Today I visited the British Library and before going to the reading room to work on my next Northern Crown Novel I stuck my head into the special exhibitions room. Last time I was here it was full of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts such as Beowulf and early law codes and maps. This has now been replaced by two exhibits. There is one on Leonardo’s notebooks I may return to but the one that caught my eye, me being in a literary mood, was entitled ‘Writing – Making your Mark’ which is an exhibition all about the written form.
This exhibition is split into 5 sections.
The Origins of Writing charts the development of letters and writing from the earliest scripts. Exhibits shown include Sumerian Cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics (both 3rd millennia b.c.) and Shang Dynasty Chinese characters engraved on oracle bones. I particularly found it fascinating how letters evolved from shapes. So the Latin letter A was originally a stylised ox head (look at an ‘A’ and turn it upside down and you will see).
Writing Systems and Styles looks at how letters were put together in various ways to create writing systems. This includes oriental and Arabic scripts and the evolution of the Latin script and how it is represented through the centuries from its earliest origins as an off shoot of Egyptian hieroglyphics, through the development of Roman letters and on through medieval Gothic Script and monastic traditions.
Materials and Technology examines the tools used to create writing from clay and wax tablets, through to paper, styluses and pens including goose feather nibs, biros and fountain pens. There is also a look at printing technology and some examples of early printed books such as Canterbury Tales.
People and Writing covers the craft of writing, engraving, pen-man ship and even such skills as shorthand. This section featured examples of instruction manuals and books and how to guides for typists etc.
The Future of Writing discusses how technology has already and may effect writing in the future. Will emoji’s and audio/ video messages replace the written form. Will be still be writing anything decades from now? Or will the form just change?
An interesting exhibition. It is not a large exhibition – maybe 150 or so exhibits but some you can study for quite a while. If you like the appearance of ancient manuscripts and enjoy exploring the evolution of one of the key elements of what make us human, it is a pleasant way to spend an hour or so.
The exhibition runs until 27th August 2019. Find out more…
Images from Wikipedia Commons or British Library shared images.
