Parchment was made from animal skin (usually a cow or sheep), scraped into thin layers and dried. It was expensive, and books were a sign of great wealth.
(photo: williamcowley.co.uk/about-us/)
It was also very common for parchment-makers to score the surface too hard, and create holes in the material.
(special.lib.gla.ac.uk/manuscripts/se…)
People didn't seem to mind. Scribes simply wrote around the holes. But others took a more creative approach.
(Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, BPL25, 9th century)
This Swiss manuscript from the monastery of St. Gallen is one of the most beautiful examples.
(web.archive.org/web/2013101705…)
(e-codices.unifr.ch/en/bcuf/L0034/…)
(Universitätsbibliothek, Ms. L 34 e-codices.unifr.ch/en/bcuf/L0034/…)
(Engelberg, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 16)
(Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc.Nat.1 staatsbibliothek-bamberg.de/index.php?id=1…)
(Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc.Patr.41, fol. 69r. erikkwakkel.tumblr.com/post/101115772…)
In this manuscript, the illustrator has enlarged a hole to demonstrate a “star clock”, a means to tell time after dark.
(St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 18 e-codices.unifr.ch/en/csg/0018/43)
(Aarau, Aargauer Kantonsbibliothek, WettF 9 (14th century), folio 150r. e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/kb…)
The flaws in a text can tell us so much about the world in which it was made.