Jenny Lynn

In connection with our study of some of the earliest Latin manuscripts on papyrus and parchment, we took a class to try our hands at two different hands: rustic capitals and old Roman cursive. The night before, our ink-making team got to work, mixing lamp black, gum arabic, and water in mortars and pestles, and preparing a small jar of ink for each student in the class.

A student holding a bag of ground gum arabic mixes lamp black, water, and gum arabic in a bowl using a pestle

During class, each student used our new ink, reed pens, and papyrus to make a copy either of a 1st-century BCE fragment of the poetry of Gallus written in rustic capitals, P. Qaṣr Ibrîm 78-3-11/1, or a second-century fragment on Servius Tullius written in old roman cursive, P. Oxy. 2088.

A student in the book arts workshop writes on papyrus using reed pens and lamp black ink

Students in the book arts workshop write on papyrus using reed pens and lamp black ink

The results were impressive:

Student copies of fragments of Roman literature on papyrus

A student's copy of a fragment of Roman poetry onpapyrus

We came away with a new respect for the skills of ancient scribes…now the old Roman cursive of P. Oxy. 2088 looks a lot better to us than it did when we were trying to read it earlier in the week. We also came away with a new appreciation for Kremer Pigmente, who supplied us with lamp black powder; just as a experiment, we tried to produce our own, and discovered that it’s a slow process….

Roman oil lamps positioned under sheets of metal on which they are depositing lamp black — Our attempt to make our own lamp black the old-fashioned way, with replica oil lamps from Potted History burning below thin sheets of metal. We did collect some lamp black, but the weak link in the system was definitely the yogurt containers, which began to melt….

This quarter, Latin Manuscripts and Palaeography has 13 students who will be using digital images of manuscripts from other libraries, as well as manuscripts in the collection of Dartmouth’s own Rauner Special Collections Library, to learn not just how to read the basic scripts we find in Latin manuscripts from late antiquity and the medieval period, bit also to understand late antique and medieval book production, from the making of parchment to the binding of the finished book. We’re fortunate to have a variety of guest lecturers coming in, including Dartmouth’s own Tim Baker (Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences for Special Projects and Academic Advising and Senior Lecturer in Religion) and Morgan Swan (Special Collections Librarian for Teaching & Scholarly Engagement) to introduce us to codicology using some of the most interesting manuscripts in the Rauner collection, Beth Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art) to speak to us about manuscript decoration, Deborah Howe (Collections Conservator at Dartmouth College Library). We are also visiting the Book Arts Workshop to join Sarah Marcella Parella (Book Arts Workshop Program Manager) to experiment with the tools of the scribe and binder. A highlight of the quarter will be a visit from parchmenter Jesse Meyer of Pergamena, who will give us an up-close view of the preparation of parchment.

Check back for posts on our activities!

Lamp Black Ink and Parchment

Welcome to Latin Manuscripts and Palaeography Spring 2024!