So you want to do biocodicology? A field guide to the biological analysis of parchment

Abstract: Biocodicology, the study of the biological information stored in manuscripts, offers the possibility of interrogating manuscripts in novel ways. Exploring the biological data associated to parchment documents will add a deeper level of understanding and interpretation to these invaluable objects, revealing information about book production, livestock economies, handling, conservation and the historic use of the object. As biotechnological methods continue to improve we hope that biocodicology will become a highly relevant discipline in manuscript studies, contributing an additional perspective to the current scholarship. We hope that this review will act as a catalyst enabling further interactions between the heritage science community, manuscript scholars, curators and conservators

The York Gospels: a 1000-year biological palimpsest.

Medieval manuscripts, carefully curated and conserved, represent not only an irreplaceable documentary record but also a remarkable reservoir of biological information. Palaeographic and codicological investigation can often locate and date these documents with remarkable precision. The York Gospels (York Minster Ms. Add. 1) is one such codex, one of only a small collection of pre-conquest Gospel books to have survived the Reformation. By extending the non-invasive triboelectric (eraser-based) sampling technique eZooMS, to include the analysis of DNA, we report a cost-effective and simple-to-use biomolecular sampling technique for parchment. We apply this combined methodology to document for the first time a rich palimpsest of biological information contained within the York Gospels, which has accumulated over the 1000-year lifespan of this cherished object that remains an active participant in the life of York Minster. These biological data provide insights into the decisions made in the selection of materials, the construction of the codex and the use history of the object

Measuring the impact of parchment production on skin collagen stable isotope (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) values

Parchment is one of the most abundant resources in archives across the world and is a unique time-sensitive material through which centuries of livestock economies, trade and craft can be explored. We examine the impact of structural and chemical modifications during production to δ13C and δ15N values in the skin, particularly the removal of cutaneous keratins and lipids and the conversion of amide functional groups into carboxyl groups via alkaline hydrolysis. Through the manufacture of 51 parchment skins (sheep, goat, calf and pig) using both historic and modern manufacturing techniques, we found production resulted in a small enrichment in 13C (average +0.12‰) and 15N (+0.26‰). Our results pave the way for the isotopic analysis of parchment in paleodietary and paleoenvironmental studies for the historic period and establish the acceptable C:N ratios in deamidated collagenous tissues

A biological reading of a palimpsest.

In the Middle Ages, texts were recorded and preserved on parchment, an animal-derived material. When this resource was scarce, older manuscripts were sometimes recycled to write new manuscripts. In the process, the ancient text was erased, creating what is known as a palimpsest. Here, we explore the potential of peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF), widely applied to identify species, to help reconnect the dispersed leaves of a manuscript and reveal differences in parchment manufacturing. In combination with visual methods, we analyzed a whole palimpsest, the codex AM 795 4to from the Arnamagnæan Collection (Copenhagen, Denmark). We find that both sheep and goat skins were used in this manuscript, and that parchment differed in quality. Notably, the PMF analysis distinguished five groups of folios which match the visual groupings. We conclude that this detailed interrogation of a single mass spectrum can be a promising tool to understand how palimpsest manuscripts were constructed

A biological reading of a palimpsest

Summary: In the Middle Ages, texts were recorded and preserved on parchment, an animal-derived material. When this resource was scarce, older manuscripts were sometimes recycled to write new manuscripts. In the process, the ancient text was erased, creating what is known as a palimpsest. Here, we explore the potential of peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF), widely applied to identify species, to help reconnect the dispersed leaves of a manuscript and reveal differences in parchment manufacturing. In combination with visual methods, we analyzed a whole palimpsest, the codex AM 795 4to from the Arnamagnæan Collection (Copenhagen, Denmark). We find that both sheep and goat skins were used in this manuscript, and that parchment differed in quality. Notably, the PMF analysis distinguished five groups of folios which match the visual groupings. We conclude that this detailed interrogation of a single mass spectrum can be a promising tool to understand how palimpsest manuscripts were constructed

Printing and imprinting the Missale Nidrosiense: a multidisciplinary investigation of the first printed book of Norway

Acknowledgements: We wish to thank Beasts2Craft member Matthew Teasdale for his input and comments on the study during its exploratory phase. We also thank the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie for the allocation of synchrotron radiation beamtime. We would like to thank Espen Karlsen, researcher at the National Library of Norway, for his contribution regarding the history, production and use, of books in early modern Norway. Also, thanks to Book and Paper Conservator Valeria Pesce for creating the drawings of the Missales' bindings, which have facilitated our comparison of blind tools. The comments of four anonymous reviewers have greatly contributed to the improvement of the paper.AbstractIn our study, we employed an interdisciplinary approach to study the diverse parts of the Missale Nidrosiense, published in 1519. Our aim was a thorough investigation of the materials used and the manufacturing methods that may give indications on dating and provenance of the components of the book and where the book was bound. Initially, visual and multispectral methods were employed to investigate the books’ components, printing technology and bookbinding structure. Subsequently, other methods were applied: the composition of metallic components was determined by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). Pigments, printing inks and binders were characterised by using a combination of XRF and synchrotron-based infrared microscopy. Non-invasive dendrochronology based on X-ray tomography was utilised, to indicate date and provenance of the wooden boards of the book. Additionally, we used a biocodicological approach to identify the species of animal used in the parchment. This resulted in a complete biography of the book. We were able to acquire new information about the materials used and their provenance. This provides new information about craft, economy, trade and commercial exchange in the beginning of the sixteenth century in North-west Scandinavia, despite the lack of written documentation from this period.</jats:p

Data from: The York Gospels: a 1000-year biological palimpsest

Medieval manuscripts, carefully curated and conserved, represent not only an irreplaceable documentary record but also a remarkable reservoir of biological information. Palaeographic and codicological investigation can often locate and date these documents with remarkable precision. The York Gospels (York Minster Ms. Add. 1) is one such codex, one of only a small collection of pre-conquest Gospel books to have survived the Reformation. By extending the non-invasive triboelectric (eraser-based) sampling technique eZooMS, to include the analysis of DNA, we report a cost-effective and simple-to-use biomolecular sampling technique for parchment. We apply this combined methodology to document for the first time a rich palimpsest of biological information contained within the York Gospels, which has accumulated over the 1000-year lifespan of this cherished object that remains an active participant in the life of York Minster. These biological data provide insights into the decisions made in the selection of materials, the construction of the codex and the use history of the object

Animal origin of 13th-century uterine vellum revealed using noninvasive peptide fingerprinting

The authors acknowledge Science Foundation Ireland European Research Council (ERC) Support Award 12/ERC/B2227, Valeria Mattiangeli, and the Trinity Genome Sequencing Laboratory (TrinSeq) for MiSeq support. This work was supported by the Marie Curie International Fellowship PALIMPSEST FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF 299101, a University of Manchester Research Institute seedcorn grant, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship funding, and ERC Investigator Grant 295729-CodeX.Tissue-thin parchment made it possible to produce the first pocket Bibles: Thousands were made in the 13th century. The source of this parchment, often called “uterine vellum,” has been a long-standing controversy in codicology. Use of the Latin term abortivum in many sources has led some scholars to suggest that the skin of fetal calves or sheep was used. Others have argued that it would not be possible to sustain herds if so many pocket Bibles were produced from fetal skins, arguing instead for unexpected alternatives, such as rabbit. Here, we report a simple and objective technique using standard conservation treatments to identify the animal origin of parchment. The noninvasive method is a variant on zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) peptide mass fingerprinting but extracts protein from the parchment surface by using an electrostatic charge generated by gentle rubbing of a PVC eraser on the membrane surface. Using this method, we analyzed 72 pocket Bibles originating in France, England, and Italy and 293 additional parchment samples that bracket this period. We found no evidence for the use of unexpected animals; however, we did identify the use of more than one mammal species in a single manuscript, consistent with the local availability of hides. These results suggest that ultrafine vellum does not necessarily derive from the use of abortive or newborn animals with ultrathin hides, but could equally well reflect a production process that allowed the skins of maturing animals of several species to be rendered into vellum of equal quality and fineness.PostprintPeer reviewe

Electronic Supplementary Material - The York Gospels: a one thousand year biological palimpsest from The York Gospels: a 1000-year biological palimpsest

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