Of berries and wine
Having a love of ink, the variety of its hues and the names people give them, and the chunky inventive...
Inkhorn in one hand, pen in the other
Orlando enjoys a portfolio career, as a courtier, a diplomat, a landowner, a lady under house arrest, but throughout, he-she...
Today’s diary entry
Always curious about the habits of journal writing and the choices people make in the materials they use, I liked...
Stitched with stolen silk
This hand-bound, home-made note book contains the manuscript of Orlando's great poem, 'The Oak Tree', begun in 1586. He takes...
Steady as she goes
When I created a category dedicated to the accoutrements of writing and drawing, I had in mind pens and their...
A quick frozen harvest of memory
I liked this lively description of the importance of notebooks. How many do we have dotted around our homes, half...
A paean to paper
When developing this website, I created the Paper Shaper category to celebrate this wondrous material. This lengthy praise of paper...
Manuscripts as moments in time
I have long felt this sense of time’s encapsulation in manuscripts, and I like this example of a manuscript being...
The generous and beautiful word…
Adam Nicholson writes of a scroll Homer found rolled beneath the head of a female mummy: Hawara Homer, written on...
Pencil and paper
Steinbeck wrote with pencil on the ubiquitous American yellow pad. Computers and word-processing came too late for him, and so...
A blank-book for thoughts
Having had several detailed discussions with my brother on what constitutes acceptable paper for note-books or letters, I felt sympathy...
The pleasure of paper post
One of the greatest pleasures of Christmas, for me anyhow, is the sending and receiving of cards, one of the...
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