VMs: Re: John M. Manly's 1922 Harpers article...

[Seth <sethm@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 2002.07.09 16:06:34 +0000, Nick Pelling wrote:
> The physical mark of the writing implement on the page - ie, a pen leaving 
> its furrow. IIRC, these indentations are normally photographed by lighting 
> the page very nearly parallel to its plane. :-)

This isn't usually visible on vellum.  Consider that the pen would
likely have been a goose or similar quill, or less likely a reed pen.
Vellum presents a very sturdy surface, so usually any indentations
found on vellum are from a scoring knife used to mark up lines
(obviously not used on the VMS), not from the pen.  This is one of
the reasons that vellum is so easily erased with a scraping knife,
which scribes kept handy for scraping out errors.

For what it's worth, metal nibs were not in common use until the 1700s.

-Seth