Scribal Tools

A brief historical overview of fish glue as an artist's material applied to paper and parchment artifacts.

The full text of the English translation, featuring recipes for artists' supplies, and instructions for techniques.

This comprehens ive report represents a landmark in the publicatio n of medieval finds from excavation s in York. It encompasse s very large assemblage s of medieval artefacts of a wide variety of materials, including iron, non-ferrou s metal, stone, jet, amber, fired clay, glass and textile. These were recovered from four major sites in York.

Links to images of medieval and renaissanc e containers used to hold ink.

The science behind products used for illumination: slaked plaster, quill pens, iron gall inks, carbon inks, paints, and eggs.

Includes recipes and instructions for drawing charcoal, gesso, a gilder's pad, glair, gum ammoniac, gum arabic, hide glue, iron gall ink, lampblack ink, shell gold, slaked plaster, and walnut ink.

Leather cases, often cylindrica l, used to contain pens and other writing tools. These are sometimes depicted as worn on a belt, though sometimes they appear on a desk or hung on the wall. Includes 14th-16th century depictions , and a few extant examples.

A discussion group for SCA bookbinders and those interested in scribal sciences such as paper making, ink and pigment creation, pen and quill making, etc.

Depictions of writers & scriveners at work include scribal tools in context (including pens, inkhorns, penners, and writing-slopes); a few links to ink containers (inkhorns, inkwells, and inkstands), pens, pen-boxes, and writing-desks.

How did itinerant scribes of the Middle Ages and Renaissance carry their pens and ink supply with them? These scribes often carried their pens (i.e., quills), pen knife, and ink bottles by hanging them from their belts. The box that holds the pens and knife is called a penner, and the bottle of ink is the inkhorn. When was it used, how was it used, what was it made of, what did it look like, and what was inside the penner?

An undergraduate project to create a pair of illuminated manuscript pages.