Pinakes | Πίνακες

Résumé :

[publ. originelle : « La pergamena nel manoscritto bizantino dei secoli XI e XII: caratteristiche e modalità d’uso », Quinio. International Journal on the History and Conservation of the Book 2 (2000), p. 63-92] Summary: An examination of the various qualitative characteristics met with in the parchment of a sample corpus composed of 700 Greek manuscripts dating from the 11th and 12th centuries sheds light on the working practices of Byzantine book manufacturers, in comparison to those employed by their Latin ‘colleagues’. The first section of this study reveals the existence of a close relationship between the quality of parchment and the fundamental characteristics of any manuscript, i.e. date, origin and content. The second section describes the methods devised by book manufacturers in order to limit or conceal defects in parchment surfaces by positioning them, whenever possible, outside the written area, or alternatively by ‘hiding’ them in the inner bifolia of quires. A close analysis of the parchment also makes it possible to reconsider LéonGilissens’s well-known theory on the compo-sition of quires.