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Another Red by Madame Elizabeth de Nevell What's Black and White and Red all over? A book of course! More precisely a medieval manuscript. Red is thought to be the first color man was able to distinguish. As early as the Neolithic period man believed that Red had life giving properties, and the word "magic" it's self pays homage to the the Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon words for red ochre. In the 9th and 10th centuries few manuscript in black have survived for us to study today, but in those periods red prevailed on the page, so much so that entire texts were being written in it.[3] Along with a wide variety of substances have been used throughout history to impart Red onto the page, the following are but a few. Red Lead (Lead(II,IV)-oxide) was one of the first pigments produced and is still widely used today despite it's instabilities. Vermilion (mercuric sulfide) is an orange-red pigment which was discovered prior to the 6th century and was widely used for 1400 years. Substantially toxic Vermilion is rarely used today.[7] Imported to Europe in the middle ages Brazilwood (Caesalpinia echinata) has a yellowish-orange sap which matures into a vibrant deep red.[1] Red inks can commonly be found in manuscripts between the 5th century and the 15th century.[2] A secular treaties written in the12th Century tells us Red was considered to be a righteous and moral color in Christian Europe held in high regard by the medieval church. Red stood for passion, martyrdom, sacrifice and divine love.[5] In medieval manuscripts red letters are called rubrics and used to draw attention to a change taking place in the text such as a title, the beginning of a sentence or paragraph, the start of a new chapter. In a time with little punctuation and order Red played a key role in letting the reader know where he was in the text and what was to come.[4] Red highlighted important dates on the calendar, and "Red Letter Days" were born. In several locations Red also assisted the artist in the production of the manuscript. Red ruled lines and blocked out spaces for illumination it decorated it's boring black companion letters with delicate filigree pen work turning them into exquisite works of art.
So, what happened to red after all those years? It is possible that the decline of red in print is an example of modern technology stealing away the beauty of the bookmakers art. The invention of the printing press and the difficulties in using multiple colors in the process without a doubt contributed to the demise of red ink in books. [2] This is an experiment in producing Red Ink from a late medieval recipe. The recipe comes from "A Boke of Secrets" on the ink corrosion website. This translation of a Dutch manuscript from 1596 contains several recipes for inks and dyes to be used by artists. It's possible that the Dutch text may have it's self been the translation of an earlier German work.[6] There are three recipes in "The Boke of Secrets" for red ink, the first two methods using "Brasill" (Brazilwood). Since I'm not in the habit of keeping Brazilwood lying about our house, I thought I'd experiment with the third.
Bibliography
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