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Panorama of Black Writing Inks: From Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages

Panorama of Black Writing Inks: From Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages

Lecture by Ira Rabin

Given at the University of Manchester on February 1, 2024

Overview: Professor Ira Rabin, a leading academic in the material scientific analysis of written artifacts, talks about the evolution of black writing inks in time. She begins by discussing common knowledge about the use of carbon ink, plant ink, and iron gall ink in antiquity and the Middle Ages, and then discusses what we know about recipes for these inks in the Greek and Roman world.

Rabin notes that carbon ink stopped being used as a writing ink in Europe in the Early Middle Ages, but returned in the 12th century. She then turns to the question of why people stopped using carbon ink and moved to something else, and why iron gall ink became so popular in the Middle Ages.

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Ira Rabin is a Professor at the University of Hamburg

Top Image: Iron gall ink has oxidized the cellulose, causing the paper to disintegrate. Photo by Ceinturion / Wikimedia Commons

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