ALT The inner side of the cover of a medieval manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, manuscript Hatton 81. Like many medieval manuscripts, this book’s cover consists of actual boards—thin planks of wood—here covered with pale leather. This image shows the leftmost or top cover from the inside, displaying what 1 sees upon opening the book’s cover: a slab of dark, medium-grained wood, twice as tall as wide. Cream-hued leather has been wrapped around the other side of the wooden board. At the top, bottom, and left of the board, the leather’s messy, irregularly-cut edges are turned in and glued to this inner side. At the right of the board, 6 horizontal grooves have been carved out of the wood. Doubled cords run through each channel, affixing the wooden board to the book itself. Imprinted upon the wood are faint lines of red ink, transferred from the manuscript’s opening page.

ALT The opening leaf in a medieval manuscript: Oxford, Bodleian Library, manuscript Hatton 81, folio 1 recto. The leaf is made from parchment, and bears 12 musical staves with Latin lyrics, and a large opening initial. Each of the staves consists of 5 horizontal lines drawn in red ink. Peppering these lines are square neumes, that is, medieval musical notes, here drawn in black ink. Below each 5-line staff run the lyrics copied in black ink in a clear hand. At top left, the first staff on the page is slightly indented to accommodate a sizeable decorative initial ‘A’ painted in blue ink and ornamented with fine curling pen-work lines in red.