Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-30
EARLY BOOK MAKERS.
Rolls Of Papyrus Carried Down to Us
in the Arms of MummieS.
THE MONKS OF THE MIDDLE AGES.
Titiandorfs Years of Search for the Writ
lngs ofthe Apostles.
! MONKS OF THE MIDDLE AGES.
AN IMPORTANT WORK YET MISSING
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.J

drvness of the Egyptian climate and to the
peculiar manner the Egyptians had of pre-
serving them with Inummies, thousands OF
rolls of papyrus of a religious nature have
been brought down to us through the gray
mist of time, wrapped in the arms, in the
hands, or laid at the feet or somewhere
within the many winding folds around the
mummy. Papyri of worldly nature were
packed in wooden images or cases and
placed near the monuments of the kings of
those times, and these Egyptian hieroglyph-
ical papyr1 contain the solar litanies and
pictures describing the passage of the sun
during the night through the Egyptian
hades, and representations of the empyrean
gates of heaven.
The ritual was a series of sacred books
containing directions as to what should be
placed on the bodies of the dead for the
better preservation of their souls in the
future state. Parts of these sacred books
were considered mystical, as being written
by the god Thath himself. The hieratic
papyri were written in the common writing
of the time, and relate to the ordinary cur
rent events, accounts of wars, conspiracies
in the palace of Ramesis I'LL, etc. One
shows, strange to say, that charge was
brought against man for practicing magic
in the nineteenth dynasty, and another for
robbing the royal tombs, and in still
another roll is contract for the sale Of
mummies.
FAMOUS EGYPTIAN LIBRARIES.
At all times in the history of Egypt
libraries or large collections of books seem
- a.
volumes were said to have been collected at
Alexandria aud were burned by order of the
ferocious blood-thirsty Caliph Omar about
A. D. $50. Books or rolls of papyrus have been
known since the time of Ezekiel. Job de-
sired that his words might be printed in a
book; and also that his adversary had written
book. Solomon said that of making books
there is no end. And in many other places
in the Bible is the word book used. The
word liber in Latin means book, but is
derived from the cellular tissue of the papy-
rus from which the rolls OF papyrus were
made. The English, German and Dutch
words meaning book are all very much
alike. but as the early writing of those
nations was generally on the inner bark of a
beech tree, it is considered probable that
beech is the root of book. A collection of
books was called by the Romans libraria,
The Greek word biblos or biblion was orig
inally taken from the Egvtian term for
papyrus. From papyIus we have the word
paper.
The Romans in the early centuries
achieved great skill in manufacturing books
as we'll as in illuminating them. We are
told that the papyrus was prepared with
great care-one side for the writing and the
other colored with saffron oil. The pen was
made from a reed or papyrus, which made
the best, and the black and red ink used
was made of animal carbon, and was as good
as when first put on when found over 18
centuries afterward.
SOME FINE WORKS.
About 1,S00 rolls of papyrus were dis
covered in Herculaneum. A copy of fine
book or work of some famous author was
wound around cylinder which had knobs
of ivory or silver at each end. The book or
roll was about Is inches deep and was ele-
gantly done up and beautifully engrossed
and illuminated in red, blue, gold and black.
These rolls were encased in az elegant box
fparchment or perfumed wood, and were
handled very carefully. A Roman travel
Ing with one of these boxes under his arm
was considered a literary man, and so prided
himself The specimens OF those early at
tempts at bookmaking which have come
down to us, are evidences of the sublime
good taste and unutterable patience of the
engrosser. Their beauties are still as bright
and attractive as when made many hun
dreds of years ago.
Parchment was known at least 500 years
before Christ but it was not until the Mid
die Ages that the system OF rolls almost
entirely disappeared. Parchment made of
the we'll prepared skins of sheep, goats and
deer supplanted papyrus. The parchment
was cut into leaves and bound or sewed be-
tween two boards Bookmakers in those
days were almost exclusively monks, whose
work was well done, and shows us that in
that long, dark period of blood in the worlds
history, intelligence and high-classed literary
and mechanical skill and labor, were busilv
employed in those silent cloisters. Regularity
in forming the letters of that beautiful old
script was accomplished by lining. Mis-
takes were forbidden and no corrections
could be made, but notwithstanding their
great care mistakes were made, and those
mistakes were repeated by their followers
with others of their own, and the conse-
quence is that those blunders have set
scholars and interpreters ever since almost
crazy.
ADoRNMENT OF THE BOOKS.
Certain of the monks, like other men,
were more deft than others in Illuminating
in water colors and gold leaf, and could
cover holy book with beautiful pictorial
illustrations and illuminated letters. Other
monks could bind the work with handsome
wooden backs, often covered with velvet or
leather, and adorn them with grand sprays
and effects in silver and other metals, some
times even beautifying them with the
precious gems. The hinges and clasps were
gold or silver, beautifully carved.
Had not it been for these diligent monks
we would have had little knowledge of the
dark Middle Ages at all, and works of art
and the classical works would have been all
DESTROYED by the immense armies of bar
barians and Turks which ravaged Europe.
To preserve those books, which took some-
times 20 years to copy, they were often
chained to their receptacles to avoid theft,
even in the homes of the mobiles. The Brit
ish Museum has a beautiful and costly col
lection of those very rare books. Many
still remain in old dilapidated monasteries,
where the monks cannot read them if in
any language than Latin; but very many
were destroyed by the desolating wars,
when the majority of man and womankind
could neither read nor write, and, of course,
cared little Tor books for their literary
worth, but only for their ornamentation and
as household gods
BURNING THE BOOKS,
About the periious times of the Reforma-
ton many collections of these valuable
works were burned or otherwise DESTROYED in
mere frenzy and wantonness, but printing
came in about that time and very soon those
who could read could get at more reasonable
rates all they wanted. But copies of books
prior to the Reformation are exceedingly
scarce and high-priced. Many of the laity
to copy the religious books, but
the monks and nuns had, up to the Reforna-
ton. supplied the religious houses with
copies of holy works. One old Irish monk
named Alcuin occupied % years in making
q copy of the whole Bible for Charlemagne.
That interesting book is now in the British
Museum at cost of So, $50.
Many OF these old and very valuable