Manuscript
This is a hand-written manuscript produced on some type of fine polished animal skin. I own two of them, which I bought very inexpensively years ago. One has a defect at the edge of the page, and this one has some sort of random mark on oneside. I used to do a lot of calligraphy, some with handmade reed pens, so I could appreciate how these scribes worked. Years ago, pages like this were plentiful and not really seen as any type of art form.
Edward Johnston, a calligrapher who was largely responsible for the rebirth of the art during the last century, wrote a lot about the old scribes. He said that "the thing that would have struck us most--even more than the skill, would have been the speed with which he wrote...they didn't seek beauty directly....everything they did was primarily for use and even those gorgeous letters they put in their illuminated manuscripts were primarily for use as book markers. " He went on to point out that despite the utilitarian goal, scribes had a "dream of divine beauty that they were seeking," and thus were able to manifest it in their work.
Comments and faves
reizenbee, icka, lachance, Henk en Sara Raap, and 24 other people added this photo to their favorites.
m_d_n (67 months ago | reply)
Great shot. The contrast is beautiful and I can hardly believe it's handwritten because the lettering in so clear. How long that must have taken!
thanks for sharing...
GustavoG (67 months ago | reply)
Calligraphy holds an element of fascination to me... which is quite surprising, considering my horrendous handwriting.
It's one of those "...one day..." things.
Muffet (67 months ago | reply)
GustavoG, no, I don't think it's surprising at all. I too have horrendous handwriting. I think it's one reason I'm so fascinated by calligraphy. Handwriting is done on the fly, at least by me. I hurry through the task. Calligraphy as I do it is done slowly and thoughtfully. It requires focus and time.
Rob Testorelli (67 months ago | reply)
I myself do calligraphy. Every once on awhile I see something that makes me want to toss my pens and take up knitting!! Very cool work and a very cool photo.
tymelynerdelux (67 months ago | reply)
You love ancient handwriting and do it May God Bless you well in that
having the right kind of spider-thin script is to die for! it makes me think the writing done by angels keeping the records in Heaven over the course of mankind's time on earth. When we all get up there we're going to see the script of all eternity as all of our questions will be answered. My handwriting is like a doctor's maybe at some point in time back in the ancient history I must have been one somewhere
(giggle) its awful Tymelynerdelux
AllieW. (55 months ago | reply)
Lovely shot.
damaniphredil (54 months ago | reply)
i love this photo!!!
i like manuscript and hand-writing in general.. but this is wonderful!!!!!
i do calligraphy, sometimes..i'm not very good..however i can say that is a very very wonderful manuscript!!!!
l.traube (53 months ago | reply)
Ciao, sono amministratore di un gruppo chiamato Manuscripta mediaevalia. Ci farebbe piacere aggiungere le tuo foto al gruppo.
grafix4life (39 months ago | reply)
You're lucky to have something like that. I'd love to own a nice peice of manuscript myself. I'm in love with the Book of Kells and similar work.
dragonflydreams88 (28 months ago | reply)
. . . gorgeous!!! . . . thanx for sharing!!!
aaron_language (24 months ago | reply)
That is an incredible manuscript and a great shot of it! Wow! We just wanted to let you know that we have downloaded your photo and are thinking about using it to make a short YouTube movie for ESL students on being a better writer. If we use it, we will naturally provide a credit and let you know then. Our writing-related website is at www.aaroncoaches.com/, but it is mostly in Japanese. Thanks for making your photo available with a Creative Commons license.
illustratormihi2 (21 months ago | reply)
Appears to be from a portion of a Psalter, the end of Psalm 114 and the beginning of Psalm 115 'Credidi'. The first versse of Ps. 115 is "Credidi propter quod locutus sum ego adflictus sum nimis." or "I have believed, therefore I have spoken: but I have been humbled exceedingly."
My guess based on certain conventions that I can see is that this may be from the 14th century.
Jasper on the Move (19 months ago | reply)
Would love to use this image for one of my posts @ doede.net. I understood the image is Creative Commons, but would like to know if there any other author specific rules besides attribution. If so let me know.
Pablo Rizzo (14 months ago | reply)
Fantastic !!