We are surrounded by pieces of scrap paper. We chuck tons of them in the waste bin each year, leave them lying on our desks, use them as bookmarks, stuff them in our pockets, and toss them on the street. And so we usually do not have to look hard or long when we need a piece of paper for our shopping list or for writing down a thought. This was very different in medieval times. Writing material – of any kind – was very expensive back then, which meant that scribes used a paper or parchment sheet to the max: everything was used. As a result, there was nothing obvious lying around on one’s desk that was suitable for scrap material. So how did the medieval person make notes?
Erik Kwakkel: Medieval Notepads , via Taking Note.
Un passionnant rappel quant à la valeur qu’avait le moindre bout de “papier” de l’époque (parchemin ou autre). Un exemple de la débrouillardise des étudiants et des moines copistes pour faire avec ce qu’ils avaient pour prendre leurs notes, plutôt qu’à rêver d’un bloc-notes, ou même d’un livre, parfaitement conçu. Génial.
Rappel, aussi, de l’importance des marges et de la prise de notes dans la lecture d’un livre — quelque chose qui n’a pas changé avec le numérique, mais qui ne s’est pas forcément amélioré.