The following message has been posted to the ExLibris and SHARP bulletin
boards:
Through the good offices of Paul Smithson (Kalamazoo College), the Book
Arts Press (BAP) has recently acquired a copy of a 19-minute videotape made
in 1998 called The Parchment Makers.
Focusing on methods used in present-day Ethiopia, the videotape shows
scraping and drying a skin on a hearse; marking and cutting the skin into
rectangular sheets, and scoring and pricking the resulting sheets for writing.
The techniques shown are not always the same as those used in medieval
Europe, but the viewer comes away with a good general sense of
parchment-making, even so. The videotape includes a helpful introductory
sequence showing papyrus plants growing, and writing on papyrus sheets with
a reed brush.
The Parchment Makers was produced by the Scriptorium: Center for Christian
Antiquities
in cooperation with Hope College and Michigan State University. It was
written and directed by Neal W. Sobania and Raymond A. Silverman, and
copies are available for $10 [sic] postpaid from the
Office of International Education
Hope College
Holland, MI 49423
telephone 616/395-7605
The BAP's acquisition of The Parchment Makers is something of a milestone;
it is the 100th videotape to be added to our collection of films and
videotapes on the history of the book and related subjects.
We have a 50-page analytical catalog of these holdings, called Videotapes
and Films on Graphic Arts Subjects Owned by the Book Arts Press; the
entries include a considerable amount of information about where we
acquired our copies and how much we paid for them. We've never made copies
of this pamphlet available for sale (it's written in a casual style, and it
contains some very frank evaluations about the films and videotapes it
lists), but what the hell. Copies are forthwith available for $10 plus $3
postage. Consult our Web site for details, or just send an ordering email
on letterhead stationery to
<oldbooks@virginia.edu>
to be sent and billed – not to me personally, please. I do a fair number of
the things that get done around here, but I am not, at present, the
publications clerk.
Terry Belanger : University Professor : University of Virginia
Book Arts Press : 114 Alderman Library : Charlottesville, VA 22903
Tel: 804/924-8851 FAX: 804/924-8824 email: belanger@virginia.edu
URL: http://www.virginia.edu/oldbooks/