With it I included a little "scholarly" article describing the manuscript and its discovery. I had to look up a lot of terminology about both manuscripts and Middle Earth in order to write it. Here's the text of the article:
Manuscript showing onset of Quest of Erebor discovered
An illuminated
manuscript, showing one of the earliest known examples of Middle-earth
historical records, was discovered by an intern at the Gondor University
library. It was found along with many other Ardan and non-Ardan fragments in
2014 during restoration of the university chapel. The MS is written on vellum,
and radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment to T.A. 2942 with 99%
accuracy. Furthermore, it was dated by one of the world’s leading
paleographers, who said he was 'certain' it was from the Third Age.
Scholars
believe that the text reveals the beginning of an episodic quest taking place
some years prior to the War of the Ring. This fragment details the first
meeting between the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey. The ‘adventure’
which is alluded to in the text must certainly refer to the Quest of Erebor, which
occurred a mere eighty years prior to the end of the Third Age. If so, the MS
greatly enhances our knowledge of this last period before many important
figures apparently disappeared from the record, believed to have left
Middle-earth entirely, perhaps for the Uttermost West.
While
believed to be only the beginning of a longer work, the MS reveals substantive
findings regarding the transcription practices of the time. It contains many
variations of illuminated letters. Indeed, the text, which is found solely on
the recto pages with the verso pages being left blank in every case, is
supplemented with substantive decoration—decorated initials, as mentioned, and
also significant examples of borders/marginalia and miniature illustrations.
One particularly stunning example of marginalia occurs on the seventh page of
the MS. Towards the bottom of the left-hand side, a dragon’s head is featured
spewing out brilliant red and orange flames that reach around the entire
further length of the border. This page alone contains four initials. In the
middle of the right-hand column is an illuminated letter ‘G,’ the initial of
‘Gandalf.’ Two pages have detailed miniatures, one of a hobbit standing beside
the door to his home and the other of the wizard Gandalf himself. In short,
these pages are exquisitely decorated and they have been beautifully preserved.
Summing up
the importance of the find, the significance of this work lies in its inherent
artistic and historical value, and the maintenance of a link between the Third
and Fourth Ages that it affords us.
An edition
will likely be published next year.
We had so much fun making it, and Thomas just loved it.
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ReplyDeleteThat accompanying article is great, I love the descriptions of the illustrations! :)
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