Palimpsest
1 2022-10-20T20:31:07-07:00 Elizabeth Palomino 97f5cc41f822c98012020ee3f1612be0c7950d52 40636 1 plain 2022-10-20T20:31:07-07:00 Elizabeth Palomino 97f5cc41f822c98012020ee3f1612be0c7950d52This page is referenced by:
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MS 9/2:4 Imaging
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Multi-Spectral Imaging
The fragment at the Spencer Research Library (MS 9/2:4) has a recto and verso with embellished vines around the text. The other pages from this manuscript are spread across different collections in North America. One leaf is in the Cary Graphic Arts Collection at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. In 2020, students at Rochester uncovered lost text on two 15th century leaves, one of them is a page from the same Book of Hours as MS 9/2:4. The text was recovered by taking a series of photographs under different wavelengths of light, both visible and invisible (ultraviolet and infrared). This technique is known as multispectral imaging (MSI) and it can reveal details that are invisible to the naked eye. When ultraviolet light is applied to an artifact, it is called ultraviolet-fluorescence, because specific chemical compounds fluoresce or glow under UV light. Ultraviolet-fluorescence revealed a dark French cursive that was scraped away from the parchment leaf. There are 30 known pages from this Book of Hours. The other pages could also be palimpsests. [1]
Highlight Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI)
At this time, the imaging lab at Spencer is not equipped to capture multispectral data. Instead, we used a form of computational photography called Highlight Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI). RTI images are created from multiple photographs of a subject shot from a stationary camera position. In each photograph, light is projected from measured points and reflected back with a black sphere. There are two types of RTI, dome RTI and highlight RTI. The highlight method is a low cost alternative to dome RTI, which relies on a calibrated dome with integrated light points. Domes are often large, their size must be relative to the size of the object, and fragile objects are difficult to place under the dome. The necessary tools to capture highlight RTIs include a digital camera and tripod; a flash gun, flash transmitter, and a tether for the shutter release; a black reflective sphere (we used a black Christmas ornament) and string for measuring the distance between the flashgun and the object. After creating a data set, the images are rendered in RTIBuilder the resulting file is either a .ptm or .hsh file. RTIViewer allows the viewer to take the resulting file and illuminate it with the existing light points.
MS 9/2:4 was selected to determine if RTI could detect lost text and determine whether this manuscript is a palimpsest. In the end, the results were inconclusive. I was unable to identify additional text but the information could still be obscured. If this manuscript is a palimpsest, it may require more robust imaging such as multispectral to uncover lost text.
[1] “RIT students discover hidden 15th-century text on medieval manuscripts”
https://www.rit.edu/science/spotlights/rit-students-discover-hidden-15th-century-text-medieval-manuscripts -
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Cary Collection
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Title: Book of Hours
Number of Texts: 1, with a hidden palimpsest
Language: Latin
Script: Gothic
Country: France
Century: 15th Century
Collector: Otto Ege
Collection: RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection
Description:- Fragment, 1 leaf
- Parchment
- Palimpsest
- Ultraviolet-fluorescence
Link to the Cary Collection record. -
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MS C189
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Binding
Country: France?
Language: Latin
Assigned Date: s. XII
Searchable Date Range: 1100 - 1199
Script: Caroline minuscule
Number of texts: 1
Description:- Parchment - 325 x 213 mm - 2 columns of at least 35 lines; ruled in hardpoint
- Religious text
Medieval Recycling
During the middle ages, manuscript pages were made from parchment, or in some cases vellum. Parchment is a writing surface made from stretched sheep or goatskin, whereas vellum is made from calfskin. Vellum is a smooth, even writing surface that surpasses parchment in both quality and cost. Parchment is sturdy but it is also difficult and costly to produce. Older manuscripts were sometimes recycled for the production of new books. A scraping device such as pumice was commonly used to erase text and reuse pages, this creates what is known as a palimpsest. Occasionally, the bindery would use manuscript fragments for a book spine. In some cases, old manuscript leaves were cut and folded to fit the cover of a new book.
Don’t judge a book by its cover
The cover, the front flyleaves and the back flyleaves of MS C189 are made up of parchment leaves from three different manuscripts. This manuscript is placed inside fragments of two manuscripts and then wrapped with a third one. Parchment was folded in half to produce a limp binding, this is known as a bifolium. Two folios (singular pages) were folded in half to form flyleaves at the front and back of the manuscript. Flyleaves act as barriers, protecting the main text from pest damage such as worming.
The parchment cover is attached to the book block by exposed leather split laces. The split laces exit through single slits and each lace returns through two separate slits to create a V shape. The split laces are mostly intact. All edges of the cover are large enough to allow for turn-ins. The upper margin of the bifolium was trimmed to form what is now the fore-edge turn-in for the front cover. The cover has lapped miters; the fore-edge turn-ins lie on top of the head and tail turn-ins at the corner of the miters. -
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MS C189 Introduction
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Medieval Recycling
During the middle ages, manuscript pages were made from parchment, or in some cases vellum. Parchment is a writing surface made from stretched sheep or goatskin, whereas vellum is made from calfskin. Vellum is a smooth, even writing surface that surpasses parchment in both quality and cost. Parchment is sturdy but it is also difficult and costly to produce. Older manuscripts were sometimes recycled for the production of new books. A scraping device such as pumice was commonly used to erase text and reuse pages, this creates what is known as a palimpsest. Occasionally, bookbinders used fragments of manuscripts as book spines. In some cases, old manuscript leaves were cut and folded to fit the cover of a new book.
Don’t judge a book by its cover
The cover, the front flyleaves and the back flyleaves of MS C189 are made up of parchment leaves from three different manuscripts. This manuscript is placed inside fragments of two manuscripts and then wrapped with a third one. Parchment was folded in half to produce a limp binding, this is known as a bifolium. Two folios (singular pages) were folded in half to form flyleaves at the front and back of the manuscript. Flyleaves act as barriers, protecting the main text from pest damage such as worming.
The parchment cover is attached to the book block by exposed leather split laces. The split laces exit through single slits and each lace returns through two separate slits to create a V shape. The split laces are mostly intact. All edges of the cover are large enough to allow for turn-ins. The upper margin of the bifolium was trimmed to form what is now the fore-edge turn-in for the front cover. The cover has lapped miters; the fore-edge turn-ins lie on top of the head and tail turn-ins at the corner of the miters.
