Europe's Oldest Book on Show

[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.