Dirty books: Quantifying patterns of use in medieval manuscripts using a densitometer

Kathryn Margaret Rudy

doi:10.5092/jhna.2010.2.1.1

Dirty books: Quantifying patterns of use in medieval manuscripts using a densitometer

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Early users of medieval books of hours and prayer books left signs of their reading in the form of fingerprints in the margins. The darkness of their fingerprints correlates to the intensity of their use and handling. A densitometer is a machine that measures the darkness of a reflecting surface can reveal which texts a reader favored. This article introduces a new technique, densitometry, to measure a reader's response to various texts in a prayer book.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-26
Number of pages	26
Journal	Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art
Volume	2
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5092/jhna.2010.2.1.1
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2010

Keywords

Medieval manuscripts
Densitometer
Conservation

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10.5092/jhna.2010.2.1.1

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title = "Dirty books: Quantifying patterns of use in medieval manuscripts using a densitometer",

abstract = "Early users of medieval books of hours and prayer books left signs of their reading in the form of fingerprints in the margins. The darkness of their fingerprints correlates to the intensity of their use and handling. A densitometer is a machine that measures the darkness of a reflecting surface can reveal which texts a reader favored. This article introduces a new technique, densitometry, to measure a reader's response to various texts in a prayer book.",

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doi = "10.5092/jhna.2010.2.1.1",

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AB - Early users of medieval books of hours and prayer books left signs of their reading in the form of fingerprints in the margins. The darkness of their fingerprints correlates to the intensity of their use and handling. A densitometer is a machine that measures the darkness of a reflecting surface can reveal which texts a reader favored. This article introduces a new technique, densitometry, to measure a reader's response to various texts in a prayer book.

KW - Medieval manuscripts

KW - Densitometer

KW - Conservation

UR - http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/Events/MeasuringMedievalDirt.htm

UR - http://www.jhna.org/index.php/past-issues/volume-2-issue-1-2/129-dirty-books

UR - http://www.jhna.org/

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DO - 10.5092/jhna.2010.2.1.1

M3 - Article

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JO - Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art

JF - Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art

IS - 1-2

ER -

Dirty books: Quantifying patterns of use in medieval manuscripts using a densitometer

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