Typical human behavior, use any materials at hand and any available surface to write or draw on and create from the mundane all the tales of living. In the discovery of something as simple as the charcoal blackened end of a stick to mark, the invention of tools exclusive to writing, began.
Ink's History
From excavations, the timeline is easily constructed on each step in the creativity of formulating the driving necessity to record human existence. China's Tien-Lcheu, around 2697 B.C., is credited with the invention of 'Indian Ink'. The color which was black; contained a mixture of soot produced by the smoke of pines and the oil from lamps. It was then mixed with the gelatin of donkey skin and musk, the musk to clear the odor from the oil. This ink became common use by 1200 B.C.. The colored inks, developed by other cultures, were in use about the same time, especially by the Christians for their symbolic meaning within their religion.
Wax Tablets To Papyrus
Handwriting is attributed to the Greeks, beginning in 1800 B.C. and running to 1500 B.C. They employed an instrument called a stylus, which was crafted from metal, bone or ivory. Its use was for marking wax coated tablets. The tablets themselves were hinged together to protect the scribe's notes. Quite handy, easy to transport and reuse, yet the drawback was their lack of permanency. Hence the introduction of papyrus. It was made from the thin lengths cut from the stalk of the plant, which were laid overlapping side by side in one direction and then in a similar fashion perpendicular to the first layer. It was a strong, yet very flexible surface on which to write, it weighed far less than the tablets and it could be rolled, thus providing more storage space for the scribes.
Papyrus to Parchment
The terms were used interchangeably, yet each was manufactured using a variety of other materials, for paper, rags and for parchment, animal skins. Parchment was the standard issue for all writing that was composed, especially for the Church's documents. In 105 A.D., the Chinese were credited with the introduction of a wood fiber paper, though it was not in common use until 700 A.D. in Japan and then brought to Spain by the Arabs in 711 A.D. But paper itself in Europe would not be readily accessible until the late fourteenth century when the paper mills were built.
The Mighty Quill
This specific pen has a place in writing history that has spanned one thousand years. The construction itself, though simple, required agility and patience. The best feathers were taken from birds in the spring. The outer five left wing feathers made for the best quills. The goose feathers were the most common, but for making a finer sharper line, crow feathers were considered the finest in writing. The time to prep a pen for use, necessitated cutting a 'nib' at the end of the shaft, hence the term pen-knife. Quills generally only lasted a week and any writer would insure they had several at the ready to continue working. The result of this style of writing that became the cursive, is what is in use today, was called the "Italian running hand" . It is credited to Aldus Manutiusof Venice who incorporated the old Roman capitol letters and the use of the Greek to form the ease for the hand in writing.
The innate ability or an acquired knowledge becomes a superfluous discussion in the capability of the human brain that constructed symbols to an alphabet to words that are readily understood across countries.
Medieval and Renaissance Book Production-Manuscript Books by Richard W. Clement at
http:/the-/orb.net/encyclop/culture/books/msdbook1.htm
http://lbarnyard.syr.edu/-vefatica/writing.txt
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