide2
Up to the twelfth century, most medieval manuscripts were written
by monks
living in monasteries.Each monastery would have a “scriptorium,” a room where the monks would produce the books for use in religious ceremonies as well as for study.
Who made the books?Slide3
The Manuscript Book
T
he hand-produced book is called a manuscriptIn the ancient western world the book was in the form of the roll, which was usually made of sheets of papyrus sewn or glued together.Papyrus sheets were made from thin lengths cut from the stalk of the plant, traditionally grown in Egypt, which were laid overlapping side by side in one direction and then in a similar fashion perpendicular to the first layer. This made for an exceptionally strong yet flexible surfaceThe standard size of the roll was about thirty feet long and seven to ten inches
wide, the
standard sheet size was about ten by seven and one-half inches, and writing was in columns about three inches wide, called
pagina
.
The
width of the sheet had no relation to the width of the column: the writing runs right across the juncture of the sheets. At the beginning of the roll there was usually a blank column left to protect the roll, but nothing equivalent to a title-page.
The
title or author's name was usually written on a label that was attached to the outside of the
roll,
it hung down from the shelf and served to identify it.
Some
rolls had rods attached to make rolling and unrolling easier and some were kept in leather cases. Slide4
The Manuscript Book Cont.
Parchment for the pages was
made from the skins of various animals, mainly sheep, cows or calves, and goats. Skins used for parchment went through a long process of soaking, stretching, scraping, drying, and polishing to make them suitable surfaces for writing on.
A
scribe copied the text from an established edition, and artists might then embellish it with illustrations, decorated initials, and ornament in the
margins
The
other basic material for writing a manuscript was ink. This was made from the black material yielded by oak
galls, parasitic
growths on oak
trees, in
a medium containing water, green vitriol, gum
arabic
, and sometimes lamp black. Slide5
First
, writing out the text: A scribe would take several sheets of parchment, usually from two to five sheets, and lay them flat, one on top of the other. These sheets would be folded to make gatherings that would then be sewn together to form the “codex,” the term used to describe the format of a book made this
way. Before the gatherings were sewn together, however, they had to be prepared for writing and decoration. Each folio was ruled using either a hard point instrument, lead, or ink to mark the number and dimensions of the lines of text and the spaces for decoration. The text was carefully planned around the miniatures and other decorations
.
When
the text was completely copied, the
decorations, miniatures
, initials, and marginal
decorations, were added to complete the manuscript. A preliminary drawing was made for each of these. A gesso ground was built up for the gold leaf, and the gold leaf was then applied before any of the other pigments. So much preparation and polishing went into putting down the gold leaf that it would have damaged any other paint already on the parchment. Once the manuscript had been completely written and decorated, the gatherings would be “gathered,” sewn together, and given a binding. Medieval bindings were usually made of leather covering oak boards. Large liturgical books might also have metal protectors called bosses. These were designed to save the leather itself from the wear and tear of daily use
Assembling Slide6
Top left Medieval styli. Made of bone with metal tips, of the type probably used for scoring the ruling patterns in manuscripts until the twelfth century
Below A stick of lead or plummet, suitable for ruling lines in Gothic manuscripts.
Top right A page of a fifteenth-century French Book of Hours ruled up in ink in preparation for writing
Materials (Patterns and Ruling)Slide7
Materials (Book)
parchment-maker stretching the wet skin across a wooden frame and attaching its edges with adjustable pegsSlide8
Materials (Ink)
Oak GallsSlide9
A reed pen and two quill pens. The upper pen has been used for laying gesso, colored with pink bole, and the lower pens are both stained with ink
Materials (Writing)Slide10
Quick Video
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