Europe's Oldest Book on Show

[Sheilajeanne]

As a leatherworker,  I found this extremely interesting. The cover of the book features some very fine Celtic knotwork and the raised pattern in the center has been done using a claylike substance to emboss the leather!  The book is approximately 1,300 years old. It has been digitized and is available online, if you want to see anything other than the cover.

“The left board is decorated with a rectangular frame with interlace patterns in the upper and lower fields and a larger central field containing a chalice from which stems project, terminating in a leaf or bud and four fruits. This raised motif was apparently made using a matrix, with a clay-like substance beneath the leather.”

 

https://mymodernmet.com/st-cuthbert-gospel-oldest-book/?fbclid=IwAR1OZf7PjNAGOtOs9uokoQMiIULPq0nzISaoFigI4y47bAKhYD54gMDTMss

[Hardrada]

Awesome find! Thanks for posting.

[chuck123wapati]

beautiful book!

[Riem]

And the bit of the calligraphy I could see there is exquisite! Very well preserved. What a treasure.

[Prusty]

I became obsessed with this book a few years back trying to learn about historic tooling on leather. It’s a fabulous thing to look at and examine, and reveals so much about the methods used in that time period.

Also, it’s encouraging to see that they made mistakes back in the 8th century and just ran with it, look at the lower left corner in the border and you’ll see the pattern goes wrong. And the upper section of knotwork they didn’t do evenly at all!

[Sheilajeanne]

Yes, it's a wonderful historic treasure!

And we ALL make misteaks! 

[stelmackr]

Wished the hand holding the book was gloved....  Wonderful  condition for its age.

Edited April 25, 2020 by stelmackr

[LumpenDoodle2]

On 4/25/2020 at 1:52 PM, Prusty said:

I became obsessed with this book a few years back trying to learn about historic tooling on leather. It’s a fabulous thing to look at and examine, and reveals so much about the methods used in that time period.

Also, it’s encouraging to see that they made mistakes back in the 8th century and just ran with it, look at the lower left corner in the border and you’ll see the pattern goes wrong. And the upper section of knotwork they didn’t do evenly at all!

Love old books, and there is no such thing as perfection.   

 

at least that’s what I keep telling myself.

[jcuk]

Even the finest Persian carpets will have flaw in them, they believe only God is perfect maybe the same  thinking there.

 

JCUK 

[LumpenDoodle2]

5 minutes ago, jcuk said:

Even the finest Persian carpets will have flaw in them, they believe only God is perfect maybe the same  thinking there.

 

JCUK 

I’ve wondered whether it was just that mistakes like that were more acceptable to whoever it was made for.  There again, only god being perfect is so much nicer sounding than “begger me, I’ve mucked up, shush.......don’t tell the customer, they’ll think it’s meant”.

[fredk]

Contrary to common belief,  mistakes were allowed for and accepted in these books. Obviously the fewer the better but its a myth that a writer had to start again if they made a mistake, they could and did alter a drip into a picture, or scrub out an error carefully using pumice stone. Until the 1950s people had a lower acceptance level of 'perfect' - I can give you a whole discourse on that, but I will not

[LumpenDoodle2]

I’m sure I saw an image of a page where the scribe was obviously bored, and doodled.

[Prusty]

15 minutes ago, LumpenDoodle2 said:

I’m sure I saw an image of a page where the scribe was obviously bored, and doodled.

Lots medieval European manuscripts have what’s called marginalia, weird and often obscene doodles in the margins. It’s fun to look up some for a laugh.

32 minutes ago, fredk said:

Until the 1950s people had a lower acceptance level of 'perfect' 

This is spot on, even the accessories of kings and queens throughout history were not perfect as we would expect today. The details were not important back then, what mattered was the overall impression. When you look at this book you really don’t notice the mistakes unless you go looking for them, the overall impression is a thing of beauty.

[LumpenDoodle2]

1 minute ago, Prusty said:

Lots medieval European manuscripts have what’s called marginalia, weird and often obscene doodles in the margins. It’s fun to look up some for a laugh.

This is spot on, even the accessories of kings and queens throughout history were not perfect as we would expect today. The details were not important back then, what mattered was the overall impression. When you look at this book you really don’t notice the mistakes unless you go looking for them, the overall impression is a thing of beauty.

I fear our priorities have changed too much.    It’s the heart, not the purse that counts when making things (until the bills need paying).

[Prusty]

35 minutes ago, LumpenDoodle2 said:

I fear our priorities have changed too much.    It’s the heart, not the purse that counts when making things (until the bills need paying).

If anything this is MORE our priority today than it was for most of history, in Europe at any rate. People did take pride in their work, but most crafters got paid very little for their work, to the point where we know of at least one cordwainer who lived in a dog kennel. We only have the good leatherwork left, most of it was made fast for cash and was cut up and reused until it was finally binned. There’s a load of knife sheaths found in the river Thames from 12th-15th century that show what the moneyed middle classes were carrying, and a lot of them were cheap and quickly made.

[LumpenDoodle2]

1 hour ago, Prusty said:

If anything this is MORE our priority today than it was for most of history, in Europe at any rate. People did take pride in their work, but most crafters got paid very little for their work, to the point where we know of at least one cordwainer who lived in a dog kennel. We only have the good leatherwork left, most of it was made fast for cash and was cut up and reused until it was finally binned. There’s a load of knife sheaths found in the river Thames from 12th-15th century that show what the moneyed middle classes were carrying, and a lot of them were cheap and quickly made.

And yet, given some of the lovely leatherwork we see on here, purchasers still want perfection, but without paying for it.