Palimpsest

Description

A manuscript, typically of Papyrus or Parchment, that has been written on, erased, then reused. Palimpsests were commonly used in ancient Greece and Rome and later through the middle ages when parchment was scarce. The reuse of parchment was forbidden during Renaissance times but the practice finally stopped with the advent of the printing press. The inks were removed by washing, bleaching, and abrasives.

Resources and Citations

• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998