Paper was only one of several writing materials that supplanted parchment and wax tablets. Writing tables or table books were an Early Modern invention of resueable writing surfaces.
In the last blog I wrote about the introduction of paper in Iceland during the fifteenth century. I stated that paper supplanted not only parchment, but also wax tables. Those were known since the 8th century BC, became common throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and were still in use in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Recently I learned about another writing material that must have supplanted wax tablets. During the conference „The Paper Trade of Early Modern Europe: Practices, Materials, Networks“ in Erlangen in February, Dr. Heather Wolfe, curator at the Folger Shakespear Library in Washington, DC, made me aware of writing tables.
Writing tables or table books were bound leaves of paper or parchment treated with Gesso and glue, which made a reuseable surface. Writing in ink or dry-point could easily be deleted by applying a moist sponge on the page. One of the earliest known tables was produced in 1527 in Antwerp, it seems, and from there it spread through Europe. Such table books were similar to today‘s blank notebooks, although they were frequently bound with printed almanacs.
Table books were erasable and portable, which made them very convenient. They were used for financial records, calculations, notes, drafts, recipes, even for learning to write, and during journeys. They were even used for musical drafts and out-of-door sketches and were frequently mentioned in English Renaissance dramas. Thus it seems that such table books were often used for the same ephemeral and pragmatic texts as wax tablets. Given their first appearance in post-medieval times, we can conclude that to some exetend writing tables replaced the older wax tablets.
Unfortunately only few table books survive today, and while I now know that they were ubiquitious in at least France, Germany and England until perhaps the 18th century, I have never come across one among Icelandic books and manuscripts. Have you ever seen one?
Further reading:
Peter Sallybrass, Roger Chartier, J. Franklin Mowery and Heather Wolfe, „Hamlet‘s Tables and the Technologies of Writing in Renaissance-England,“ Shakespeare Quarterly 55/4 (2004): 379-419.
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