Reading with a quill in hand

Incunabula in the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences

One of the features of old books that interest researchers is the marginalia: entries, comments, annotations and drawings, left by the former owners. Traces of reading left by a famous person in their books are clues that may help to understand them better and allow us to make assumptions as to why they read a book, what interested them, what were the ideas that they agreed or disagreed with. The marks left by an anonymous reader can help us speculate about who the person was and how, why they used one or another book. The various drawings left behind might make smile or, conversely, wonder whether the “artist” was inspired or whether the text was very boring.

Most of the reading marks in these books have a practical purpose. One such example is the contents of a composite volume (several, several dozen or even more books bound together) written on the front endpaper. It allowed the owner of the book to double-check whether the desired work was actually in the particular volume. In this case, the content shows that there were thirteen books in this volume. In fact, there are now eleven remaining. During the five centuries of the volume’s existence, a couple of works have disappeared, leaving behind only their titles indicated in the contents, enabling us to guess what books are missing.

An incunabulum often served as a workbook for its owner. Readers wrote keywords in the margins of the book to help them find the desired page faster, as well as commentaries, translations and other relevant information.

LMAVB RSS I-21
ISTC ip00650000, GW 12257 

Some comments were very short, merely a few words, while in other places we find whole paragraphs.

LMAVB RSS I-20
ISTC ib00580500, GW 04256

Important parts of the book were often marked by a painted hand with the index finger extended to an important line, or by the letters “NB” (Latin for “nota bene” – note well). Such letters varied greatly in size and quality. Some were likely to be quickly marked, while others were much more carefully drawn by the reader (or perhaps the reader was more skilled and drew more skillfully).

LMAVB RSS I-20
ISTC ib00580500, GW 04256

The unknown owner of the composite volume I-25 was either very bored while reading the book or was overcome by great artistic inspiration. Here we find not only expressive drawings of hands…

LMAVB RSS I-25d
ISTC ih00028000, GW 12240 

... but also little drawings illustrating the text, sometimes directly related to the sentences printed alongside. A house and a ship are drawn next to a text which says that the ship has one captain and the house has one master.

LMAVB RSS I-25b
ISTC ih00155000, GW M07949

In another book of the same composite volume, the same reader-artist has drawn a picture of St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). The assumption that the monk painted here is St. Dominic is aided by the nearby text.

LMAVB RSS I-25c
ISTC it00535000, GW M48271 

The inside part of the hardcovers is often used for provenances – the various ownership marks on books – but drawings can also be found in this part, here exemplified by theMother of God with the Child.

LMAVB RSS I-5
ISTC in00089000, GW M26308

There are many more examples of marginalia in incunabula. The unexpected discovery of even the most insignificant additions brings joy to modern scholars. It is thus very fortunate for us that in the 15th and 16th centuries readers were apparently not scolded for scribbling in books.