Week+One+5366

=**Principles of Design**=

Turning the Pages - [|British Library]


 * Lisbon Bible -** What are your impressions of the artistry of the Lisbon Bible?

When I read that the Lisbon Bible was copied by a man known as Samuel the Scribe, my mind immediately thought of the child Samuel of the Bible. I am sure that Samuel was a common name, but it is likely that he was named after the famous Hebrew prophet. I began to research some of the history of the occupation of a scribe. I seemed to have the impression that scribes more closely resembled servants. Wikipedia states that "Scribes in Ancient Israel, as in most of the ancient world, were distinguished professionals who could exercise functions we would associate with lawyers, government ministers, judges, or even financiers. Some scribes copied documents, but this was not necessarily part of their job."

The child Samuel of the Bible started out working in the temple under Eli the priest. Samuel eventually grew up to be a priest, and ultimately the last of the Hebrew judges and the first major prophet in Israel. It would only make sense that he probably started out as a scribe as part of his duties in the ministry in the temple. The priests were the ones who read the book of the law and instructed the people. Some famous scribes served alongside the Bible prophets and were extremely influential and respected. They had an intimate knowledge of the sacred law which made them natural teachers.

After Ezra, a prophet / scribe, recovered a copy of the Torah which had been lost, the Jewish scribes created a process for creating copies of the Torah and eventually other books in the Old Testament which included using only clean animal skins to write on; each column of writing having no less than 48 and no more than 60 lines; using black ink of a special recipe; verbalizing each word aloud while writing; and wiping the pen and washing their entire body before writing the word "Jehovah" every time they wrote it. The process also required a review within 30 days and if as many as 3 pages required corrections, the entire manuscript had to be redone. I wondered if this same process was used in writing the Lisbon Bible.

This background information gave me a whole new appreciation for the work that I saw demonstrated in the Lisbon Bible. My impression of the artistry of the Lisbon Bible is that it must have been created by highly talented and gifted individuals who were extremely dedicated to their work.

"Carefully shaped letters, scripts of different sizes lying side by side, micrographic designs and carpet pages, ornamental word and title headings fulfill an aesthetic role underscoring at the same time the importance of the sacred text through visual channels."

After reading this quote from the narrative by the British Library on the Lisbon Bible, I thought that each of these elements combined together are what makes the document so remarkable. The team who created it seemed to use every method at their disposal in order to fully illustrate and communicate the tremendous value and importance of the message they were copying.

I found that it was interesting that the artists included a personal note at the top of certain pages. On page 24, at the beginning of the book of Chronicles, inside the upper rim of the border there is an abbreviated Aramaic inscription which reads "Be-si tava" meaning "In a good omen". The narrative tells us that this was a common expression of goodwill normally used at the start of an important mission or stage in one's life. It sounds like we could compare it to wishing someone "good luck" or "Bon Voyage" today. The same message also appears at the top of the first page of Genesis. This says to me that the work was a very personal undertaking to the artists. Each book meant they were beginning a new mission which might present tremendous challenges to them.

Has anyone noticed how confusing it is to try to read an Arabic book from right to left when the pages are numbered in English from left to right? Just kidding!
 * Sultan Baybar's Magnificent Qu'ran**

I observed that the two words are almost identical with the exception of the last 2 letters and the markings above them. I also noticed that besides the v-shaped characters there appears to be a slash above the word on page 25. The slash is in the same white color as the words on both pages so it appears to be part of the word. I don't claim to read Arabic, but it would appear to me that the word on page 26 is the noun "seventh" while page 25 contains the article and adjective "the seventh". Somewhat like when you try to translate English into Spanish and the words come out backwards.

I was also amazed at how similar the brush strokes were in comparing the two words. I tried writing my own name six times and there were variations each time I wrote it. What this teaches me about Arabic writing is that it must be a very exact language to have so many "jots and tittles" in their alphabet.

"Gold was so valuable and cherished, that in the Bible, gold is likened to wisdom, faith and knowledge. Psalms says that God's laws and commandments are more desirable than gold. (Psalms 19: 7-10, 119:72, 127)" This quote was taken from an article entitled Biblical Gold by Don Stott who is a precious metals broker. (http://www.gold-eagle.com/gold_digest_04/stott062404pv.html)

It would be very appropriate that they would use this precious metal in a book that was intended to impart wisdom, faith, and knowledge.

My brother is left-handed and at some point in his life he took up caligraphy. Today he has the most beautiful handwriting of anyone I have ever seen. His cursive letters lean in the same direction as a right-handed person. You would never know he is left-handed by his handwriting. I believe the reason his handwriting is so beautiful is likely because he pushes his pen, but also because he learned how to make the letters flow smoothly by practicing caligraphy. He would also agree that it's not just about one's technique but it's the type of writing instrument you use that makes a difference. This writing we see here had to have been done by experts in their craft.

I think I have finally discovered which word is the noun "seventh". If you look on pages 1, 12, 16 and 22 the words appear to be almost identical with the one on page 26, with the exception of the length of the waves. On pages 15 and 16 is the frontispiece for volume four which reads "the fourth seventh" and the narrative states that it is the fourth of seven volumes. Of course, the same is true for volumes one, three, and six.

After viewing and comparing the various religious documents, it is my opinion that alignment was very important to the process of creating the documents. I feel that more attention was paid to the horizontal alignment on the page because each line of text was written horizontally across the page and the vertical columns were centered on the page. Although, the vertical alignment was also important because each document used vertical columns and justification. The Qur'an was the only example that used a single column centered on the page. Also, the alignment in this example was such that there was only six lines of text per page. This format seemed to communicate that what was written was of extreme importance. The other documents all used either two columns or four columns (ex. Codex Sinaiticus). Although each document was written in a different language, the majority of the writings were fully justified, with the exception being the Latin text of the Lindisfarne Gospels which was ragged right. The direction which the text flowed, either from right to left or vice versa, did not seem to affect whether the a full justification style was used. In more than one example, when the text was poetic in nature, the alignment was not fully justified. Margins of pages or borders were mainly utilized for illustrative purposes or for special notes or instructions to the reader or worshippers.
 * System of Alignment**

Matthew, your post raised a question for me. I assumed that even though a language is written from right to left that it would still be read from the top to the bottom of the page. Is this correct? Or would the last line on the page actually be the first line? I see now that Emily discovered that the Arabic follows a reverse Z pattern. I also found that my brain had trouble adjusting to the books that opened from left to right because of the way they were numbered by the British Library site. Basically, the first page was page 2, followed by page 1, then page 4, followed by page 3, etc. I found that I kept clicking on the wrong button to turn the pages.

The posts above caused me to take a second look at the Sherborne Missal. I also found the multitude of illustrations to be distracting to the point of frustration if I were actually able to read the text. Then I read the narrative on pages three and four of the Missal and I understood more about the purpose of the illustrations. The narrative states that "many of the images represent 'typology' - the practice of using a passage from the Old Testament to prefigure or predict the events of the New Testament." It sounds as if the images were much like our modern day scripture references in the Bible or used like a hyperlink in websites. It appears that the artistry was intended to connect the text and music written for the seasonal masses, which were used to celebrate the feasts and saints days, to the New Testament history which they illustrate. The person reading the missal could easily relate what he was reading to the history behind the mass by seeing the illustration alongside the text. The illustrations served to amplify and enhance what the reader was reading. Possibly we could even compare this to using a video or drama today to illustrate a point in a lecture or sermon. These methods serve to give the message a greater impact or fuller meaning to the hearers. In my opinion the illustrations were intended to be more than artistic expression or for decorative purposes.

I found at least seven different types of contrasts in the Lindisfarne Gospels on page 10. Another contrast that I missed earlier are the Old English translations versus the Latin text. When you look closely you can make out the words David and Abraham written in Old English in the margin. The notations IHS and XPS at the top of the page are apparently monograms which stood for Iesous Christos or Jesus Christ.
 * Lindisfarne Gospel**
 * Blank background versus colorful artwork and text;
 * Large fonts versus small fonts;
 * Black letters versus red letters;
 * Elaborate artwork versus text;
 * Clearly defined borders with three corners versus an elaborate initial extending outside the borders;
 * Black letters outlines in red versus clear letters outlined in black;
 * Bold rich colors versus softer pastel shades.

I noticed that of all the books we reviewed, the Lindisfarne Gospels was the only one with the front cover elaborately decorated as well as the pages. It was stated that the original leather binding for the Lindisfarne Gospels was lost and the current one was created in 1852. But if we were to compare the books on the busy-ness scale as far as which would be the most difficult to read, then I would have to vote for the Sherborne Missal to take first place.

We learned in our lecture that culture changes the way we see things. I would imagine that what appears busy to us today, did not appear busy to the creators of this work. It may be possible that our brains that have changed to cause us to see the work quite differently today than we would have if we had lived during the 7th century. Just something to think about. Maybe the students work that Emily was referring to is a reflection of the way their brains are changing. After all, they are texting, tweeting, and multi-tasking to such an extent that it boggles my brain. Their artwork is likely a reflection of the same busy-ness that is going on in their brains.

Leanne, I think the line you are talking about that looks like CEHERATI is actually continued on the line below it. It reads "GENERATIONIS". The British Library narrative says "the Gospel opens with the Latin words: 'Liber generationis iesu christi', The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,". That would mean that the IHU part apparently stands for Jesus.

I did some additional research and found that there was no letter ‘J’ in any language, Hebrew, Latin, or Greek, prior to the 14th century in England. So it appears that the IHU stands for Iesous, the Latin word for Jesus, and the X possibly stands for the name Christ.

The last word that is scrunched together is Abraham. Also, t he notations IHS and XPS at the top of the page are apparently monograms which stood for Iesous Christos or Jesus Christ.

I thoroughly enjoyed the British Library website and had no idea anything like it existed. I actually expected this course to be a little easier than the first course because it's an area that I am very interested in. I have had some experience creating publications and web pages, so I am excited about learning more about digital graphics and desktop publishing. I was not expecting to be challenged so much by the history and psychology of communication. The quizzes have been tough, especially the questions that require more than one answer. My courseware also doesn't seem to indicating which answers were correct on the questions I answered incorrectly. It worked for me on the last course, but is not working this time.
 * What did you like or not like in this week's lesson or in the British Library and why?**

I enjoy reading others posts and usually enjoy making comments as well. But I have had a tough time posting comments on these class discussion boards because I worry so much about whether I am using "scholarly" writing and if I am really getting my point across or just babbling. The discussion part of the courses has been extremely challenging to me. Also, what did our lecture say about the width of a column making a difference in how easy is it to read? My courseware discussion board is about 15 inches wide! I'm not sure what I can do to change that other than minimizing the window.