The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1882-11-23
Ancient Stationery.

ls 1t not strange In these days Of chear
stationery to thinkaof time when both
parchment and papyrus had become &C
rare and 30 exorbitantly expensive thai
both Greeks and Romans were In the
habit OF using palimpsest, which was
simply some old manuscript with the
| former writing erascd2 Thus countless
| works Of authors now celebrated, and
whose every word is held priceless iu this
nineteenth century, were. ruthlessly dc.
stroyed by their contemporaries. Verify
those prophets lacked honorI Many were
the expedients resorted to by the early
scribcs for the supply of. writing materials.
There were no scrlbbling paper whcrcon
10 lot down trivial memoranda or accounts
but tho heaps of broken pots and crockery
OF all sorts, which arc so abundant IN all
Eastern towns, prove the first suggestion
for such china tablets and states as we
now use, and bits of smooth stone or tiles
were constantly used for this purpose, and
remain to this day. Fragments of ancient
tiles thus scribblcd on (such tiles as that
whcrcon Ezekiel was commanded to ror-
tray the city OF Jerusalcm) have been
found in many places. The island of
Elephant'ne, on the Nile Is SAID to have
furnished more than hundre specimens
OF these memoranda, which are now In
various museums One of these is a soldiers
leave OF absence, scrlbbed on fragment
OF an old vase. How little those scribes
ana accountants foresaw the interest with
which learned descendants of tho burbar;-
ans OF the isles would one day treasure
their rough notes Still quainter were the
writing materials of the ancient Arabs,
who before the time Of NIohammed used
lo
blades OF sheep; these stshecp-bone
chronicles were strung together, aud
thus preserved. After u while, shecp's
bones were replaced by sleeps skin, and
the manufacture OF parchment was
brought TO such perfection as to place it
among tho rcIfncuents OF art. We hear
OF veilums that were tinted yellow, others
white; others were dyed of rich purple.
and the whiting thereon was in golden ink
with gold borders and many -colored de.
coratlons. These precious manuscripts
were annointcd with the oil of cedar TO
preserve them from moths. We hear of
one such in which the name of Mohammed
Is adorned with garlands of tulips and car
nations palntcd III vivid coors. S ill more
precious WAS the silky paper of the Per
slams, powdered with gold and silver dust,
whereon were painted rare llluminatlons,
while the book was perfumed with altar
OF roses or essence of sandal-wood. Of tho
demand for writing materials one NAV
form some FAINT notion from the vast
manuscript libraries of which records
nave been preserved. as having been col
looted by tho Caliphs both OF lhc East and
West, tho former in Bngdad, the latter in
Andaltsln, whore there were 40 grent
pablich llOrat!cH, hesldes That vast one al.
Cordova. We also hear of private libraries,
suoh as that of physician who declined
an invitation from the Sultan of Hokhara
because tho carriage of his books would
have required 400 camcls. If all the
physicians of Ragdad were equally lite
rary, the city could scarcely have cou-
talned their books, as we hear that the
medical brotherhood numbered $50 licensed
practitioners.