Friday, August 14, 2009

Moratorium on Monk Eadwine

I am hereby declaring a one-year moratorium on academic books using "Monk Eadwine at Work on the Manuscript" as their cover art.

I used to like it, but Monk Eadwine's agent should tell him he's over-exposed.

These two scribes are also in danger of being included in my moratorium.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:17 AM

    Old Eadwine is so... focused on his work. It gives a certain gravitas to the whole academia thing.

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  2. I'm intrigued by the fact that they hold an implement in each hand. Can you shed any light on the article in the left hand, for those of us not familiar with the scribes' process? Is it a scraper for preparing the vellum in some way?

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  3. Pat:

    The objects in their left hands are penknives. Vellum is springy, and you can use your penknife to hold it down without getting it greasy with the oils from your hand. I prefer to use the tip of the handle rather than the blade.

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  4. How about the Carolingian ivory of St. Gregory with the scribes? I have that on the cover of at least five different books on my fairly limited shelves of medieval history books.

    I guess nothing says medieval like a monk in the scriptorium!

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  5. Anonymous8:20 AM

    Ooh, I hadn't seen that second extra scribe. I've used all the others for post illustrations already so that may well come in handy.

    Though, for the next thing I'm working on I would really need an image of a nun writing. Possibly just as well it's only a paper and will need no cover illustration...

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  6. I think when someone is focused in his/her work is the best they can give us because it's something really elaborated.m10

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