13. Scribal Activity & Learning

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MS in Latin with several phrases in Greek on vellum, Abbey of St.-Germain d'Auxerre, Burgundy, France, 850-875, 109 ff. (complete), 24x18 cm, single column (19x13 cm) 21 lines in uncials and Carolingian minuscule with pre-Carolingian letter-forms by several scribes. 

Stylus in bronze, Norway, 9th-10th c., 1 stylus, 18 cm, bulbous finial diam. 1,5 cm formed by 4 curved bands leaving 4 openings in between, round flattened eraser on top.

MS in Greek on wax, Cheikh Fadl, Egypt, ca. 600, 1 wooden wax tablet, lines in Greek cursive script, with the original writing stylus of bronze.

Inkstand, green glazed steatite, Egypt, New Kingdom, ca. 1550-1069 BC, 1 inkstand, 6,0x3,5x1,8 cm, 2 holes for black and red ink, decoration of parallel lines at either end.

MS in Egyptian on wood, Egypt, 18th-19th dynasty, ca. 1550-1185 BC, wooden inkstand and pen-case, lines in Hieratic book script, 2 circular holes for black and red, with pen.

MS in Latin on vellum, Napoli, Italy (or Catalonia, Spain), ca. 1458-1459 with later additions), 25-28 lines in a strong humanistic book script with many calligraphic flourishes by the Spanish scribe Gabriel Altadell; illustrattions by one of the artists who worked on the Hours of King Alfonso; arms of the Copons family of Catalonia.

MS in Latin on vellum, Calabria, Italy, 1434 (text 3 ca. 1500), 37-45 lines in a small Gothic book script by Guilgemus Nicolai de Campis(text 1). Text 2 signed by Frater Franciscus Zena.

MS in Catalan on paper and vellum, Aragon, Spain, 1412-1416, 38 lines in a rotunda Gothic book script, titles in Gothic book script, by the scribe Salvius Calsada.

MS in Egyptian on limestone flake, Deir-el-Medina, Western Thebes, Egypt, 19th or 20th dynasty, 1292-1069 BC, with the hieroglyph "sesh" in an expert script, sketch in rust-red of the standing scribe.

MS in Neo Sumerian on clay, Babylonia, ca. 19th c. BC, 1 tablet, 10,9x6,0x2,9 cm, single column, 39+6 lines in cuneiform script.
MS in archaic Sumerian on clay, Sumer, 31st c. BC, 1 tablet, 8,6x8,0x1,7 cm, 5 columns, 41+1 compartments in pictographic script by the scribe GAR.AMA.

This section of the online collection covers all aspects of scribal activity, job descriptions, signed colophons, scribal illustrations, and equipment such as reeds, styli, inkwells and wax tablets.