06-03-2016, 07:13 AM
Various means were used for erasure. As Rene rightly says, time was short.
A scribe kept by his side a piece of pumice, used for smoothing the parchment, and which might be used to erase; however in those cases and especially with a script as small as the Vms', it is usually obvious where the additional smoothing was done.
Another method was a "breadcrumb" eraser, a small bit of fresh bread rolled into a ball. It works surprising well, though I've only tried it on pencil, myself.
I've seen other recipes for erasing ink in medieval works - sorry I can't remember which offhand.
Depending on the composition of the iron-gall ink, the result might be a very deep (almost black) ink, or a brown as light as most of that in the Vms. As rough guide, you usually find the deeper inks used in the north, and lighter around the south. But that's just a rough guide, not a rule.
A scribe kept by his side a piece of pumice, used for smoothing the parchment, and which might be used to erase; however in those cases and especially with a script as small as the Vms', it is usually obvious where the additional smoothing was done.
Another method was a "breadcrumb" eraser, a small bit of fresh bread rolled into a ball. It works surprising well, though I've only tried it on pencil, myself.
I've seen other recipes for erasing ink in medieval works - sorry I can't remember which offhand.
Depending on the composition of the iron-gall ink, the result might be a very deep (almost black) ink, or a brown as light as most of that in the Vms. As rough guide, you usually find the deeper inks used in the north, and lighter around the south. But that's just a rough guide, not a rule.