I found the library visit on Monday very enjoyable. It was great to have an opportunity to see such ancient books in such an informal and hands on setting. I hadn’t realized how many books our library had, or that they were so accessible to students. I was especially amazed that we were allowed to touch the books ourselves. I consider them pieces of art, and art is generally put on display and not allowed to be handled. It was a great opportunity since when we had looked at illuminated pages in the Wellin, I felt distanced from them because of the setting and inability to touch the pages. In the library, I was able to better examine and appreciate the books. Being able to manually handle the books gave me a much better sense of their weight and value, since I could see and feel how much work went into them.
The large music book was very interesting to me because of its immense size. It was very different from previous books we’ve seen since it was for music and designed for many people to view at once. The sheer size of it reminded me of how much time and effort went into making these books, since each page was made from an animal skin and the book had around a hundred pages. Getting to turn the pages also made me aware of the delicacy of these books. I was glad to get to see a variety of these books.
You make a good point about the value of these books. Being able to come into contact with them really put that into perspective. Because they ere made so long ago and took an immense amount of time to make, it is easy to realize just how treasured they are. Furthermore, that makes it even more special that we were able to touch them and turn their pages as if we were reading them like any other book. Definitely some of the most valued books I have been able to interact with.
I agree, it was very interesting getting to inspect these books with our bare hands in such an informal setting! I almost forgot how valuable what we were looking at really is and how much time went into making them. The experience really helped me connect with the idea of illumination and manuscripts. I wonder if allowing people to touch the books with bare hands takes any toll on the quality or longevity of the pieces – I hope not!
I agree with everything that’s been said previously as well. I think the pieces I was most impressed by were the papyrus. It’s absolutely incredible t me how old those were. I believe he said those were from the 100’s AD – nearly 2000 years old. And we got to handle them ourselves?! That’s the type of stuff at a museum that you get to look at from behind a rope 5 feet away through plate glass. It was awesome.