Date: November 12, 7-9 pm
Location: Knox Presbyterian Church, 2964 Richmond Road, Victoria
During the European Middle Ages, most book pages were made not from paper, but from parchment: specially-treated animal skin. As a general rule, this creamy smooth substrate was highly prized; yet not all parchment was created equal. Following an overview of medieval parchment-making techniques, this talk—illustrated with documents from the University of Victoria’s Special Collections as well as much further afield—will consider parchment’s natural variability, with particular attention to how manufacturing processes and biochemical factors gave rise to ‘offcuts’ (flaw-ridden parchment scraps or ‘seconds’), as well as where and why medieval scribes used this lower quality form of writing support.
Biography: Stephanie J. Lahey is a PhD candidate at the University of Victoria, and Editorial Assistant of Early Middle English. A recent Guest Researcher at the University of Leiden, she has presented her research in Canada, the USA, and Europe; published in Florilegium and Journal of Interdisciplinary Humanities; and been cited and consulted in The Wall Street Journal. Her doctoral dissertation, jointly supervised by Dr. Iain Macleod Higgins (Victoria) and Dr. Erik Kwakkel (UBC iSchool) analyses the use of parchment offcuts in manuscripts produced in later medieval England.
Photo credit: University of Victoria, McPherson Library, Special Collections, Ms.Lat.6, f. 90r