Wednesday’s class section in the special collections room was a very cool, unique experience. As I had never been to that part of Ellis Library before, I had no Idea that MU had such a collection of rare and old books. The fact that some of those texts were around a thousand years old really blew me away. It made me better appreciate the resources that are available at this school.
One text that was shown to us that I found interesting, was the book that was used, I believe, to teach Latin to students. If I remember correctly, the text was form the medieval period, with a German binding from a later period. It was quite fascinating to look through the pages of this book just to see how strait and perfect each letter was on the page. In this particular book you could see thin lines on the page where the scribe had measured out where he was going to write. The Library instructor had said that these were what was referred to as invisible lines, where they were not actually drawn in, like on some of the other texts, but where perhaps marks left from an instrument or ruler.
The parchment paper that was used to compile the pages of this book was also quite fascinating. I had never seen true parchment paper before and to be able to see it and feel it from such an old text was a unique experience. In viewing this book reminded me how valuable books really are, and to appreciate how easily books can be written and obtained today.
To sum up, it was not only interesting to view these texts and manuscripts just for the historical significance of them, but it also gave me a better appreciation for literature and the privilege of having these resources at MU.
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