Forty Centuries of Ink Part 8

Madan, however, in treating this subject, makes the following comments which are in line with my own observations:

"Paper has for long been the common substance for miscellaneous purposes of ordinary writing, and has at all times been formed exclusively from rags (chiefly of linen) reduced to pull), poured out on a frame in a thin watery sheet, and gradually dried and given consistence by the action of heat. It has been a popular belief, found in every book till 1886 (now entirely disproved, but probably destined to die hard), that the common yellowish thick paper, with rough fibrous edge, found especially in Greek MSS. till the fifteenth century, was paper of quite another sort, and made of cotton (charta bombycna, bombyx being usually silk, but also used of any fine fibre such as cotton). The microscope has at last conclusively shown that these two papers are simply two different kinds of ordinary linen-rag paper."

De Vinne speaking, of paper and paper-making says:

"The gradual development of paper-making in Europe is but imperfectly presented through these fragmentary facts. Paper may have been made for many years before it found chroniclers who thought the manufacture worthy of notice. The Spanish paper-mills of Toledo which were at work in the year 1085, and an ancient family of paper-makers which was honored with marked favor by the king of Sicily in the year 1102, are carelessly mentioned by contemporary writers as if paper-making was an old and established business. It does not appear that paper was a novelty at a much earlier period.

The bulls of the popes of the eighth and ninth centuries were written on cotton card or cotton paper, but no writer called attention to this card, or described it as a new material. It has been supposed that this paper was made in Asia, but it could have been made in Europe. A paper-like fabric, made from the barks of trees, was used for writing by the Longobards in the seventh century, and a coa.r.s.e imitation of the Egyptian papyrus, in the form of a strong brown paper, had been made by the Romans as early as the third century. The art of compacting in a web the macerated fibres of plants seems to have been known and practised to some extent in Southern Europe long before the establishment of Moorish paper-mills.

"The Moors brought to Spain and Sicily not an entirely new invention, but an improved method of making paper, and what was more important, a culture and civilization that kept this method in constant exercise. It was chiefly for the lack of ability and lack of disposition to put paper to proper use that the earlier European knowledge of paper- making was so barren of results. The art of book- making as it was then practised was made subservient to the spirit of luxury more than to the desire for knowledge. Vellum was regarded by the copyist as the only substance fit for writing on, even when it was so scarce that it could be used only for the most expensive books. The card-like cotton paper once made by the Saracens was certainly known in Europe for many years before its utility was recognized. Hallam says that the use of this cotton paper was by no means general or frequent, except in Spain or Italy, and perhaps in the south of France, until the end of the fourteenth century.

Nor was it much used in Italy for books.

"Paper came before its time and had to wait for recognition. It was sorely needed. The Egyptian manufacture of papyrus, which was in a state of decay in the seventh century, ceased entirely in the ninth or tenth. Not many books were written during this period, but there was then, and for at least three centuries afterwards, an unsatisfied demand for something to write upon. Parchment was so scarce that reckless copyists frequently resorted to the desperate expedient of effacing the writing on old and lightly esteemed ma.n.u.scripts. It was not a difficult task. The writing ink then used was usually made of lamp-black, gum and vinegar; it it had but a feeble encaustic property, and it did not bite in or penetrate the parchment. The work of effacing this ink was accomplished by moistening the parchment with a weak alkaline solution and by rubbing it with pumice stone. This treatment did not entirely obliterate the writing, but made it so indistinct that the parchment could be written over the second time. Ma.n.u.scripts so treated are now known as palimpsests. All the large European public libraries have copies of palimpsests, which are melancholy ill.u.s.trations of the literary tastes of many writers or bookmakers during the Middle Ages. More convincingly than by argument they show the utility of paper. Ma.n.u.scripts of the Gospels, of the Iliad, and of works of the highest merit, often of great beauty and accuracy, are dimly seen underneath stupid sermons, and theological writings of a nature so paltry that no man living cares to read them. In Some instances the first writing has been so thoroughly scrubbed out that its meaning is irretrievably lost.

"Much as paper was needed, it was not at all popular with copyists; their prejudice was not altogether unreasonable, for it was thick, coa.r.s.e, knotty, and in every way unfitted for the display or ornamental penmanship or illumination. The cheaper quality, then known as cotton paper, was especially objectionable.

It seems to have been so badly made as to need governmental interference. Frederick II, of Germany, in the year 1221, foreseeing evils that might arise from bad paper, made a decree by which he made invalid all public doc.u.ments that should be put on cotton paper, and ordered them within two years to be transcribed upon parchment.

Peter II, of Spain, in the year 1338, publicly commanded the paper-makers of Valencia and Xativa to make their paper of a better quality and equal to that of an earlier period.

"The better quality of paper, now known as linen paper, had the merits of strength, flexibility, and durability in a high degree, but it was set aside by the copyists because the fabric was too thick and the surface was too rough. The art of calendering or polishing papers until they were of a smooth, glossy surface, which was then practised by the Persians, was unknown to, or at least unpractised by, the early European makers. The changes or fashion in the selection of writing papers are worthy of pa.s.sing notice. The rough hand-made papers so heartily despised by the copyists of the thirteenth century are now preferred by neat penmen and skilled draughtsmen.

The imitations of mediaeval paper, thick, harsh, and dingy, and showing the marks of the wires upon which the fabric was couched, are preferred by men of letters for books and for correspondence, while highly polished modern plate papers, with surfaces much more glossy than any preparation of vellum, are now rejected by them as finical and effeminate.

"There is a popular notion that the so-called inventions of paper and xylographic printing were gladly welcomed by men of letters, and that the new fabric and the new art were immediately pressed into service. The facts about to be presented in succeeding chapters will lead to a different conclusion. We shall see that the makers of playing cards and of image prints were the men who first made extended use of printing, and that self-taught and unprofessional copyists were the men who gave encouragement to the manufacture of paper. The more liberal use of paper at the beginning of the fifteenth century by this newly- created cla.s.s of readers and book-buyers marks the period of transition and of mental and mechanical development for which the crude arts of paper- making and of black printing had been waiting for centuries. We shall also see that if paper had been ever so cheap and common during the Middle Ages, it would have worked no changes in education or literature; it could not have been used by the people, for they were too illiterate; it would not have been used by the professional copyists, for they preferred vellum and despised the subst.i.tute.

"The scarcity of vellum in one century, and its abundance in another, are indicated by the size of written papers during the same periods. Before the sixth century, legal doc.u.ments were generally written upon one side only; in the tenth century the practice of writing upon both sides of the vellum became common. During the thirteenth century valuable doc.u.ments were often written upon strips two inches wide and but three and a half inches long. At the end of the fourteenth century these strips went out of fashion. The more general use of paper had diminished the demand for vellum and increased the supply. In the fifteenth century, legal doc.u.ments on rolls of sewed vellum twenty feet in length were not uncommon. All the valuable books of the fourteenth century were written on vellum. In the library of the Louvre the ma.n.u.scripts on paper, compared to those on vellum, were as one to twenty-eight; in the library of the Dukes of Burgundy, one-fifth of the books were of paper.

The increase in the proportion of paper books is a fair indication of the increasing popularity of paper; but it is obvious that vellum was even then considered as the more suitable substance for a book of value."

The curious contract belonging to the fourteenth century which follows, is a literal copy of the original.

It does not seem to specify whether the book is to be made of vellum or paper. In other respects the minute details no doubt prevented any misunderstanding between the contracting parties.

"August 26th, 1346--There appeared Robert Brekeling, scribe, and swore that he would observe the contract made between him and Sir John Forber, viz., that the said Robert would write one Psalter with the Kalender for the work of the said Sir John for 5 s. and 6 d.; and in the same Psalter, in the same character, a Placebo and a Dirige, with a Hymnal and Collectary, for 4 s. and 3 d. And the said Robert will illuminate ('luminabet') all the Psalms with great gilded letters laid in with colours; and all the large letters of the Hymnal and Collectary will he illuminate with gold and vermillion, except the great letters of double feasts, which shall be as the large gilt letters are in the Psalter.

And all the letters at the commencement of the verses shall be illuminated with good azure and vermillion; and all the letters at the beginning of the Nocturns shall be great uncial (unciales) letters, containing V. lines, but the Beatus Vir and Dixit Dominus shall contain VI. or VII. lines; and for the aforesaid illumination and for colours he [John]

will give 5 s. 6 d., and for gold he will give 18 d., and 2 s. for a cloak and fur tr.i.m.m.i.n.g. Item one robe--one coverlet, one sheet, and one pillow."

CHAPTER IX.

END OF MEDIAEVAL INK.

THE SECRETAS PRECEDE ALCHEMY AND CHEMISTRY--EFFORT TO IMPROVE GALL INKS--VARIATIONS IN INK COLORS--THE USE OF RED INK IN THE NINTH AND TENTH CENTURIES--COLOR COMPARISONS BETWEEN INK WRITINGS OF ITALY, GERMANY, FRANCE, ENGLAND AND SPAIN--HOW TO DETERMINE THE ANTIQUITY OF MSS.--PRACTICES WHICH OBTAINED IN MONASTIC LIBRARIES OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES---KINDS OF INK EMPLOYED IN LITURGICAL WRITINGS--THE PUBLIC SCRIBES AND THEIR EMPLOYMENTS--EFFORTS TO COUNTERFEIT OLD SCRIPT IN EARLY PRINTED BOOKS--WHEN THEY WERE ABANDONED.

IT is well known that alchemy preceded chemistry and hence the Secreta came first. When the formula for making a real "gall" ink had ceased to be a secret, chemistry was then but little understood. It is not a matter for wonder, therefore, to learn that "gall" ink of the first half of the twelfth century was low in grade and poor in quality. It was a muddy fluid easily precipitated and it deteriorated quickly. A century or more of experimenting was needed to modify or overcome defects, as well as to gain information about the chemical value of the different tannins, the relative proportions of each const.i.tuent and the correct methods in its admixture.

There is no written account of this ink being manufactured as an industry until over three hundred years later. Hence, as it appears so frequently of varying degrees of color on doc.u.ments of the intervening centuries, we are compelled to a.s.sume that it was compounded by individuals who had neither chemical knowledge, nor who had made a study or a business of ink-making. Notwithstanding which, its progress seems to have been comparatively rapid and like the same ink of the present day was to be obtained of any quality or kind, whether unadulterated or containing some added color.

Intense black or a black tinged with red-brown characterizes the color of the inks found on the very earliest MSS. Their lasting color phenomena, due to the employment of lampblack and kindred substances even after a lapse of so many ages, is at this late day of no particular moment as they but prove the virtues of the different types of "Indian" inks.

A different set of facts are evident in the inks of mediaeval times which are found to greatly vary according to their ages and locality. But few black inks of the ninth and tenth centuries remain to us.

In the MSS. of those centuries a red ink was the prevailing one even to the extent of entire volumes being written with it. In Italy and many other portions of Southern Europe specimens now extant, when compared with those belonging to Germany and other more northern countries, are seen to be blacker and this is also true when those of France and England are compared, the blacker inks belonging to France.

With the gradual disappearance of the so-called "Dark Ages," the ink found on Spanish written MSS.

of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, are notedly of intense blackness while those of some of the other countries appear of a rather faded gray color, and in the sixteenth century, this gray color effect prevailed all over the Christian world.

To revert again to the ink phenomena of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which are of Italian origin. In no section of that country or of Europe during those centuries do ink creations possess, in so marked a degree, the variety of color qualities that are seen on those of the city of Florence. Indeed it may be truly said that during those periods more ink written MSS. were produced in that place than all the rest of Europe. These productions of MSS. were not confined to simple ink writings. The heads of religious orders and rulers of the country liked to have artists near them to illuminate their missals and sacred books, besides the decorating of walls in their churches and palaces.

Through this art of illuminating and the painting of miniatures in MSS. books, "oil" painting took root and the day for mere symbols and hieroglyphics was over.

In that city of scholars and wealth it was a fashion and later the custom to acquire Greek, Latin and Oriental MSS. and copy them for circulation and sale.

The prices offered were sufficient to stimulate the search and zeal for them. We learn that in the year 1400 "on the square of the Duoma a s.p.a.cciatore was established whose business was to sell ma.n.u.scripts often full of mistakes and blunders." Nicholas V, before he became Pope, was nicknamed "Tommaso the Copyist." He is said to have presented to the Vatican library as a gift five thousand volumes of his own creation.

The information of these increasing demands for ancient doc.u.ments of any kind spread over Europe and portions of Asia, bringing into Florence a great quant.i.ty of them, as well as many scholars and copyists.

Shiploads of the works of the Byzantine historians arrived from the Golden Horn, and the city became a vast manufactory for duplicating or forging ancient MSS. Parchment and vellum were too costly to employ very much, so most of them were of paper.

Ves.p.a.ciano, one of the many engaged in this business and who lived in 1464, found it necessary in order to reduce the cost of production, to become a paper merchant.

In writing to a friend he says:

"I engaged forty-five copyists and in twenty- two months had completed two hundred volumes, which included some Greek and Latin as well as many Oriental writings."

The reading and judging of ma.n.u.scripts are now known as the science of diplomatics. To determine their antiquity or genuineness requires the nicest distinctions and care, irrespective of alleged dates (whether exhibited by Roman numbers or the Arabic one which we continue to employ, and which first made their appearance near the commencement of the twelfth century). The inks as already mentioned and used on them, as we shall see, serve fully as much in estimating authenticity or genuineness as does combined together,--the style of the writing, the miniatures, vignettes and arabesques (if any), the colors, covers, materials, ornamentation and the character of their contents.

With the re-establishment of learning in the fifteenth century and the creation of alleged stable governments, who may perhaps have realized the necessity for an ink of enduring good commercial and record qualities, so-called "gall" inks were chosen as best possessing them, and were made and employed with varying results even more than the ancient "Indian"

inks.

Mediaeval practices in relation to ink and other writing materials as well as the monastic libraries of which England, France, Germany and Italy possessed many during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and more particularly the fifteenth centuries, were governed by established rules.

The libraries of such inst.i.tutions were placed by the abbot under the sole charge of the "armarian," an officer who was made responsible for the preservation of the volumes under his care; be was expected frequently to examine them, lest damp or insects should injure them; he was to cover them with wooden covers to preserve them and carefully to mend and restore any damage which time or accident might cause; he was to make a note of any book borrowed from the library, with the name of the borrower; but this last rule applied only to the less valuable portion of it, as the "great and precious books"

could only be lent by the permission of the abbot himself. It was also the duty of the armarian to have all the books in his charge marked with their correct t.i.tles, and to keep a perfect list of the whole.

Some of these catalogues are still in existence and are curious and interesting in their exemplification of the kinds of ink employed and as indicative of the state of literature in the Middle Ages, besides presenting the names of many authors whose works have never reached us. It was also the duty of the armarian, under the orders of his superior, to provide the transcribers of ma.n.u.scripts with the writings which they were to copy, as well as all the materials necessary for their labors, to make bargains as to payment, and to superintend the work during their progress.

These transcribers, Mr. Maitland in his "Dark Ages" tells us, were monks and their clerks, some of whom were so skilled that they could perform all the different branches. They were exhorted by the rules of their order to learn writing, and to persevere in the work of copying ma.n.u.scripts as being one most acceptable to G.o.d; those who could not write were recommended to bind books. This was in line with the behest of the famous monk Alciun who lived in the eighth century and who entreated all to employ themselves in copying books, saying:

"It is a most meritorious work, more useful to the health than working in the fields, which profits only a man's body, while the labour of a copyist profits his soul."

When black ink was used in liturgical writings, the t.i.tle page and heads of chapters were written in red ink; whence comes the term rubric. Green, purple, blue and yellow inks were sometimes used for words, but chiefly for ornamenting capital letters.

A large room was in most monasteries set apart for such labors and here the general transcribers pursued their avocations; in addition, small rooms or cells, known also as scriptoria, occupied by such monks as were considered, from their piety and learning, to be ent.i.tled to the indulgence, and used by them for their private devotions, as well as for the purpose of transcribing works for the use of the church or library.

The scriptoria were frequently enriched by donations and bequests from those who knew the value of the works carried on in them, and large estates were often devoted to their support.

"Meanwhile along the cloister's painted side, The monks--each bending low upon his book With head on hand reclined--their studies plied; Forbid to parley, or in front to look,

Lengthways their regulated seats they took: The strutting prior gazed with pompous mien, And wakeful tongue, prepared with prompt rebuke, If monk asleep in sheltering hood was seen; He wary often peeped beneath that russet screen.

"Hard by, against the window's adverse light, Where desks were wont in length of row to stand, The gowned artificers inclined to write; The pen of silver glistened in the hand Some of their fingers rhyming Latin scanned; Some textile gold from halls unwinding drew, And on strained velvet stately portraits planned; Here arms, there faces shown in embryo view, At last to glittering life the total figures grew."

--FOSBROOKE.

The public scribes of those days were employed mostly by secular individuals, although subject to be called upon at any moment by the fathers of the church. They worked in their homes except when any valuable work was to be copied, then in that of their employer, who boarded and lodged them during the time of their engagement.

To differentiate the character of the cla.s.s of pigments or materials then employed in making colored inks, from those of the more ancient times is difficult; because we not only find many of like character but of larger variety. These were used more for purposes of illuminating and embellishing than for regular writing.

Even when printing had been invented s.p.a.ces were frequently left, both in the block books and in the earliest movable type, for the illumination by hand, of initial letters so as to deceive purchasers into the belief that the printed type which was patterned closely after the forms of letters employed in MSS.

writings was the real thing. The learned soon discovered such frauds and thereafter these practices were abandoned.