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Newsletter 47 – Illumination courses, a talk, Lammas Tide and the Charter for Trees, Woods and People
From the heat of June and July to the deluge of August – it's been very wet and rather chilly here though we are saying that the gardens will appreciate all this rain. Whatever the weather with you here's chained libraries, Prussian blue and courses. I hope that you can curl up with your computer and enjoy this newsletter. And I have a great offer for the 4th birthday issue next month, and I've just heard of a fantastic Christmas present I'm going to be able to offer to one lucky winner in November. It'll be worth continuing to subscribe! Patricia.
 

Repeated due to popular demand!

I hadn't realised when I featured the day course of Painting a Mediæval Miniature at the British Library in a previous newsletter that the course had actually already sold out. I was contacted by a number of disappointed people and have now arranged with the Library to repeat this course on Saturday, 27th January. Even still there are now only 3 places left, so if you're interested, then don't leave it too long as you may miss out again! Book on the link.



 

And if you want even more …

The above is a day course, but, again due to demand. I am running the 3-day intensive tools and materials of the mediæval illuminator course over the late May Bank Holiday in 2018. I usually run these courses only every other year and the last was in May this year, thus the next was due in May 2019, but have had a number of requests, so …. If you're interested in a course that covers quill cutting, making, laying and using gesso, using leaf gold and the sequence of painting a mediæval miniature on vellum all at Sevenoaks in Kent over the late May Bank Holiday next year, then please contact me on the link at the end of this newsletter. Again this is already getting booked up and I have only 3 places left. See here for this year's course results, and here for the previous course with comments from students.
 

Lammas tide – pagan? harvest? what?

August 1st is Lammas, which is the earliest Anglo-Saxon harvest festival of the year. Lammas comes from loaf (hlaf) and mass (mæsse), and the date may have marked when the bread that was made from the first corn harvested was blessed. However, although Lammas is mentioned in a number of texts, there aren't many references to what went on on the day. Some have suggested that the festival is pagan, but the word 'mass' gives away the Christian origin (as in Christmas and Michaelmas). There's an interesting post on Lammas by the Clerk of Oxford on the link, but it isn't conclusive.


 

The Art and History of Calligraphy – talk at Sevenoaks

I was delighted to have been approached by the organisers of Sevenoaks Literary Festival to talk about The Art and History of Calligraphy on Wednesday 4th October, and for those attending to have the chance to buy a copy of my latest book published by the British Library, with names written calligraphically and also signed. I'll be talking about lots of fascinating manuscripts from a practitioner's point of view including some by fellow contemporary calligraphers. Wouldn't it be great to see you there!





 

The Bosworth Psalter

One of the manuscripts featured in the Art and History of Calligraphy is the Bosworth Psalter, and coincidentally, the great British Library Typepad have a recent fascinating post on this manuscript. I approach this book from an artist's, as opposed to an academic's, point of view and used this page with its enlarged initial letter in my book. There are quite a few intriguing details here, such as wondering if it was a collaboration between master and apprentice. Also, look at the four lion's heads where, for three of them, the band of colour making up the outer circle goes into their mouths, disappears, and comes out at the back of the  heads, but for one, the band goes straight through the lion's head. A mistake or intentional? 


 



From the Mersey to the Med

What a sight in sedate Sevenoaks when Phill and Emily Gregson turned up in our lane with their covered wagon and two horses, Killarney and Bear, along with Pan and pepper the dogs. They parked in the field next to our house to rest Killarney as he had a problem with his foot, and to make running repairs to the wagon made by apprentice Joe Fredricks. Phill and Emily are making the 1,000-mile journey to raise funds and awareness for research into mitochondrial disease, which is what their baby Elsie died from, as well as the Claire House Children's Hospice and Alder Hey hospital which gave them so much support during this sad time.  More on the link as well as some photos of the countryside round us and the stop they made in the local shop in our village church hall.


 

The Charter for Trees, Woods and People 

I don't usually tender for work as I have so much to be getting on with, but a number of people sent me the link suggesting that this was rather up my street, and I was approached directly by the Woodland Trust as well, so I threw my hat into the ring, not in any way expecting that I would be selected (there's other good people out there!). However, I was thrilled and honoured to hear that I was the unanimous choice of the selection committee, and so it's now heads down, pens up, to produce what I trust will be something that we shall all be proud of. My contact so far with the Trust has been very positive, and my only regret is that they have chosen not to use vellum. The Charter will be launched publicly in November at Lincoln Castle to celebrate the anniversary of the 1217 Charter of the Forest. I'll be writing blogposts and featuring this in my newsletter, so this won't be the last you'll hear about it! And if you sign the Charter, they'll plant a tree!


 
 
Chained books and the Game of Thrones

We've all seen images of chained libraries such as the one in Hereford Cathedral as in this image, and appreciate that books were much valued and thus chained to prevent people from removing them. A recent post, though, gives a detail that the producers of Game of Thrones didn't understand. Those who know appeciate that books were not removed from the chains but read and consulted within the chained area, as with the book shown on the right on the shelf in this image. The job for Samwell Tarly (great name) in the series was to return books from where they were being used to the chains after use, but this didn't actually happen. More on this on the link, and if you want the real lowdown on chained libraries, the great Erik Kwakkel has more in this link here which I've featured in the newsletter before.

 
 
Prussian Blue and Hokusai's Wave

'Illustrious' Ultramarine Blue was a favourite pigment in mediæval times. It was, though, very expensive, not least because it had to come all the way from Afghanistan, and it was also time-consuming to make. The invention of Prussian Blue, originally a mistake in fact, by the German Johann Conrad Dippel around 1705, resulted in a blue revolution. The colour was used for printing (as with the Wave shown here), wallpaper, flags, and became the official colour of the Prussian Army no less. There was even a Prussian Blue Chinese tea, so it could be drunk as well! You can see the Hokusai print of the Wave in an exhibition at the British Library and the National Gallery of Victoria, you can also see the 'Wave' on a house in Camberwell and elsewhere, as shown here, and there's more on the colour and how it was made and used on the link.


 

Typefaces new and old!

If you tweet, you may have noticed that its typeface has changed recently. And the BBC, having used Gill Sans (designed by Eric Gill) for decades, is now changing to the specially designed Reith, although the B B C in blocks, which is Gill Sans, will remain as the logo. Does any of this matter? Well, how things look on the page or screen is often determined by the style of letter-forms chosen, and the BBC have decided to go for the new look as it has been specially created for their website. As always, views are mixed. The typeface designed by Edward Johnston for London Transport has been in use since 1916, although it has been changed slightly. And for those who can receive BBC iPlayer, there's a great programme by Mark Ovendon on both Gill Sans and Johnston here which takes in the Beatles, the railways, and the new BBC typeface. Many thanks to Andrea Virgo for alerting me to this programme.

  


Folded linen – a visual treat!

And if it is really miserable where you are and you need cheering up, click on the link for a jaw dropping film clip. So, when you're having a posh meal with napkins/serviettes, do you fold them in any particular way? Whatever you do you will feel rather inferior to the talents of Joan Sallas. There was an exhibition of his folding techniques at Waddesdon Manor in 2015, and this film shows his work there. It is stunning, but I'm not so sure about the tail of the animal trailing all over the chairs and floor. It would be just my luck to trip over it with a plate of dinner and spill the gravy everywhere!


 
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