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The paper investigates a pigments palette founded at handwritten parchment fragment no. 29 from the collection of Finnish excerpts (the Russian Academy of Sciences Library (RASL), Finn. exc. 29, old code 4.9.28), dated to the XIV century. This manuscript, with the polychrome images used to decorate the capital letters of the text, has not been restored. Using Raman spectroscopy, we found the use of cinnabar for red shades, identified a mixture of sulfur–arsenic pigments (orpiment and pararealgar), and found a mixture of indigo pigment and gypsum in various ratios for blue shades. The possibility of detecting the characteristic luminescence of the identified pigments from real (nonmodel) samples was studied under excitation with laser radiation of various wavelengths.

This work presents the study of an XIII century French medieval Legendarium manuscript. The manuscript has a complex background of destruction and restoration attempts. Now the manuscript consists of 214 sheets encapsulated in polyethylene terephthalate conservation envelopes. The damaged manuscript sheets are in different states, some illustrations and text sections are in rather bad condition, some pages contain blurred traces of pigments and inks, which were used to write letters and make illustrations. Works carried out on this unique literary monument, included research using optical microscopy (OM), infrared reflectography (IRR), micro-Raman spectroscopy, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The work was aimed at the estimation of the manuscript preservation and its current state. It has been demonstrated that even the study of micro-particles can be useful in the initial stages of the parchment manuscripts study that are in highly damaged condition. A wide variety of materials, which were used in different periods of time, have been found. Two types of red and four types of blue pigments were found in the studied particles from parchment. Locating the particles of iron-gall ink and pigments (for example, cinnabar and azurite) in the same region may indicate a possible use of this type of ink for both text and decoration. Pigments were revealed, the appearance of which date to a later time compared with the estimated date of Legendarium creations. These pigments include Prussian blue, pigments based on monoazo group and phthalocyanine blue. This contributes to the identification and localization of later interventions in the object under study, which were made both for the purpose of restoration and preservation.

The 6th century Codex Sinopensis or Sinope Gospels (Paris, Biblioth&egrave, que nationale de France) is one of the most precious purple codices that survive from the Late Antique period. Together with the Vienna Genesis (Wien, &Ouml, sterreichische Nationalbibliothek) and the Rossano Gospels (Rossano Calabro, Museo Diocesano), it has an unusually rich decorative apparatus with scenes representing biblical episodes. It can be, therefore, considered one of the most important preserved artistic productions of the early medieval era. The manuscript has been subjected to a non-invasive diagnostic campaign to evaluate the quality of the colourants used in its decoration, to understand how the parchment was coloured, and to carry out a comparison with the Vienna Genesis and the Rossano Gospels. The techniques used were UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry with optical fibres (FORS), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), spectrofluorimetry, and optical microscopy. Analyses highlighted the presence of ultramarine blue, which, besides the use of pure gold for the ink and paint, certifies the high value of the manuscript. In addition, this must be seen as one of the earliest examples of its use in paintings. The purple colour of the parchment was identified as orchil, a dye extracted from lichens, similar to the results of analytical investigations carried out on other purple codices, and not the expected Tyrian purple dye.

Parchment used for restoration, book binding and art requires special performance on physical-chemical, organoleptic and aesthetic characteristics, but also good long-term stability. In this sense, the parchment is ecologically processed, with features that ensure firmness, fullness, light resistance, dimensional stability, thermal stability, malleability, flexural/pressure bending resistance. For a good behaviour in time and to artificial ageing, it is found that in the case of parchments made/obtained from sheepskin, the fat or volatile matter content must be as low as possible. The parchment with these qualities allows for the creation of new covers or historical replicas, complements for the integration of old covers, hot and/or cold stamping modelling, incision, entrainment, deposition of gold and silver foil, colouring and decoration with pigments and dyes. Some niche areas such as book bindings and art require a dedicated craftsmanship that promotes the survival of artisanal forms of production and the perpetuation of local creativity and identity. The parchments have undergone artificial ageing treatments based on the concomitant action of temperature and relative humidity for up to 16 days. Chemical (volatile matter, extractable substances, total ash, total nitrogen, dermal) and physical-chemical (measurement of colour variation and shrinkage temperature) analyses were performed to evaluate colour parameters and collagen hydrostability. The fat content of the parchment leads to oxidation reactions that cause the bathochromic effect, closing the colour, but also the deterioration over time of the fibrillar structure by depreciating the contraction temperature.

The paper presents the results of electron microscope studies of parchment of Old Russian manuscripts from the collection of the Russian National Library. The stratified distribution of elements over the thickness of parchment revealed by energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis allows to identify technological features involved in producing this material medium of textual monuments. Treatment with calcium-based compounds, egg white, pumice, salt, alumina sand, etc., was determined.

This article presents a new edition of a fragment of an eleventh-century parchment from Qasr Ibrim (Q.I. 1964, 6a). An inspection of the manuscript led to identification of one of the pieces as a s...

The fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 and the loss of the Frankish Levant in 1291 triggered new calls or crusade and the literature dedicated to "the recovery of the Holy Land" (pro recuperatione Terre Sancte). The exhortation to war and the urgency of Jerusalem's deliverance were also expressed through liturgy. This article examines two liturgical texts, a "Votive mass for the recovery of the Holy Land" (Missa devota ad recurandam Terram Sanctam) and an "Introit to the Holy Sepulchre of the Lord" (Ad Sanctum Sepulcrum Donin introitus), transmitted in manuscripts from the Franciscan library in Jerusalem, the Biblioteca Generale della Custodia di Terra Santa. This article explores the two liturgical texts in the historical context of fifteenth-century Jerusalem, when the Franciscan friars where the only Latin clergy allowed to serve at the Holy Places. Historical accounts produced in this milieu evince the friars' efforts to memorialize the deeds of the crusader kings, celebrated as liberators of the Holy Land. The liturgical texts analysed here complement this militant memorialization. Keywords: Jerusalem, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Franciscan liturgy, recovery of the Holy Land. On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

"This special issue of Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia (from now on Acta) interrogates religious practices of reading, writing, praying and engaging with texts, images, architecture, music, and ritual spaces in late antique Rome and medieval Europe. More specifically, it aims to analyze and deepen our understanding of how liturgy and religious practice modeled and modified selves and communities, how they shaped and transformed identities and built communities - both individual and collective, religious and lay". On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

This concluding chapter for the volume focuses on the richly poetic lyricism of House’s writing. To make his points, the award-winning poet Maurice Manning gives a close reading of A Parchment of Leaves. Manning uses key scenes from the novel to illustrate the poetic proclivities of Silas House’s writing style, and in the process Manning reveals an expressive style that is profoundly Romantic in its sensibilities and lyricism.

Biocodicological analysis of parchments from manuscript books and archives offers unprecedented insight into the materiality of medieval literacy. Using ZooMS for animal species identification, we explored almost the entire library and all the preserved single leaf charters of a single medieval Cistercian monastery (Orval Abbey, Belgium). Systematic non-invasive sampling of parchment collagen was performed on every charter and on the first bifolium from every quire of the 118 codicological units composing the books (1490 samples in total). Within the genuine production of the Orval scriptorium (26 units), a balanced use of calfskin (47.1%) and sheepskin (48.5%) was observed, whereas calfskin was less frequent (24.3%) in externally produced units acquired by the monastery (92 units). Calfskin was preferably used for higher quality manuscripts while sheepskin tends to be the standard choice for ‘ordinary’ manuscript book production. This finding is consistent with thirteenth-century parchment accounts from Beaulieu Abbey (England) where calfskin supply was more limited and its price higher. Our study reveals that the making of archival documents does not follow the same pattern as the production of library books. Although the five earliest preserved charters are made of calfskin, from the 1230s onwards, all charters from Orval are written on sheepskin.

Observations of medieval bindings revealed a distinctive material: a fine white tawed skin, similar in appearance to parchment, but with flexibility suggestive of leather. A few rare medieval recip...

Thanks to Christopher Clarkson’s pioneering work on limp parchment binding, this structure has become an object of study in the international community of book conservators. An Italian late-sixteen...

Old Russian manuscript collections can also be literary monuments and enrich the history of literature of Kievan Rus'. In the present article, one of these ancient collections, and first of all its composition, is analyzed from literary point of view. A speculation about optimism of the anonymous compiler after the expectations of the end of the world in 1492 (7000, according to Old Russian chronology) is given. The appendix presents an unpublished anonymous premonition against drunkenness with a description of disgusting behavior of drunks.

Introduction: Capture of proteins and metabolites from Cultural Heritage (paintings, manuscripts, parchment etc.) has been done in the past via surface scraping and erasing, a method discouraged. The EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) method consists of a plastic polymer in which strong cation and anion resins, admixed with C8 and/or C18, are embedded. Areas covered: We review here the findings on different items stored in public libraries and archives: (a) the original manuscript of the novel Master y Margarita by Bulgakov; (b) the death registries of the lazaretto in the 1630 Milano plague; (c) the shirt worn by A. Chekhov in his death bed; (d) Kepler's script on Hipparchus (in St. Petersburg National Archives); (e) the Memoirs of G. Casanova. Expert opinion: The technique here surveyed appears to be a unique tool enabling exploration of any document stored in public archives, museum and private collections without damaging or contaminating the items under analysis. The amounts harvested from any surface are very minute, yet sufficient for analysis via advanced mass spectrometry instrumentation, thus permitting the identification of all captured material. It is hoped that the present review will stimulate the scientific community to adopt it for projects pertaining to Cultural Heritage.

The present contribution looks closely at an illuminated parchment fragment which recently reappeared on the antiques market and was sold by Sotheby's in 2016. According to our study, the illuminat...

The analytical diagnostics of art objects and items of cultural value have become increasingly sought for in modern interdisciplinary studies. Within the natural-science approach, a manuscript is considered as a physical object consisting of materials of two types. The first type comprises various substrates for writing (papyrus, paper, parchment, palm leaves), and the second type includes writing materials (soot ink, iron gall ink, or red lead ink). Textual fragments of ancient parchment manuscripts, including hidden textual fragments, are elementally mapped and digitally imaged with X-ray fluorescence. The collagen structure of the parchment and ink composition are diagnosed.

The salvage and conservation of the 58th Battalion Book of Remembrance is an interesting and important case study of the treatment of a fire-damaged and waterlogged parchment volume. The treatment ...

In the miniatures of Gospels manuscripts belonging to the Byzantine world the four evangelists writing their texts are sometimes represented on the left side of the book opening in pairs turning to each other. One of such examples is found in the miniatures of the Gospels Chlud. 30 from the State Historical Museum (Novgorod, 1330–1340s). These miniatures repeat in a somewhat simplified form the images on the bronze Royal Doors from Novgorod dating to the same period and now kept in the State Russian Museum, and on the fragments from other similar doors now divided between the State Russian Museum, the State Hermitage and the Louvre. Our survey of illuminated Gospels shows that such “reversed”images of the evangelists existed in Byzantium (e.g. in the 10th-century Gospels Stavronikita 43 from Mount Athos), but more often in Rus, from the 12th century on (e.g. Dobrilo Gospels of 1164 in the Russian State Library, f. 256 Rumyants., no. 103). There are some other examples dating from the 14th or early 15th century. Analysis of these manuscripts’ structure shows that the use of such iconography was not connected with the desire to spare the parchment. We suggest that miniatures with the “reversed” evangelists rather reproduce similar images in church decoration, for example, the wall paintings in the pendatives and the images of the evangelists on the iconostasis doors. Similar iconography is also encountered on the precious revetments of the Gospels books.

This article presents and discusses a parchment fragment in the Royal Library in Copenhagen (Fragment Collection, no. 3230), a single folio of a now lost manuscript. It contains a miracle tale abou...

The article publishes nine parchment leaves (or parts thereof), reused as a secondary binding of six books held in the library of the former Capuchin and present Franciscan monastery in Engelberg (Bavaria). The binding had been executed in the second third of the 18th century - relatively late for this type of reuse. The manuscripts can be dated approximately to the 14th century. The parchments contain vocalized Hebrew liturgical texts from the Maḥzor according to the Ashkenazic rite, either texts of the Yom Kippur or Seliḥot. Most of the texts, except one, are known Piyyutim. Some of the leaves contain only partly known commentaries on the margins. Three of the leaves are successive leaves of one manuscript, the others except one, have been part of the same manuscript.

Se estudia el incunable Hore intemerate secundum usum romanum existente en la biblioteca del ducado de Pastrana, desconocido hasta ahora, obra de los impresores parisinos Thielman Kerver y George Wolf. Con este ejemplar se eleva a ocho el número de copias conservadas de la edición del 26 de abril de 1499, de bella factura en vitela, ricamente miniado e ilustrado con numerosos grabados, que constituyen un amplio programa iconográfico de devoción cristiana, analizado ahora en detalle. Se incluyen fotografías del incunable. This study covers the incunabulum Hore intemerate secundum usum romanum, that belongs to the library of the Duchy of Pastrana, unknown until now. The work was produced by the Parisian printers Thielman Kerver and George Wolf. This issue brings to eight the number of copies preserved of the 26th of April 1499 edition. This study analyses in detail the incunabulum, which is beautifully produced on vellum parchment, richly illuminated with miniatures and illustrated with numerous engravings, which constitute a comprehensive iconographic program of Christian devotion. Photographs of the incunabulum are included.

The article analyzes the types of lining of Old Russian codexes. The conclusion is made that there are two main techniques of lining — tra- ditional with the use of a special awl or knife and for the first time described in Russian historiography — with the use of a template. It is concluded that when using an awl or a knife, the lining furrows can be either wide, oval or rectangular in cross-section, or narrow (angular or triangular in cross-sec- tion), depending on the tool. Observations on the nature of the location of line grooves and punctures allowed us to reconstruct the technology of preparing parchment for writing. In most cases, the two-bifol lining was used. After the 4 bifolia were folded in half, punctures were made in the fields. Then the block was again sorted into 2 sheets. The sheets of parchment were unbent again. Lining was deployed at bifolia, not one tile at a time. In the pre-Mongol peri- od, in most of the studied manuscripts, there is a clear difference in the color of the hair (darker and yellowish) and flesh (lighter) sides. At a later time, the technology changed significantly, and in codexes, created in the period from the second half of the 13th–15th centuries differences between the flesh and hair sides are practically not observed, as a result of which the so-called Gregory’s rule is not executed. The article also analyzes the technique of template lining of parchment manuscripts. The earliest known case of this type of lining is recorded in the copy of Izbornik (Anthology) of 1073 year, which was created in Moscow back to 1403. The appearance of template technology significantly diversified the lining schemes.

The article is devoted to the dating and origin of the parchment passage indicated in the title. It is customary to date the manuscript to the XV century (with clarification – the beginning or the first half of the century). There is an opinion expressed almost 40 years ago by an authoritative Bulgarian paleographer that the fragment is of Wallachian-Moldavian origin. The author believes that the monument was painted in western Bulgaria in the first half or middle of the XIV century. This explains the West Bulgarian spelling features and the proximity of the fragment’s handwriting to Serbian manuscripts of this time.

Among the many books in Michigan State University’s Criminology Collection is a Corpus juris militaris, published in Germany in 1687. Its binding contains four small parchment strips with medieval Dutch verses. Although the strips are still attached in the spine, the verses can be identified as belonging to the Roman der Lorreinen, and more specifically as remnants of manuscript A, written in the duchy of Brabant in the second quarter of the fourteenth century. Manuscript A originally must have consisted of over 400 leaves, containing more than 150.000 verses (note: there are no complete manuscripts of the Roman der Lorreinen). Only 7% of manuscript A has been preserved in several European libraries, mainly in Germany. The new fragment suggests that manuscript A was used as binding material not earlier than the end of the seventeenth century (after 1687). The newly found verses are from the first part of the Roman der Lorreinen, which was an adaptation of the Old French chanson de geste Garin le Loherenc. This article offers a first edition and study of the verses, comparing them to the Old French counterparts. This comparison offers additional evidence for the earlier hypothesis that manuscript A contained the same adaptation of Garin le Loherenc as the fragmentary manuscripts B and C.

This article presents editions of three Arabic parchment deeds of sale from the 4th/10th-century Fayyūm Oasis belonging to two monks, Babā Banīla and Babā Buṭrus, of the Dayr al-Qalamūn monastery. The transactions recorded in our documents are mundane in and of themselves. But put together they offer bits of insight into Christian society in rural medieval Egypt, the notarial practice of provincial Muslim scribes, the relationship between monastic and Islamic legal institutions, and the important but little-attested Dayr al-Qalamūn.

Cultural heritage represents a national treasure evolving from the culture and spirituality of people. Therefore, it must be continuously recovered, protected and developed by all generations as priceless heritage. Referring to the Romanian cultural heritage items that are placed in restoration, at present, some works have been done for partial or complete replacing of degraded materials, both as the result of ageing under atmospheric and biologic agents. The aim of this study is testing different samples of new leather and parchment under UV radiation in the 220-380nm domain, in order to simulate the accelerated destruction in photo-oxidative conditions. The following materials have been studied: book binding leather obtained from calf hide, tanned by different systems (vegetable or vegetable and chromium) and parchment obtained from different kinds of animals. The evolution of the chromatic characteristics (luminosity, shade and chroma) at different exposure time was quantified by the diffuse reflectance technique in visible domain range and CIE-Lab software. Based on the chromatic stability after UV exposure, the most stable types of leather and parchment have been selected for further applications in the restoration process of historical manuscripts and books' covers.

This chapter surveys the stages in the production of manuscript codices: their material support (parchment, paper, etc.), inks, pricking, ruling, text transcription, and colophons. The author also treats imposition, the pecia system, palimpsests, the folding of skins and production of quires, and binding, closing with a discussion of rolls and remarks on the physical evidence for owners and readers of codices during the Middle Ages.

Compiled around the turn of the eighth century, in the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery in Northumbria, the Codex Amiatinus is the oldest complete Vulgate translation that remains extant in one volume. T...

An extraordinary manuscript prayer book with pasted-in and masterfully handcoloured engravings is a revealing example of prints modified for devotional and aesthetic purposes. Eighteen hand-coloured Netherlandish engravings from the first quarter of the sixteenth century are pasted on to the versos of parchment pages facing hand-written devotional texts. Prints were foundational to the design and format of the prayer book, and the text is closely aligned with images. The ordering of prints in the prayer book held devotional significance. The prayer book offers a compelling example of the usage and function of prints. Prints and illustrated books were ideal for private veneration, and they occupied an important role in the daily life and devotional practices of confraternities. The Rijksmuseum prayer book offers a glimpse into the regional Netherlandish market, which was to become significantly expanded with the growth of the print industry.

This article argues that in the fifteenth century, many manuscripts were physically recycled, and that this recycling is symptomatic of interest in sustaining books. In the case studies explored here, unwanted or old texts became valued for the physical qualities of the parchment on which they were written. Case studies of recycled manuscripts, including flyleaves, pastedowns, limp covers and palimpsests, are presented to argue that many books were made (and re-made) in sustainable ways. Although recycled books, and bits of books, have been mentioned fleetingly by many scholars, and studied as treasures or for the scraps of text they preserve, this article focuses particularly on the practices and processes of medieval book recycling. Research into recycled books thus adds to the history of material culture, to the history of the book, and to debates about the sustainability and durability of media today: we can learn from the practices and processes of the past.

This chapter thematizes a tension common to both thirteenth and twenty-first centuries, namely that between violence and affection towards animals. Initially Francis of Assisi is presented as a (counter-intuitive) paradigm of this. Then other relevant examples are explored, including the barbaric treatment of cranes in falconry, two very different literary presentations of hunts, the bizarre use of judicial proceedings against animals, and the keeping of lapdogs by noble ladies. The analysis shows that violence and affection can be closely linked, and that both often reflect a quintessentially thirteenth-century instinct to challenge conventional understandings of the human-animal divide. The chapter ends with a postscript interpreting the replacement of parchment by paper in book production as spelling the end of a particular form of violence towards animals.

It has long been accepted by most historians that the manuscript chart on parchment known as “Kunstmann I,” signed by the famous Portuguese cartographer Pedro Reinel, was made about 1504. The purpose of the present paper is to advocate c.1519 as a more likely date for the composition of the Kunstmann I chart. It will be seen that the original pronouncements of past historians for the earlier date were made before other documents found later in the nineteenth century shed light upon the Portuguese voyages to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Repeated by subsequent historians, the dating of c. 1504 become enshrined as conventional wisdom.

A 14th Century illuminated codex underwent an extensive restoration in 1739. The intervention was necessary because the volume was “rotten”. Some purple stains are still visible and passed through multiple pages in the thickness of the volume, with a pattern that suggested a resurgence of the infection after the restoration of the manuscript. The unusual appearance of the halos and the light-pink colouring of some of the spots indicated that a topical treatment of some kind could have been carried out. The stains were analysed by non-invasive and micro-invasive methods in order to reveal the chemicals used to disinfect or bleach them and the structural effects of the treatment on the collagen fibres. The chemical compound used to treat the stains of the codex contained sulphur and potassium, it was strongly acidic and in a liquid form. Based on both the results and the knowledge of that time, we hypothesised that in 1739 the restorer was aware of “infectious” nature of the stains and tried to stop the action of microorganisms. The attempt to stop the process would be the testimony of a diffuse knowledge on biodeterioration phenomena, not yet consolidated, but already present.

This article examines a number of Carolingian liturgical manuscripts (Wolfenbuttel Herzog August Bibliothek Wissenbourg 91, Cologne Dombibliothek MS 138, Vienna Österreichische Nationalbibliothek cod.ser.n. 2762 and Paris Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 227) each containing texts now known as the ordines romani. These texts are "stage directions" for the liturgy, distinguished by their reference to the practices of the church of Rome. While the ordines romani certainly give precious information about Roman liturgical practice, the Frankish contribution to shaping and displaying these texts inline with their own priorities and usages must be acknowledged too. For example, these manuscripts all combine ordines romani with texts about Roman history and topography. For these readers, the desired imitation of Roman liturgical practice was not about copying any particular text or practice by rote, but a deeper form of participation that involved the construction of an image of Rome across a whole manuscript. The given image of Rome responded to the institutional or personal needs animating the manuscript. These manuscripts compel us to imagine diverse practices of reading within and without liturgical performance. Keywords: pontificals, topography, Ordines, manuscripts, Carolingians. On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

A twelfth-century so-called liturgical drama (preserved in a unique copy of the thirteenth century, preserved in British Library, London), the Danielis ludus (Play of Daniel), based mainly on chapters 5 and 6 from the Book of Daniel has been much discussed in scholarship. It has been seen by scholars, not least Margot Fassler, as a (music) drama intended to establish a role model for young clerics in connection with ecclesiastical attempts at reforming the celebrations for New Year's in Beauvais, the so-called Feast of Fools. In this article, with consideration also of a recent discussion of the New Year's liturgy, I suggest to understand the Danielis ludus as a liturgical ritual transforming the (corporate) identity of the young clerics who were, undoubtedly, involved in its performance. Keywords: liturgy, drama, the sacred, medieval clerics. On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

This article draws attention to a previously unnoticed witness to the so-called ‘Western’ order of the gospels. The relevant manuscript, a sixth-century parchment codex, now survives as four fragments catalogued by the INTF as 073 and 084. Although the fragments only contain portions of the Gospel of Matthew, they also preserve a marginal concordance table based on the Eusebian Canon Tables, which implies the codex once contained all four gospels in the sequence Matthew–John–Luke–Mark.

Parchment is the primary writing medium of the majority of documents with cultural importance. Unfortunately, this material suffers of several mechanisms of degradation that affect its chemical-physical structure and the readability of text. Due to the unique and delicate character of these objects, the use of nondestructive techniques is mandatory. In this work, three partially degraded handwritten parchments dating back to the XIV-XV centuries were analyzed by means of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, µ-ATR Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and reflectance and UV-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. The elemental and molecular results provided the identification of the inks, pigments, and superficial treatments. In particular, all manuscripts have been written with iron gall inks, while the capital letters have been realized with cinnabar and azurite. Furthermore, multispectral UV fluorescence imaging and multispectral VIS-NIR imaging proved to be a good approach for the digital restoration of manuscripts that suffer from the loss of inked areas or from the presence of brown spotting. Indeed, using ultraviolet radiation and collecting the images at different spectral ranges is possible to enhance the readability of the text, while by illuminating with visible light and by collecting the images at longer wavelengths, the hiding effect of brown spots can be attenuated.

The article is a new edition of Karta Rogawskiego, a forgotten 15th century work written in the Polish language. The previous edition, available only in transliteration, comes from 1911. It is a single parchment sheet torn from a different code and then used as a cover, now partly illegible. The content revolves around a scene of Jesus being interrogated by Pontius Pilate, who delivers judgement. The article provides a new transliteration as well as transcription; photographs of the the manuscript have also been attached.

Parchment is considered one of the important materials in the manufacture of ancient manuscripts, and the use of parchment spread in the 3rd century AD (Reed 1975), and with people getting used to making parchment and using it in manuscripts, the quality, types and forms of parchment increased, as well as its uses, including manuscript covers. Paper replaced parchment with the 14th and 15th century parchment was given a good packaging material in terms of durability and formality, since with the spread of printing in 1550 AD in Europe and the adoption of paper as a basic material for printing, parchment makers tended to use it as a packaging material that can be drawn on and printed as well. The use of parchment in binding in terms of the arrangement of the binding steps did not differ much from leather as a basic binding material in general, but the parchment reinforcement strips technique, in which parchment was used as supporting strips inside the covers called Laced, were thin strips of thickness affixed to the heel of the manuscript and placed these The strips are inside both covers. This technique was used most of the covers in early medieval parchment scrolls.