The Art of Book Making in the Middle Ages

Here are a couple of videos I found on YouTube about medieval illuminated manuscripts. The first one is incredibly interesting because it shows you the entire book making process from start to finish, including how they made the pages and ink. The second is not as informative, but very cute. It is 'a brief history of medieval illuminated manuscripts and the men who made them', uploaded by "HistoryTeachers" who create their own music videos to make teaching history more fun.

"Making Manuscripts"

Some further information to accompany this video from Getty Museum can be found here.

"Illuminated Manuscripts ("Nowhere Man" by the Beatles)

A BIT ABOUT VELLUM

Vellum
c.1430, from Old French 'velin' "parchment made from calfskin," from vel, veel "calf".

The word vellum is used in broader terms now, and is interchangeable with the word 'parchment'. A couple of things not mentioned in the video about how to make manuscripts, is that the person who makes the vellum is called a 'parchmenter' or 'parchment maker' and the 'crescent shaped knife' used is called a 'lunellum' (little moon). 

 Image originally found here. 

One woman documented her own experience at a parchment making workshop in 2011 (view the pictures on her Flickr stream - I should warn you that some people might find a couple of these photos upsetting or they could make you feel squeamish). And here is a link to a blog written by a modern day Jewish scribe, also known as a Sofer, about their own parchment making experience at a tannery in New York.

During the making of vellum, it requires much delicacy and experience not to pierce the skins and any cuts as it shrinks may result in the finished product having holes. 

When the parchment has reached its desired thinness and been cut to size, it is ready to be rolled up and sold. Here you can see an image of a monk inspecting a sheet of vellum that has been handed to him by a parchment maker. (Note the lunellum and skin being stretched on the wooden frame between the two men).

  Image from here.

A BIT ABOUT SCRIBES

Jean Miélot, was a noteable scribe, who served as a secretary to Philip the Good and then to his son Charles the Bold from 1419-1477. He was also a chaplain.

 Here is Miélot at work (Image from here).

The scribal profession was very closely related to monasteries. The work consisted of copying books but also secretarial and administrative duties such as dictation, and keeping judicial and historical records for kings, nobility and temples. The profession diminished after the invention of the printing press but moulded into other professions.

Scribes faced a seriously tedious task. Book copying was a slow and laborious process, and scribes were only human - sometimes they had no interest in the text they were copying or didn't understand it, or they were uncomfortable because the light was poor or it was cold and they were worried about not finishing the book in the required time. Scribes would often write their name, the date, and perhaps a prayer or note in the book once they'd finished their labours. But sometimes, when the work was really tough they would vent their frustration in the margins with words such as: "Thin ink, bad vellum, difficult text", "Thank God it will soon be dark" or "Now I've written the whole thing, for Christ's sake give me a drink". Scribes believed the hard work would benefit their soul, as it kept their hands and minds busy and away from things sinful or idle. The names of scribes, illuminators, parchment makers and binders can be found in tax records but very few can be linked with surviving books.

RESEARCH

You learn new words even from reading the least authoritative of websites. I learned words such as 'lunellum' and 'parchmenter' which made my searches much more specific and more to the point.

I don't like Encyclopedia Britannica's layout much. I think the pages would be more engaging if the images were spread throughout the writing rather than as tiny thumbnails to the side. I know it's more of an academic website but lots of students use it too and, well, it would certainly make reading through all that writing somewhat more appealing. Mainly because when I'm reading on a computer I find it easier to absorb information if it's in smaller, separated paragraphs. Also you'd think their scope of topics would be broader, but I've tried to look up so many things on Britannica and come up with nothing, compared to Wikipedia. If only Wikipedia was reliable.

I think in my research brief I've included probably too many things to cover. Because they are such important and interesting topics, I find that I have to include smaller aspects of a story in order to tell it properly. So, knowing that, and knowing that I have a word limit, I've been trying to be briefer in my explanations. But I can't seem to delete paragraphs I've already written because I believe they are all relevant. So I'm sorry if I have written too much.

Also, regarding citing my resources, up until now I've been aiming for consistency above all, because it gets a little confusing citing from the internet, and I read in the Harvard Style Guide that the author and date are most important, as is consistency. But I'm trying to be more accurate in structuring my citations now.

SOURCES

gettymuseum 2010, Making manuscripts, 17 November, viewed 30 April 2012, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aDHJu9J10o>

historyteachers 2010, Illuminated manuscripts ("Nowhere man" by the Beatles), 30 December, viewed 30 April 2012, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81tmuA2Dddk>

'Vellum' 2010, Online Etymology Dictionary, Dictionary.com, viewed 30 April 2012, <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vellum?s=t>

Philidelphia Museum of Art 2002, Leaves of gold : the parchmenter, viewed 30 April 2012, <http://www.leavesofgold.org/learn/children/how_made/parchmenter.html> 

Vital, D 2009, Review of Jesse Meyer's parchment and vellum making workshop, Guild of Bookworkers, viewed 30 April 2012, <http://www.gbwny.org/news/2010/01/review-of-jesse-meyers-parchment-workshop-by-demetri/>

de Hamel, C 2009, Parcheminier : the role of the parchment maker, Senior Learn, viewed 30 April 2012, <http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/readerguides/peregrines/parchmentier.html>

'Jean Miélot' 2012, Wikipedia, viewed 30 April 2012, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Mi%C3%A9lot>.

Tucker, DH, Unwin, G & Unwin, PS 2012, 'History of publishing', Encyclopedia Britannica, viewed 30 April 2012, <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/482597/publishing>

Yu, PK, 2006, Of monks, medieval scribes and middlemen, viewed 30 April 2012, <http://www.msulawreview.org/PDFS/2006/1/Yu.pdf>