Today I visited an exhibit at the NYPL on 42 St that included books written using medieval calligraphy, which seems like the written equivalent of medieval and renaissance recorder musicke. I was moved to write this:
The joy of the "scriptorium"
After visiting the main exhibit, which involved looking at incredibly old actual books, some over 1000 years old, written by hand by some anonymous monk whose lifetime job it was to carefully copy treasured texts, said visit being a mind-boggling trip into medieval times, to stumble upon the Scriptorium, and to be given the opportunity to try my own hand at writing in the gothic style, to choose a calligraphic felt tip pen from among dozens of different colors and nib sizes, to sit at a unique illuminated table stretching the length of the room, and to lay down some ink in the form of even the simplest gothic letter, an "o", four strokes as explained on a sheet of directions, and to realize that these same four strokes were made by said medieval monk, now that was a pleasure!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwUNxsEIP6I
ReplyDeleteToday I visited an exhibit at the NYPL on 42 St that included books written using medieval calligraphy, which seems like the written equivalent of medieval and renaissance recorder musicke. I was moved to write this:
The joy of the "scriptorium"
After visiting the main exhibit, which involved looking at incredibly old actual books, some over 1000 years old, written by hand by some anonymous monk whose lifetime job it was to carefully copy treasured texts, said visit being a mind-boggling trip into medieval times, to stumble upon the Scriptorium, and to be given the opportunity to try my own hand at writing in the gothic style, to choose a calligraphic felt tip pen from among dozens of different colors and nib sizes, to sit at a unique illuminated table stretching the length of the room, and to lay down some ink in the form of even the simplest gothic letter, an "o", four strokes as explained on a sheet of directions, and to realize that these same four strokes were made by said medieval monk, now that was a pleasure!