Part 29 (1/2)

The first discovery of Greek papyri was made at Herculaneum in 1752 Papyrus, however, in the most ancient, periods was not the only pliable material used to write on which could be rolled on cylinders

Linen or cloth, which had been first treated with substances which filled the interstices and characteristic of our oil-cloth, the inner bark of certain trees, or in fact any material which would receive ink and roll around a cylinder was in vogue This form of manuscript was later termed by the Romans rolles, to roll round, or more commonly volvere, to roll over

It is not certain, however, that this character of manuscript immediately superseded the tablet form of records inscribed on wood or est:

”The reference to the 'pen of a ready writer,'

mentioned in the Psalms of David (B C 1086- 1016) could scarcely be the sharp point, or stilus, by raved upon wood orwith a dark fluid upon bark or linen The word volume indeed occurs in Psalms xxxix, and these volumina or voluyptian papyrus”

Soen, Calmet, and others, who also more or less discuss this subject, do not view it entirely the same

CHAPTER XXIX

ANCIENT INK BACKGROUNDS (PARCHMENT AND VELLUM)

THE PERGAMUS LIBRARY COMPOSED PRINcipaLLY OF PARCHMENT VOLUMES--CAUSES WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE SUBStitUTION OF PARCHMENT FOR PAPYRUS --ANECDOTE ABOUT EUMENES AND PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS-- INVENTION OF METHOD WHICH MADE SKINS AVAILABLE FOR FLUID INK WRITING--INTRODUCTION OF DRESSED SKINS THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS THE MODERN FORM OF BOOKS--WHEN PARCHMENT AND VELLUM SUPERSEDED OTHER SUBSTANCES AS A GENERAL MATERIAL FOR WRITING UPON--MANUFACTURE OF BARK PAPER PREVIOUS TO THE INTRODUCTION OF THE LINEN PAPER OF THE EAST--SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT CHINESE PAPER--ALLUSIONS OF CLassICAL WRITERS TO INSCRIPTIONS ON SKINS AND DISCOVERY OF SPECIMENS--EMPLOYMENT OF PARCHMENT BY THE HEBREWS--OLD SCRIPTURAL MSS DISCOVERED ON PARCHMENT--NAMES OF THE MOST VALUABLE NEW TESTAMENT CODICES--STORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE SINAITIC CODEX AS TOLD BY MADAN--assERTION OF SIMONIDES THAT HE FORGED IT--PAMLIMPSESTS THE LINK BETWEEN CLassICAL TIMES AND THE MIDDLE AGES--OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THEM AND SOME DISCOVERIES OF THE MORE FAMOUS ONES--USE OF PAPYRUS, PARCHMENT AND VELLUM TOGETHER IN MSS

BOOKS--OBSERVATIONS BY THOMPSON--CHARACTER OF THE ROLLS AND RECORDS BELONGING TO EARLY PARLIAMENTARY TIMES IN ENGLAND--COMPARATIVE METHODS OF THEIR PREPARATION--MODES OF DEPOSITING AND CARRYING ANCIENT ENGLISH RECORDS --METHOD OF FINDING PARTICULAR DOcumENTS-- THE INDIVIDUALS WHO HANDLED THE BOOKS OF THOSE EPOCHS--CITATIONS FROM KNIGHT'S ”LIFE OF CAXTON”--REMARKS BY WARTON--EXPENSE ACCOUNT OF SIR JOHN HOWARD--METHODS OF THE TRANSCRIBERS AND LIMNERS OF THOSE TIMES--MODERN METHODS OF PREPARING PARCHMENT AND VELLUM--CITATION FROM THE PENNY CYCLOPaeDIA--PassAGE FROM A SERMON OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF TOURS--ANECDOTE ABOUT THE COUNT OF NEVERS

THE great abundance of papyrus in Egypt, the chief source of its supply, the genius and nificence of the rulers of that country, and the army of learned men who resorted thither, caused it to become the principal home of those i perished by fire and tumults included in periods between B C 48 and A D 640

The Pergamus library which was deposited by Cleopatra, B C 32, in the city of Alexandria, is said to have been composed almost wholly of parchment written volumes The reason or cause of such employment, of parchment in preference to papyrus is attributed to jealousies existing between Euaypt, contemporaries of each other

This Ptole the exportation of papyrus fron rivals in the forht never be subject to the inconvenience of wanting paper for the multitude of scribes whoinal manuscripts as well as to multiply them by duplication

Before this period the exportation of papyrus had been a very considerable article of Egyptian commerce, but thereafter it becaether

Eumenes, it appears, was not to be deterred from his favorite study and pasti skins, which seems to have answered very fully the require the necessity of e paints, the only material which would ”bind” to undressed parchment (skins)

That the refined and luxurious Romans, after the introduction of parchment, vellum, and paper, insisted on an improvement in quality and appearance is certain

This appears froes in their best authors

Ovid, writing to Rome from his place of exile, complains bitterly that his letter must be sent plain, simple, and without the customary embellishments

We can safely date the first step towards the modern form of books to the introduction of dressed skins (parch These materials could be formed into leaves, instead of metal, wood, ivory, or wax tablets, a use to which papyrus could not be put on account of its brittleness

Thus originated the libri quadrali, or square books, which eventually superseded the ancient voluradually superseded all other substances in Europe as a generalupon, after the third or fourth century

The employment of papyrus, however, in ecclesiastical centers continued even as late as the eleventh century

A kind of bark paper was manufactured in Europe previous to the introduction of linen (”cotton,”

”Bombycina”) paper from the East The ancient Chinesepieces soth The Chinese record, called ”Sou kien tchi pou,” states that a kind of paper was made from hemp, and another authority (Du Halde) observes, ”that old pieces of woven hemp were first reat s were afterwards employed by the Chinese

The introduction of ”linen” paper into Europe did not materially affect or interfere with the use of parch in the fifteenth century

The class of substances to which parch has already received some consideration but is a subject orth some further discussion

Allusions are found in some of the classical writers to inscriptions written on the skins of goats and sheep; it has, indeed, been asserted by some scholars that the Books of Moses ritten on such skins

Dr Buchanan o discovered, in the record chest of soreater part of the Pentateuch, written in Hebrew on goat's skins The goat skins were thirty-seven in nuether, so as to forth by twenty-two inches in width At what date this ritten cannot be now determined, but it is supposed to be extrean, early after the invention of parchment, to write their scriptures on this ues are still composed

Scriptural, like hth century and ink written either on parchment or vellum, or both, are in capital letters without spaces betords and exceedingly rare The more important and valuable of them which apply to the New Testament are respectively known as the Sinaitic, the Vatican and the Alexandrian, s are incorporated by Tischendorf in his Leipzig edition of the English New Testa of these relics of the first centuries of our era are startling ones The reputation and standing, however, of the discoverers, and the investigations subsequently made by known scholars of their tiree of truthfulness