Forty Centuries of Ink | Page 4

their removal and
restoration, is the object of this work. There is also included many court
cases where the matter of ink was in controversy; information
respecting ancient MSS. and the implements and other accessories of
ink which have from time to time been employed in the act of writing.
To make a comprehensive review of the past in its relationship to ink
has been my aim. In the construction of this work recourse has been
had to the so- called original sources of information. In these, the
diversity of their incomplete statements about different countries and
epochs has offered many obstacles. In presenting my own deductions
and inferences, it is with a desire to remove any impressions as to this
volume being a mere compilation. "Facts are the data of all just
reasoning, and the elements of all real knowledge. It follows that he is a
wise man who possesses the greatest store of facts on a given subject.
A book, therefore, which assembles facts from their scattered sources,
may be considered as a useful and important auxiliary to those who
seek them." A prolonged and continuous intercourse for over a quarter
of a century with ancient and modern MSS., with books and other
literature, with laymen and chemists, with students and manufacturers,
together with the information and knowledge derived from experiment
and study of results may enable the author to make the subject fairly
clear. Effort has been made to avoid technical words and phrases in that

portion treating of the Chemistry of Inks.
This work will no doubt be variously considered. Criticism is expected,
indeed it is gladly invited, for thereby may follow controversy,
discussion and perhaps legislation, which will bring about results
beneficial to those who are to follow after us.

CONTENTS
I. GENESIS OF INK II. ANTIQUITY OF INK III. CLASSICAL INK
AND ITS EXODUS IV. CLASSICAL INK AND ITS EXODUS
(Continued) V. REVIVAL OF INK VI. INK OF THE WEST VII.
EARLY MEDIAEVAL INK VIII. MEDIAEVAL INK IX. END OF
MEDIAEVAL INK X. RENAISSANCE INK XI. ANCIENT INK
TREATISES XII. STUDY OF INK XIII. STUDY OF INK XIV.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF INK XV. OFFICIAL AND LEGAL INK
XVI. ENDURING INK XVII. INK PHENOMENA XVIII. INK
CHEMISTRY XIX. FRAUDULENT INK BACKGROUNDS XX.
FUGITIVE INK. XXI. ANCIENT AND MODERN INK RECEIPTS
XXII. INK INDUSTRY. XXIII. CHEMICO-LEGAL INK XXIV.
CHEMICO-LEGAL INK (Continued) XXV. INK UTENSILS OF
ANTIQUITY XXVI. INK UTENSILS (Quill PEN v. Steel Pen) XXVII.
SUBSTITUTES FOR INK UTENSILS ("Lead" and other Pencils)
XXVIII. ANCIENT INK BACKGROUNDS (The Origin of Papyrus)
XXIX. ANCIENT INK BACKGROUNDS (Parchment and Vellum)
XXX. MODERN INK BACKGROUNDS (True Paper) XXXI.
MODERN INK BACKGROUNDS (Wood Paper and Safety Paper)
XXXII. CURIOSA (Ink and other Writing Materials)

FORTY CENTURIES OF INK

CHAPTER I.
GENESIS OF INK.
THE ORIGIN OF INK--COMPOSITION OF THE COLORED INKS
OF ANTIQUITY--ANCIENT NAMES FOR BLACK
INKS--METHODS OF THEIR MANUFACTURE--THE INVENTION

OF "INDIAN" INK--THE ART OF DYEING HISTORICALLY
CONSIDERED--THE SYMBOLIC ESTIMATION OF
COLORS--THE EMPLOYMENT OF TINCTURES AS
INKS--CONSIDERATION OF THE ANTIQUITY OF ARTIFICIAL
INKS AND THE BLACK INKS OF INTERMEDIATE
TIMES--ORIGIN OF THE COLORED PIGMENTS OF
ANTIQUITY-CITATIONS FROM HERODOTUS, PLINY AND
ARBUTHNOT--PRICES CURRENT, OF ANCIENT INKS AND
COLORS--WHY THE NATURAL INKS FORMERLY EMPLOYED
ARE NOT STILL EXTANT--THE KIND OF INK EMPLOYED BY
THE PRIESTS IN THE TIME OF MOSES--ILLUSTRATIVE
HISTORY OF THE EGYPTIANS IN ITS RELATIONSHIP TO
WRITING IMPLEMENTS--THE USE OF BOTH RED AND BLACK
INK IN JOSEPH'S TIME--ITS OTHER HISTORY PRECEDING THE
DEPARTURE OF ISRAEL FROM EGYPT--THE DISAPPEARANCE
OF ALL BUT A FEW KINDS OF INK--INK TRADITIONS AND
THEIR VALUE--STORY ABOUT THE ORACLES OF THE
SIBYLS--HOW THE ANCIENT HISTORIANS SOUGHT TO BE
MISLEADING--ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTE BY RICHARDSON:
THE origin of Ink belongs to an era following the invention of writing.
When the development of that art had advanced beyond the age of
stone inscription or clay tablet, some material for marking with the reed
and the brush was necessary. It was not difficult to obtain black or
colored mixtures for this purpose. With their advent, forty centuries or
more ago, begins the genesis of ink.
The colored inks of antiquity included the use of a variety of dyes and
pigmentary colors, typical of those employed in the ancient art of
dyeing, in which the Egyptians excelled and still thought by many to be
one of the lost arts. The Bible and alleged contemporary and later
literature make frequent mention of black and many colors of brilliant
hues.
In tracing the arts of handwriting and dyeing, some definite facts are to
be predicated as to the most remote history of ink.
The Hebrew word for ink is deyo, so called from its blackness. As

primitively prepared for ritualistic purposes and for a continuing period
of more than two thousand years, it was a simple mixture of powdered
charcoal or soot with water,