An introduction to Greek and Latin palaeography / by Sir Edward Maunde Thompson.

  • Edward Maunde Thompson
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An introduction to Greek and Latin palaeography / by Sir Edward Maunde Thompson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to. Wlieu Constantine re(iiiire(l copies ot‘ the Scriptiu’es foi' his new clnirches, he ordei’od fifty ]\ISS. on vellum, 7recT?//<oi'ra o-w/xarta eV hLcjydepais, to he prepared.^ And St. Jerome, Ep. cxli, refers to the replacement of damaged volumes in the libraiy of Pamphilns at Caesarea by MSS. on vellum : ‘ Quam [bibliothecam] ex parte corruptam Acacius dehinc et Euzoius, eiusdem ecclesiae sacerdotes, in membranis instaurare conati sunt.’ The large number of mediaeval MSS. that have been transmitted enables us to form some opinion on the character and appearance of vellum at different periods and in different countries. It may be stated generally that in the most ancient MSS. a thin, delicate material may usually be looked for, firm and crisp, with a smooth and glossy surface. This is generally the character at least of the vellum of the fifth and sixth centuries. Later than this period, as a rule, it does not appear to have been so carefullj^ prepared ; probabl}^', as the demand increased, a greater amount of inferior material came into the market.^ But the manufacture would naturally vary in difterent countries. In Ireland and England the early MSS. are generally on stouter vellum than their contemporaries abroad. In Italy a highly polished surface seems at most periods to have been in favour ; hence in the MSS. of that country and neighbouring districts, as the South of France, and again in Greece, the hard material resisted absorption, and it is often found that both ink and paint have flaked off. In contrast to this are the instances of soft vellum, used in England and France and in Northern Eui'ope generally, from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, for MSS. of the better class. L'terine vellum, taken from the unborn young, or the skins of new-born animals were used for special purposes. A good example of this very delicate material is found in Add. MS. 23935 in the British Museum, a volume of no abnoi’inal bulk, but containing in as many as 579 leaves a corpus of church service books, written in France in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In the fifteenth century the Italian vellum of the Renaissance is often of exti'eme whiteness and purity. Vellum was also of great service in the ornamentation of books. Its smooth surfaces showed off colours in all their brilliancy. Martial’s vellum MS. of Virgil (xiv. 186) is adonied with the portrait of the author : ‘Ipsius voltus prima tabella gerit.’ Isidore, Grig. vi. 11. 4, describing this mateidal, uses the words: ‘ Membrana autem aut Candida aut lutea aut pui’purea sunt. Candida naturaliter existunt. Luteuni membranum bicolor est, quod a confectore una tingitur parte, id est, crocatur. De quo Persius (iii. 10), “lam liber et positis bicolor membrana capillis”.’ ‘ Eusebius, Vit. Constant, iv. 36. - Instances, in MSS. of the seventh and tenth centuries, of vellum which was too thin or badly prepared, and therefore left blank by the scribes, are noticed in Cat. of Anc. MSS. in the Brit. Museum, pt. ii. 61 ; and in Delisle, Melanges, 101.
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