Manuscript Notes
A Manuscript’s Binding Can Be Younger Than Its Leaves
Keep a manuscript’s writing date separate from the date of its present binding, and follow the catalogue’s evidence for later rebinding.
Ideas worth reading closely
Manuscript Notes
Look closely at the objects that carry ideas across time.
Manuscript Notes
Tiny Pricking Holes Can Belong to a Manuscript Page’s Preparation
Look for manuscript pricking as evidence of page preparation, while distinguishing surviving holes from damage and later alterations.
Manuscript Notes
A Manuscript’s Blank Space May Belong to Its Design
An empty area on a manuscript page can tempt a reader to imagine missing words. Before supplying a loss, inspect how the surrounding writing is arranged.
Manuscript Notes
A Later Reader’s Ownership Note Is Not Necessarily a Reading Response
A name written inside an old book can connect the object with a person, but it does not automatically tell us how that person understood the text. Ownership…
Manuscript Notes
Keep Your Digital Manuscript Annotations Separate from the Source Image
A coloured arrow helps you remember a manuscript detail, but it can become misleading when the annotated screenshot circulates without explanation. Keep a…
Manuscript Notes
A Cropped Manuscript Image Cannot Tell You What Lay Beyond Its Edge
A digital image may end just beside a line of writing. Before describing the manuscript as lacking a margin or an annotation, check whether you are looking…
Manuscript Notes
A Word Divided at the Line End May Need Joining Before You Search
A word that crosses a printed line ending can become two fragments when copied from a scan. Searching for the first fragment alone may miss the passage,…
Manuscript Notes
A Paper Watermark Belongs to the Sheet Before It Belongs to the Text
A faint design visible within a sheet can preserve information about paper production. It is a different kind of evidence from an inscription written on the…