Transcriber’s Notes:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_), and ^ precedes
a superscript (x^2).
Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end.
* * * * *
The “Westminster” Series.
THE BOOK
* * * * *
[Illustration: Golden Binding of “The Gospels of Charlemagne,” with
Jewels and Enamels, 11th or 12th Century. [_Frontispiece._]
THE BOOK
ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
BY CYRIL DAVENPORT, V.D. F.S.A.
_ILLUSTRATED_
LONDON
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO. LTD.
10 ORANGE STREET LEICESTER SQUARE W.C.
1907
* * * * *
BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS
LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. EARLY RECORDS.
Rock inscriptions--Marks on wood--Quipus--Wampum--Modern
ideographs--Indian palm-leaf books--Ideographs and
alphabets--Diptychs _p._ 1
CHAPTER II. ROLLS, BOOKS AND BOOKBINDINGS.
Papyrus and vellum rolls--Quaternions--The sewing
of books--Headbands--The rounding and backing of
books--Mediæval books--Irish cumdachs--Byzantine
bindings--Oriental books--Modern methods of sewing and
binding _p._ 26
CHAPTER III. PAPER.
Paper--Watermarks and quiring _p._ 62
CHAPTER IV. PRINTING.
Assyrian bricks with printed inscriptions--Oiron
ware--Chinese types--Block books--Costeriana--Types and
stereotypes--Printing presses _p._ 85
CHAPTER V. ILLUSTRATIONS.
Wood engraving--Line
engraving--Etching--Stipple--Mezzotint--Aquatint--Lithography
--Photography _p._ 102
CHAPTER VI. MISCELLANEA.
Book edges and their decoration--Embroidered books--Cloth
bindings--Account books--End papers--Small metal-bound
books--Books bound in tortoiseshell--Chained books--Horn
books _p._ 141
CHAPTER VII. LEATHERS.
Vellum--Calf--Pig skin--Sheep skin--Goat skin--Seal skin,
etc. _p._ 169
CHAPTER VIII. THE ORNAMENTATION OF LEATHER BOOKBINDINGS
WITHOUT GOLD.
Blind tooling and stamping--Panel stamps--Cut
leather--Stained calf--Cut vellum--Transparent vellum _p._ 181
CHAPTER IX. THE ORNAMENTATION OF LEATHER BOOKBINDINGS WITH
GOLD.
Gold tooling in leather introduced from the East to
Venice--Early Italian gold tooled work--The spread of
gold tooling in Europe--Modern work--Gold tooling in
leather--Early Venetian gold tooled bindings--The work
of Thos. Berthelet, John Day, John Gibson, Mary Collet,
Samuel Mearne, Suckerman, Eliot and Chapman, Roger Payne,
Richard Wier, Charles Hering, Kalthœber, Staggemeier,
Walther, Charles Lewis, T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, Sir Edw.
Sullivan, Douglas Cockerell, E. M. MacColl, S. Prideaux,
Adams, Woolrich, Etienne Roffet, Geoffrey Tory, Nicholas
and Clovis Eve, Le Gascon, Florimond Badier, Macé Ruette,
L. A. Boyet, Padeloup le Jeune, J. le Monnier, Derome le
Jeune, Capé, Duru, Thouvenin, Bauzonnet, Trautz, Lortic _p._ 205
INDEX _p._ 245
LIST OF PLATES.
1. GOLDEN BINDING OF “THE GOSPELS OF CHARLEMAGNE,” WITH
JEWELS AND ENAMELS, 11TH OR 12TH CENTURY. (_See_ p. 54)
_Frontispiece_
2. PAGE FROM WILLIAM CASLON’S “SPECIMEN OF PRINTING TYPES.”
(LONDON, 1766) _To face p._ 98
3. PAGE FROM THE “HYPNEROTOMACHIA POLIPHILI.” (VENICE, 1499)
_To face p._ 104
4. PAGE FROM CAXTON’S “MYRROUR OF THE WORLDE.” (LONDON, 1481)
_To face p._ 108
5. “THE PEACOCK.” WOOD ENGRAVING BY THOS. BEWICK, FROM THE
“HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS.” (NEWCASTLE, 1797-1804)
_To face p._ 110
6. TITLE-PAGE OF GRIMM’S “GERMAN POPULAR STORIES.” (LONDON,
1824) _To face p._ 124
7. FRENCH SEVENTEENTH CENTURY BINDING BY LE GASCON. RED
MOROCCO, INLAID WITH OLIVE AND CITRON MOROCCO AND GOLD
TOOLED IN THE POINTILLÉ MANNER _To face p._ 238
* * * * *
THE BOOK: ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
CHAPTER I. EARLY RECORDS.
Rock inscriptions--Marks on wood--Quipus--Wampum--Modern
ideographs--Indian palm leaf books--Ideographs and
alphabets--Diptychs.
The idea of making records by means of marks cut on stone or wood did
not originate in any one place, for signs of it are found more or less
all over the world wherever primitive man has existed. It was not until
a comparatively late period that the various kinds of record keeping
were unified after a fashion and true writing evolved itself out of the
chaos.
There are some forms of record keeping that have been largely used
by the human race which, as far as we can at present tell, have not
influenced our present form of book except negatively; but indirectly
they may still have done so in some manner that we cannot distinguish.
Mankind is naturally imitative, and among his early efforts in this
direction are the scratchings on bones and antlers. They comprise
outlines of deer, mammoths, reindeer, seals, bears, horses and other
animals. Several instances of these early drawings have been found in
the caves of the Dordogne in France. These, however, are not records,
they are only pictures of what the artist saw, and a large proportion
of rock and stone markings come into the same category. But there is
no doubt that many of the latter are intended to commemorate certain
events; they show groupings of marks, animals and men in positions and
attitudes which are clearly intended to mean something, and now and
then it has been possible to make a good guess at their interpretation.
The earliest marks made by man that still exist are to be found
among the rock markings or carvings, as these are often in protected
places where the weather has not worn them away. Prehistoric caves
and tombs are prolific in such treasures, and the marks, ideographs
or hieroglyphics are always of the greatest interest. There seems to
be some analogy between the great megalithic temples like that on
Salisbury Plain and many of the rock inscriptions, but little is at
present known on this point.
Cup and ring markings on rocks or stones are among the most remarkable
of rock inscriptions because they are not isolated as to their design.
From Ireland to India these marks are found possessing the same radical
forms, and it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that they have been
made by tribes of men who had some thought or idea in common. What this
idea was is still a disputed point among archæologists.
Cup and ring markings are held by some authorities to be astronomical,
sun signs, but these speculations, especially in Scandinavian examples,
soon land us in pure symbolism, ring crosses, swastikas, triskeles and
the rest.
Apart from these, marks are found in the British Isles and in India
particularly through which a dominant idea is clearly present. It seems
likely that some common religious symbolism is really the key to the
mystery, and this belief, disavowed by Sir J. Simpson, is strongly
held by Col. J. H. Rivett-Carnac, as well as by many others. By these
archæologists the cup and ring markings are considered to be the
ideographic expressions of one of the primitive religions of the world
which was very widely spread, and the remains of which exist in India
at the present day.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Stone cist with ring marks. Found at Coilsford
in Ayrshire.]
But even admitting the possibility of this interpretation, there are
still many points left unexplained. For instance, in the drawing, it
will be seen that the cups with their rings are cunningly attached to
each other, and the whole design appears as if it “means something.” No
doubt some day further light will be thrown upon this curious form of
record.
The Assyrian and Babylonian sculptures both in the round and in
bas-reliefs are commonly covered with cuneiform inscriptions, and
these are also plentifully found inscribed on stone stelæ and bronze
figurines. The famous Rosetta stone is a familiar example of a
tri-lingual inscription that will probably last as long as the world
lasts. It is now in the British Museum, and bears an inscription in
Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek. The Greek being understood, it gave at
once the key to the interpretation of the Hieroglyphic. The date of
the cutting of this stone is about the beginning of the second century
before the birth of Christ. An earlier stone of a similar kind is known
as the tablet of Sen; it contains a decree of the priests at Canopus in
honour of Ptolemy Evergetes I. It was made in B.C. 238, but has not yet
got to England.
The ten commandments were engraved on stone, and instances of
inscriptions on small stones are very numerous. From Egypt to North
America amulets bearing mystical sentences have been commonly made.
Familiar to most of us are the turquoises engraved with Arabic words
run in with gold, and the curious “Garuda” and other stones, with
magical inscriptions and credited with magical powers, have been common
in the East from time immemorial.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Garuda amulet.]
In India inscriptions, holy names, invocations and quotations are cut
on small flat pieces of jasper, agate, onyx, carnelian, amethyst,
hematite, jade, and materials of less value like coral or glass, some
of the old and some new. Musulman amulets of similar kinds are also
sometimes found on gold, silver, iron, and even on small bricks of
baked clay.
Many of these amulets have pierced ears for suspension, and they were
worn as jewellery on the neck or ears or sewn on girdles. They were
also fixed on weapons of war and horse furniture. Some of the stones
are engraved in reverse so as to make impressions. These are seal
stones, but the greater number are engraved simply so as to read
straightforwardly. They are in Arabic, Persian, and rarely Turkish.
Greek and Roman cameos and intaglios are often found bearing short
inscriptions as well as the names of their engravers. Even the diamond
has not escaped, but inscriptions on this stone are very rare because
of the difficulty of engraving it. Numbers of inscriptions, names and
mottoes can be found on ring stones of all times as well as on real
stones.
Curious Chinese books are made of leaves of jade, and in these
inscriptions are cut in the decorative Chinese character, run in with
gold.
It should be noted that the forms of letters have always been much
influenced by the manner in which they could be most easily made. It
is easier to cut a square form of letter on stone than a cursive form,
so we find that the majority of rock or stone inscriptions favour the
square form rather than the rounded form of letter. We derive our
angular forms of letters from the distant past, but the rounded forms
are adapted from the later times of papyrus or vellum, when reed or pen
writing was understood.
Writings on metal have been made from time to time, but never very
largely. In India inscribed plaques of bronze, kept together by
metal rings, have been often used. Tablets of lead are recorded as
having been used by ancient peoples, and Oriental as well as European
talismanic formulæ have been engraved on small plates of silver,
bronze, brass or lead, the letters being now and then damascened with
gold and silver. In ancient Rome name-brands were cut in bronze, and
impressions could have been printed from them. They were beautifully
cut.
The Nicene creed was cut in silver by order of Pope Leo III., and in
the East strips of metal have constantly been substituted for the long
thin pieces of palm leaf which formed the normal books. The metal
leaves are found of gold, silver, or gilded copper particularly. The
plates are quite thin, and the characters upon them are generally
engraved, but sometimes they are chased with tracer and hammer. Such
records are not only very permanent but they are also very decorative.
The modern engraving of inscriptions on metal has mainly found refuge
in monumental brasses, and in this case the letterings are usually run
in with some pigment.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Runic calendar on bone.]
Another primitive form of record is found in the case of notches cut in
wood. A savage warrior of a literary turn of mind would naturally wish
to keep some record of the number of his enemies that he had killed
and perhaps eaten, and an obvious way of doing this would be to cut or
scratch marks on his war club. Such records would, no doubt, become
customary among war-like tribes. The handles of war axes or spears
would offer excellent ground for such marks, and presently, especially
in peace times, similar marks may well have kept tallies of the numbers
of game killed.
From such personal notes the transition to others of wider interest
is not difficult, and so we find the notches used, on bits of wood or
sticks, for almanacks and calendars.
Ogham and Runic inscriptions follow the ancient idea of notches cut
along an angular edge, and these notches and rods are the very distant
ancestors of our modern types of metal; the German word “Buchstab,”
meaning type, is etymologically “a wooden rod.”
In Denmark and Sweden in ancient times almanacks were cut on flat
pieces of metal, bone, horn, box, fir or oak. The majority of them
are of wood, but the other materials were sometimes used. They are
variously known as Rune staves or stocks, Prime staves, Messe dag
staves or Brim stocks, and they are generally hinged along one side by
cords run through holes, several slabs being thus fastened together.
Wooden calendars are also often found among the records kept by
primitive peoples; they have been found in Sumatra and in many other
places.
Similar almanacks were used by our Saxon ancestors, who no doubt
borrowed the idea from the Scandinavians. One side was kept for the
summer and the other for the winter, and notches for the days were made
across the edges.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Staffordshire clog almanack.]
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth a modification of the Scandinavian
Rune staves was largely used in England, chiefly in Staffordshire, but
not exclusively. These are known as “clog almanacks,” and Dr. Plott
says that “Clogg may mean Logg, or that they are like the cloggs with
which we restrain our doggs.”
English clog almanacks are squared pieces of wood, measuring from about
two feet to nine or ten inches in length, and the larger ones are
sometimes as much as three inches square. They are notched along the
angles, small notches without ornamentation indicating week days, big
notches stand for Sundays, and Saints days have all kinds of ornamental
flourishes, which now and then show familiar forms such as Saint
Catherine’s wheel and Saint Lawrence’s gridiron.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Modern hop-tally of wood.]
Some of the clogs show a hole at the lower end, evidently so that they
could stand upright upon a peg, others, and these are the most usual,
have a flat pierced handle so that they can be suspended by a loop.
They were commonly kept in churches. Details of several well known
examples of clog almanacks will be found figured in _The Reliquary_ for
January, 1865, in illustration of an excellent article on the subject
by Mr. John Harland. Exchequer and other wooden tallies were common
in England in the 14th century, and in modern days a certain survival
of them exists in the form of hop-tallies. These are two strips of
wood which fit closely together with a tongue, and when in contact
notches are made across the two edges in apposition, so that when the
two pieces are apart, neither party can falsify the notches without it
being at once apparent when the slips are finally brought together.
The principle is exactly the same as that utilised in the old legal
“indentures,” by virtue of which a piece of vellum was cut in two
by an indentured, or toothed line, and if these did not exactly fit
whenever they were brought together it became evident that they had
been tampered with. In parts of France tallies like these are still
used by bakers.
Wooden tallies are also found among the inhabitants of Torres Straits,
where they use them made of short sticks tied together at their tops.
Curious inscriptions, as yet undecipherable, have been found at Easter
Island; they are cut in thick slabs of wood and are ideographic.
Bones have been from very early times the recipients of men’s marks;
the earliest of these, however, were only copies of things seen. But
inscriptions and symbols were presently scratched on them, and the
blade bones of buffaloes in North America as well as the shoulder
blades of sheep used by the Arabs are equally convenient for writing
upon. In Sumatra inscriptions are commonly cut in flat pieces of bone.
Instances of inscriptions in ivory are very numerous, and the finest
examples of these occur in the case of the Roman consular diptychs
which are described a little further on.
Information as to direction is still often given by means of marks
or “blazes” on trees, a survival of a primitive method, and American
lumbermen or “loggers” cut hieroglyphic marks of ownership on their
logs when they send them down stream.
In times of trouble it often happens that primitive methods of
communication are resorted to, like that received by a Cavalier from
his lady love who heard that the Roundheads were after him--she sent
him a feather, and he flew away and escaped.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.]
Such symbolical messages are common enough among savage tribes, but
without some key it is almost impossible to interpret them. They are
so various in their composition that no useful analysis of them can
be made. On one such message from West Africa, strung on a string of
flat fibre knotted at each end, are a bit of shell, a bit of fur, a
bean, a cylindrical stick, a piece of leather, a mass of frog’s eggs
or something like it, a flat piece of bark, a feather, a tooth and a
shell. In another are two pieces of flat glass kept together with red
thread, and two teeth on each side of it, all strung on fibre, and so
on.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.]
The Battas of Sumatra use different and probably more elaborate
messages, as they consist of carefully cut strips of wood, resembling
the old spillikins with which our childhood’s days were made happy.
These strips of thin wood, about three inches in length, are cut into
various shapes which have no obvious collective meaning. In one of
them is a capital model of a little broom, accompanied apparently by a
series of little clubs and spikes. Such a message might have been sent
by an absent brave to his squaw at home, and may have meant that if
she didn’t sweep up the wigwam before his arrival she would experience
the effect of one or other of the clubs.
The Incas of Peru had a regular system of keeping records by means of
coloured pieces of string knotted in a peculiar way.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Peruvian Quipu.]
These knotted records, or Quipus, had special keepers who held office
in the provinces, and the results of their energy were forwarded
annually to the capital city for examination and preservation. The
provincial keepers were called “Quipu Camayas,” and the records they
kept were mainly statistics concerning the people of their districts.
The knots were arranged either on a strong piece of cord or upon a
stick, and formed a sort of fringe; the word “Quipu” means a knot.
According to the position of the knot a certain number was probably
indicated, and the class of person referred to is shown by the colour
of the bit of string which represents it.
But it is also likely that more elaborate interpretations could be
made by skilled interpreters of Quipus. Little is really known as to
that, but it is suggested by competent observers that, for instance,
red meant war, yellow meant gold, white meant peace, and silver. But
this is probably guess work. The same idea has been utilised in the
case of a rare Chinese book, the leaves of which were of differently
coloured silks. Each colour was supposed to convey a certain emotion
to the student, and when he had exhausted the emotion caused by one
colour, he turned over the leaf so as to experience the effect of
another.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Cardinal’s hat.]
The use of knots as reminders is not quite obsolete, as it is common
enough even now to make a knot in one’s handkerchief, if anything easy
is to be remembered. It is curious if this custom is really a survival
of the Peruvian Quipu!
A form of knotted record is used among several of the tribes in the
Pacific Islands, and the Jewish “Taleth,” or scarf, has fringes which
imply certain facts.
The ordinary rosary with its ten beads for Ave Maria’s and single ones
for Pater Nosters has also something in common with knots, and possibly
the abacus of the Greeks and the Chinese may have a similar origin. But
probably these last are only used as aids in mathematical calculations.
Something analogous to the Peruvian knots is to be found in the
tasselled and knotted fringes which adorn the ceremonial hats of
dignitaries in the Romish church.
The hats themselves are always of the same shape, round shallow crowns
with broad brims. The fringes, however, differ in size and colour
according to the rank of the wearer. The master cord is drawn through
the brim of the hat at its inner edge, at a point over each ear, and
kept in place by a large ornamental knot on the outside.
The tassels start from one, and from this two others depend, and from
these three, and so on, one more in each row. An abbot wears a black
hat with six green tassels on each side; a bishop wears a green hat
with six green tassels on each side on a gold cord; an archbishop has
a violet hat with ten violet tassels on each side on a gold cord, and
a cardinal has a red hat with fifteen red tassels on a gold cord,
depending on each side.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Portion of North American wampum belt.]
The wampum belts of North America were primarily used as money, but
they were also made sometimes in such a way that they formed historical
records.
The true “Six Nation” wampum belts were made of little white and
purple cylinders of shell very laboriously cut, and the purple ones
very difficult to get. “Wampum” means white, and there is generally
a preponderance of this colour. The short beads are strung upon long
threads or strips of leather, and the design shows sometimes in purple
on a white ground and sometimes in white on a purple ground.
The designs are sometimes easy to decipher, like the belt which
typifies the Iroquois League, showing the one heart of the ruling
nation in the centre, and the allied nations, each shown by a square,
united together in one bond.
A very fine and interesting wampum belt was given as a record of
friendship to William Penn at the Great Treaty in 1682, by the Sachems
of the Lenni Lenape. It is now preserved by the Historical Society
at Philadelphia. It is made of eighteen rows of white and purple
cylindrical shell beads, the ground white and the designs in purple.
The beads are laced upon nineteen parallel “horizontal” strips of
leather by means of thinner strips running vertically across them and
brought twice through each bead, one running being above the horizontal
strip and the other below it. It is a curious way of stringing
beads, and was practised in England some sixty or seventy years ago
in the making of small bead ribbons. In the centre of the belt is a
conventional figure of Penn shaking hands with the chief Sachem.
Many of the wampum belts seem to have only geometrical designs upon
them, but doubtless, without exception, these fine white and purple
shell belts, cut with infinite patience and skill, and put together
with the greatest care, always have some meaning. The Iroquois could,
until recently, interpret them at once, but now they are less able to
understand the work of their ancestors.
There are plenty of imitation wampum belts, usually made of small
shells or ordinary beads. The genuine belts are flat and strong, and
the little shell cylinders nearly all of the same size. The imitations
are much more irregularly and carelessly made, and they are often
without any colour but white.
A common form of book in Oriental countries consists of long narrow
strips of palm leaf, kept together by two strings run through holes
near each end. The writing upon the leaves is carried right along the
length of each leaf in successive lines, and is scratched in, and
usually strengthened by means of lamp black rubbed over it so as to
stick in the scratches.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Oriental palm-leaf book.]
This form of book rests by itself. Apparently it has never altered
materially, neither has it in any way affected the production of the
book as we know it. The palm leaves are brittle, they are troublesome
to turn over, and are likely to split and break where the cord touches
them. But the leaves are frequently made of stronger materials than
palm leaf, some of them being of gold, silver, or gilded copper, and in
these cases the lettering is engraved or punched. Others are written on
plates of ivory, the letters being gilded, others again on plates of
lacquer with letters inlaid with mother-of-pearl; indeed, the variety
is large.
The leaves are always enclosed between two covers of stronger make
but of the same shape, and these covers are often very elaborately
ornamented. Some of them have exquisite carved work and inlaid work
and others are painted. In the case of Indian examples they are often
messed over with red stains. When this is found the manuscript has
belonged to some shrine, and worshippers have daubed it with rice and
red paint as a sort of peace offering. The strings with which the
leaves are bound together are also sometimes handsomely ornamented.
Ancient rock inscriptions, tallies, quipus and wampums are all more or
less ideographic, and among trade signs there are still many ideographs
in common use, some of them of considerable antiquity. There are the
three golden balls of the pawnbroker, which mean that money can be
borrowed there. They are derived from the coat of arms of the Medici of
Lombardy. The Lombards were mediæval bankers and money lenders, and for
their badge they took three of the golden balls, or pills, out of the
Medici coat.
These balls varied in number and colour, they were sometimes red, and
sometimes blue, and three blue balls upon a white ground was one of the
mediæval signs used by money lenders, but the three golden balls have
proved more lasting.
Another old ideograph is the white barber’s pole, with its red spiral,
the image of the red bandage used to tie up an arm which had just been
bled. It was originally the mark of a barber surgeon, but the barber
still uses it although he no longer bleeds his clients. An old sign for
a barber is also a shaving dish. This is oftener seen on the continent
than it is here.
The embowed arm holding a hammer is an old sign of a gold beater,
and is generally itself gilded. It is clearly an ideograph, as is
also the fishing rod with a golden fish, which is a usual sign over a
fishing tackle maker’s shop. A modern instance of the same kind is a
gilded ham which is not uncommonly seen over provision shops, quite
a modern sign. The rapidly disappearing Highlander taking snuff is
another modern ideograph. There are plenty more of such signs, most of
which tell their story directly and simply, while others, the older
ones particularly, may at first seem arbitrary, but often a little
examination will reveal a simple origin.
The curious hieroglyphics still used by gypsies are no doubt derived
from Egyptian hieroglyphics, and although most of them have changed
considerably, a certain resemblance in some of the forms can still be
traced.
Ideograms are still used in North America in out of the way places. A
common mark for a cheese is a circle, and this sign was found opposite
a farmer’s name, but he had never had one. He did, however, owe for
a grindstone, and the draughtsman clerk had forgotten to put in the
centre dot which would have marked the difference between the stone and
the edible.
In common use more or less all over the civilised world is the pointing
hand, meaning either “Look there” or “This way.”
Some signs are also ideographic in character; among these are certain
of the deaf and dumb signs, and also some of the arm signals used
in the navy. In the army some of the bugle calls imitate as far as
possible the sounds to which they refer. For instance, the “prepare for
cavalry” has some resemblance to horses galloping.
Ideographs used in written languages soon change in character. No
longer do they mean simply what they portray, but the sound of its
name, and then by degrees they represented the first syllable, and
eventually only the first letter of its name. These changes of meaning
are accompanied by changes of form, and it is very curious to trace
how an apparently arbitrary letter form is really only the survival
of the main lines of an ancient ideogram. There are several most
interesting instances of these changes given by Dr. Isaac Taylor in his
classic “History of the Alphabet,” as well as by other writers on the
subject, particularly Sir E. Maunde Thompson and Mr. Falconer Madan.
Egyptian inscriptions show both ideographs, hieroglyphics and
alphabetic signs, as there is usually a word spelt out in syllables
or letters, and at the end of it the complete word shown as a little
picture. The hieroglyphics altered into a style of writing which was
not so pictorial about the nineteenth century B.C., and although
alphabetical symbols were actually used as early as 4,000 B.C., yet it
was very many years later than this that they became of general use.
The earliest piece of hieroglyphic known is cut upon stone on a tablet
now preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. It is supposed to have
been made about 4,000 B.C., and on it the name of King Send is written
alphabetically.
Our present alphabetic writing is by no means final, as it is even
now undergoing a remarkable change, in which neither ideograph,
hieroglyphic, nor alphabet plays any part. Shorthand will in time
supersede our comparatively cumbrous process, and it is purely phonetic.
Chinese writing is still in the syllabic state, but the Japanese, which
is formed from it, has advanced many steps towards the alphabetical
stage.
The earliest handwriting known is that on the Papyrus Prisse, now in
Paris. It is in Egyptian hieratic writing, and is supposed to date
perhaps from about 4,000 B.C. The hieratic is a cursive form of
hieroglyphic, and was used particularly by priests.
We derive our present letters “longo intervallo” from Egyptian
hieroglyphics, and the history of their evolution is full of interest.
It may be well here to review rapidly how it is that we have acquired
an alphabet for printing purposes which is clear, though not beautiful.
Our present type shows two alphabets; one, the capital letters, are of
Roman origin, the other, the small letters, are a modification of what
are called Carolingian minuscules, and both alphabets have reached us
through the Latin, Greek, Phœnician and Semitic.
Up to the seventh or eighth centuries in Europe the various styles of
writing were in a mixed condition, but about that time the different
forms of letters began to arrange themselves, and to follow distinctive
lines of development in different countries.
Charlemagne interested himself in the matter, and saw that the time
had arrived when something could be done towards clearing away the
many difficulties which cropped up by reason of the different forms of
letters which then existed. He caused careful studies to be made of
existing styles so that some sort of common ground could be found. At
Tours the Emperor set up a sort of Royal Commission to enquire into the
matter, and at the head of it he placed a learned Englishman, Alcuin of
York, who was known as a great student and was himself a calligraphist.
Alcuin was trained in the beautiful Hiberno-Saxon hand, of which so
many magnificent examples still remain--the Book of Kells, the Gospels
of Lindisfarne, and several more.
At Tours the Carolingian minuscules, which are the direct ancestors of
our small, or lower-case letters, were developed.
Our capital letters have developed themselves on different lines. They
are like the ancient Roman types, which in the twelfth century had
modified themselves somewhat and become very clear, and these forms
commended themselves to the scribes of the Renaissance period, and
underwent still more improvement in details. The early type cutters who
formed their letters directly after the shapes of letters written by
hand, soon saw that these capitals were not only easy to cut but were
in every way the best they could find to copy.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Roman diptych.]
During some excavations at Pompeii in 1875 a large collection of small
wax writing tablets or Pugillaria was found. These tablets resemble
small slates; they are of wood, and one side is slightly hollowed
out so as to receive a filling of blackened wax. Generally two of
the tablets were hinged together, hence their name of diptychs, but
sometimes they were in threes or even more, like a tail or “Caudex,”
from which it is said we derive our word Codex. Diptychs are the direct
prototypes of our modern books.
The writing was marked on the wax by means of a style in the same way
that writing was formerly done in England on the curious sand tables.
These styles are usually of iron, sometimes inlaid with brass, but they
were also made of bronze, brass, wood or bone. They always have one
end pointed to write with and the other flat to erase with. A space was
often left in the thickness of the wooden edge of a diptych to keep
the style in. The erasing in the case of the diptych was effected by
rubbing the flat end of the style over it, and in the case of the sand
writing-tablet by a plasterer’s level or a good shake. Sand tablets
have been used up to quite recent times in elementary schools. But
the sand writing was always temporary, whereas the wax writing is
very lasting, one of those found at Pompeii bearing the date A.D. 55.
It records a payment to Umbricia Januaria, and is the earliest Latin
manuscript known.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Roman diptych stylus.]
Diptychs of similar form were widely used. They have been found in
Egypt, and in England--remains of the Roman occupation--together with
numbers of the styles used for writing with.
Diptychs were kept together at the back by means of metal rings or
thongs of leather, run through holes made in the wood, so that they
are true prototypes of our modern books both as to form and manner
of keeping together, the “stabbed” form of binding, that is to say,
threads or bands or wires run through holes pierced along the back edge
of the sections of a book, having been in continual use ever since
rolls were first turned into books.
When the diptychs were used as private letters they were further
fastened with a tie or clasp in front, and this tie was often sealed
with the sender’s signet in wax or clay.
The Pompeian and all the other small wooden diptychs are unornamented,
but at a later period, particularly from the second to the seventh
century, Roman diptychs became of much importance and were often
decoratively treated, being made of ivory and elaborately carved.
Labarte, Gori, Westwood and Maskell have all written valuable works
concerning these ornamental diptychs, and specimens of more or less
excellence can be found in most museums that have any collection of
carvings in ivory. The earlier examples are the best; later specimens
rapidly decline in art value, although they are always of great
historical interest.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Byzantine diptych of ivory.]
One leaf of one of the finest diptychs in existence is fortunately in
the British Museum; it shows a full-length figure of an archangel with
globe, cross and long-staff, and is supposed to have been made in the
third or fourth century. A curious point about this leaf is its unusual
size, about 16 by 6 inches, and it is said that such a piece could not
be cut from any known elephant tusk. It is possibly mammoth ivory.
For a long time the supreme power at Rome was vested in the consuls
who held office for one year. Naturally anyone elected to this high
position was anxious to inform everyone holding any high place or
office of his accession to the dignity, and the usual way of doing
this was to send round diptychs of ivory announcing the event, as well
as subsequent ones concerning any other important matters which might
occur during the consulate.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Ivory diptych, of the consul Valentinian, A.D.
380.]
Not only was the communication inscribed upon the wax, all of which is
now gone, but the outside ivory was carved with invaluable portraits,
scenes and inscriptions. By examining these carvings we can frequently
ascertain who was the consul that issued them, and often enough we can
find his portrait carefully drawn. In one of the many excavations made
in the Forum at Rome, tablets containing a list of Roman consuls were
found, and these serve as an official check upon our interpretation of
the records existing upon the consular diptychs.
Consular diptychs were generally larger than the wooden pugillaria,
which were always small. Ivory diptychs are rarely less than six or
seven inches in length.
The privilege of giving away finely carved ivory diptychs was highly
esteemed, and in the fourth century the Emperor Theodosius issued an
edict forbidding any but one of the two consuls, one at Rome and the
other at Constantinople, to issue them.
In the matter of consular and official costume the Roman carved ivory
diptychs are of great importance.
Figures often appear on coins or gems, but they are always very small.
On the diptychs, however, they are sufficiently large to show full
details. The subjects depicted on them are various. There are games,
combats in the circus, scenes from the Passion, boys emptying sacks of
prizes, figures of Saints, Adam and Eve, busts and portraits of consuls
both in medallions and full length. The best collections of consular
diptychs are to be found at Rome, Milan, Monza, Paris, Munich, Berlin,
Liverpool and London.
Besides the consular there are also ecclesiastical diptychs, the
majority of which were probably only diverted from their original
intention and altered and adapted to a new use. The original wax was
removed and new inscriptions engraved on the ivory, mostly lists of
martyrs or benefactors to the particular church which had possession of
the diptych.
There is one at Liège on which the names of the bishops of Tongres are
written, and there is another similar one at Novara. It is probable
that the liking for ivory carvings on books arose from the lead given
by the ivory diptychs. Indeed in several instances the sides of ivory
diptychs are actually inlaid in late bindings of MSS.
WORKS TO CONSULT.
AGLIO, A.--Antiquities of Mexico. _London_, 1830-48. (Vol. 4, at end.)
(Quipus.)
BERGER.--Histoire de l’ecriture dans l’antiquité. _Paris_, 1891.
GORI, A. F.--Thesaurus reterum diptychorum consularium et
ecclesiasticorum. _Florentiae_, 1759.
HARLAND, J.--_The Reliquary_, Jan., 1865. (Clog almanacks.)
LABARTE, J.--Histoire des Arts Industrielles au moyen age. (Diptychs.)
_Paris_, 1864-66.
LACROIX, P.--Les arts au moyen age. (Diptychs.) _Paris_, 1809.
LUBBOCK, SIR J.--Prehistoric Times. _London_, 1865.
MADAN, F.--Books in Manuscript. _London_, 1893.
MASKELL, W.--Ivories Ancient and Mediæval. _London_, 1875.
MASKELL, A.--Ivories. _London_, 1904.
PLOTT, R.--Natural History of Staffordshire. (Clog almanacks.)
_Oxford_, 1686.
PRESCOTT, W. H.--History of the Conquest of Peru. (Quipus.) _London._
REINAUD.--(Description des monumens Musulmanes du cabinet de M. le Duc
de Blacas.) (Indian amulets.) _Paris_, 1828.
RIVETT-CARNAC, J. H.--Prehistoric Remains in Central India. _Calcutta._
RIVETT-CARNAC, J. H.--Ancient Rock Sculptures in Kamaon. _Calcutta_,
1877.
SIMPSON, SIR J. Y.--Archaic Sculpturings. _Edinburgh_, 1867.
SMITHSONIAN REPORT, 1879, p. 389. (Wampum.)
TAVERNIER, J. B.--Voyages. _Paris_, 1810.
TAYLOR, I.--The Alphabet. _London_, 1883.
THOMPSON, SIR E. M.--Handbook of Greek and Roman Palæography. _London_,
1893.
WESTWOOD, J. O.--Cat. of Fictile Ivories. _London_, 1876.