Lexicon Browse - D
Damp fold - A description of painted drapery.Dated manuscript - A manuscript whose production may be assigned to a certain date or a restricted range of dates.Dating formulas - In cataloging, a simplified shorthand for recording approximate dates for manuscripts.Deckle - The frame of the mold used in paper-making. It leaves behind a rough edge on a sheet of paper.Deckle-edge - The rough edge on an untrimmed sheet of hand-made paper.Decorated initial - An initial composed of non-figural, non-zoomorphic decorative elements.Decretals - Decretals are collections of letters containing papal rulings of local or universal application, often made in response to an appeal and frequently relating to matters of canonical discipline.Dentelle - A decorative lacy pattern used in leather book covers or in decorative borders.Descender - The stroke of letters that go below the writing line; for example: g, p, q, and y.Device - A figure or design, often accompanied by a motto, used to identify an individual, family, or nation.Diaper pattern - A repetitive geometric pattern, often used as background in Gothic illumination.Digest - A compilation of legal rules and statutes.Digraph - A pair of characters used to write one phoneme (distinct sound)Dimensions - The measured size (height and width) of a manuscript or fragment, expressed in millimeters. Diple - A small mark in the margin to indicate important text.Diplomatic - The study of documents and records, their form, language, and script.Direction word - see CatchwordDirectory - A book containing aids or guidelines to assist in the performance of the liturgy.Display panel - A decorative panel containing display script.Display script - A script of a higher grade and larger size than that of the main text in a manuscript.Distinctio - see DistinctionesDistinctiones - A method of punctuation, which marks the end of a sentence with single point placed at the height of the preceeding letter.Dittography - see Scribal CorruptionDiurnal - A book, sometimes called a journal, used in the performance of the Divine Office, but containing only the daytime offices (lauds, prime, terce, sext, none, and vespers).Divine Office - A cycle of daily devotions - the prayers of the canonical hours - performed by members of religious orders and the clergy. It originated in the services of the Jewish synagogue and in the Apostolic Church.Dominical letters - The letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, as assigned to days in an ecclesiastical calendar ...Double cords - see CordsDouble feasts - In liturgical calendars, when two feasts fall on the same day, or a major feast with double obligation to hear Mass and rest from work.Doublure - A binding term for leather paste downs.Downstroke - Part of a letter that is formed by a downward movement of the pen.Drollery - An amusing figure, often of a grotesque character.Dry-point - A pointed instrument without lead or ink, used for incising lines or strokes in parchment, or an adjective describing marks so made.Ductus - The number and direction of strokes used to form letters in a given script or hand, and their order of execution.Duodecimo - The format of a folded sheet of paper or parchment that results in twelve leaves (or twenty-four pages).