Wednesday, 4 March 2015

Go discover some book stuff.

One of the things that keep me absolutely fascinated with the Middle Ages and medieval stuff is the constant discovery of new things. Well, new to me. New aspects, new interpretations, new discoveries, new finds - our image of medieval life is continuously growing, evolving, changing.

Case in point: These two blog posts by Erik Kwakkel. The first one is about transportation covers for medieval books, ranging from binding as a girdle book to boxes and satchels. Girdle books are probably quite well-known, but I had not seen the diverse satchels before... which would also be nice to take closer looks at to see how their construction is, and how they were sewn.

The second one is about cracking codes - the code that typography is, and the codes of abbreviation.  Did you know that there was a medieval form of shorthand? Or that there is a script that is actually called "littera inintelligibilis" - indecipherable?

It's probably a good thing that our book had a deadline - it would be just too easy to go on adding more and more things. The Middle Ages, after all, are long and large and full of interesting things!

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