Lexicon Browse - P

Page - One side of a leaf.Pagination - The numbering of the front and back of each leaf, as in modern printed books.Paleography - The study of the history of script.Palimpsest - A manuscript in which the text has been erased from the support by scraping or washing and has been written over.Palm leaf (Support) - A material used for a writing surface (similar in use to paper or parchment) across much of South Asia.Panel-stamp - A metal plate used to make a decorative imprint in leather bindings.Panels - In the context of binding, panels are engraved metal blocks used to impress a design on a large part or the whole of a book cover, producing either a blind or gilded impression.Paper - A writing or printing support made from plant fibers.Papyrus - A writing support made by laying strips of the stem of the papyrus plant in two layers, perpendicular to one another, and pressing the two layers together.Paraph - A symbol used by scribes to demarcate a new paragraph or major break between larger sections of text.Parchment - A writing support made from the skins of animals, normally sheep, calf, or goat.Parchmenter - A person responsible for making parchment.Passionale - see MartyologyPastedown - A leaf pasted onto the inside of a board to conceal the channeling and pegging and other mechanics of the binding.Patristic - Texts written by the Church Fathers or other Early Christian writers whose authority was particularly respected in later periods.Patron - The person responsible for commissioning a work.Pecia system - A system of renting out textbooks to university students for studying or copying to make their own manuscripts.Pegging - The securing of cords to the boards of a binding by means of dowels or pegs, generally of wood.Pen - A writing utensil for applying ink to a writing surface, and which could be a split reed (calamus), a frayed reed, a quill pen, etc.Pen nib - The pointed part of the pen that puts the ink onto the writing surface (or support). It may be from a quill or from metal.Pen trial - A test of a newly trimmed pen nib, termed probatio pennae in Latin.Pen-flourished initial - An initial embellished with elaborate lines of ink, very often combining or alternating red and blue inks.Pentateuch - The first five books of the Old Testament, which were sometimes incorporated into a single volume.Penwork initial - An ornamental initial produced entirely with a pen, generally using the same ink as the text.Per cola et commata - A text layout in which each major sense unit (clause or phrase) starts on a new line.Pericope book - see Evangelary/EvangelistaryPhilology - The study of languages from historical sources.Pigment - The coloring agent in paint.Plainchant - A monophonic unison chant of Christian liturgies.Plummet - A tool for ruling manuscripts and making underdrawings (eleventh century and later).Pontifical - A liturgical book containing the order of service for those sacraments administered exclusively by popes or bishops.Positurae - see Punctus (various entries)Pothi - Sanskrit word for a book form which uses palm leaves or wooden slats as the writing support.Pounce - A substance such as chalk, ash, powdered bone, bread crumbs, or pumice that is rubbed into a writing surface in order to improve it.Pouncing - Used to describe both: 1) preparation of parchment, and 2) a method for copying illustrations.Prayer book - A collection of prayers for private devotional use.Prefatory cycle - A series of miniatures that introduce a text.Pregothic script - Late (12th-century) Caroline minuscule that demonstrates elements of early Gothic Textualis.Presentation miniature - A miniature depicting the presentation of a book to its patron or donor.Pressed - see Tooling (Blind tooling)Pressmark - see ShelfmarkPricking - Small knife-marks or punctures in parchment to guide the ruling of the manuscript page.Primer - An alternative English name for a Book of Hours.Probatio pennae - see Pen TrialProcessional - The book containing the text of the litanies, hymns, and prayers formerly prescribed for use in processions.Provenance - The ownership history of a manuscript or printed book (as distinct from its place of origin).Psalter - The Book of Psalms for liturgical as well as private devotional use.Pulp - see PaperPumice - Volcanic glass, used in its powdered form as pounce on parchment; in its consolidated form, it was employed to scrape parchment for reuse as a palimpsest.Punctus - A dot used as form of punctuation.Punctus elevatus - Punctuation mark indicating a major medial pause.Punctus flexus - Punctuation mark indicating a minor medial pause.Punctus interrogativus - Punctuation mark indicating a question.Punctus versus - Punctuation mark generally indicating the end of a sentence or a longer pause.Purple - see Tyrian purplePurple pages - Leaves with special treatment - painting or staining in purple - for luxury manuscripts.