Parchment and Inks: the Material of Books of Magic

Before being a set of words and figures, a book of magic was an object made of animal skin or paper, of inks, glues and pigments. The material of the codex says a great deal about who produced it: a manuscript on fine parchment, decorated with gold, reveals a wealthy patron; a notebook of ordinary paper, written in haste, suggests a practitioner or a copyist of modest means. The grimoires themselves, moreover, gave materials a particular symbolic value.

From parchment to paper

Throughout the early Middle Ages the main writing support was parchment, made from the skins of calves, sheep or goats, worked at length until thin and durable sheets were obtained. From the thirteenth century paper, which had reached Europe through the Islamic world, began to spread, and in Italy the paper mills of Fabriano soon became famous. By the late Middle Ages many technical and scientific texts were already being copied on paper, which was cheaper and easier to obtain.

This change also affected grimoires. Most of the magical manuscripts that have come down to us date from the early modern period, from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, and are written on paper. Parchment remained in use for luxury codices and for special objects, such as small sheets to be folded or carried on one's person, but the typical early modern book of magic was a paper volume, often small in format and easy to hide.

Virgin parchment in tradition

Many grimoires, beginning with the Key of Solomon, insist on the use of virgin parchment, that is, parchment never used before and prepared with special ceremonies. In tradition this purity of the support was considered indispensable for the figures and names to keep their efficacy. It is a belief that says much about the mentality of the time: the book was not a mere container, but part of the ritual act itself.

Inks, pigments and gold

The most common ink between the Middle Ages and the early modern period was iron gall ink, obtained from oak galls and iron salts. It has an intense brownish-black colour, but over time it can corrode paper and parchment, and it is one of the main concerns of conservators. Red was used for rubrics and titles, while the richest manuscripts employed precious blues, greens and gold leaf, applied with techniques that required great skill.

Here too the grimoires added a symbolic layer. Some texts prescribed inks of different colours according to the planet or the day of the week, or pens made from the feathers of particular birds. Historians read these indications as evidence of a system of cosmic correspondences, in which every material was linked to a celestial force, and not as instructions to be reproduced.

Modern scientific analyses, from radiocarbon dating to the study of pigments, now make it possible to date and locate many manuscripts with a precision unthinkable a century ago. Each leaf thus becomes a historical document in its own right, telling not only of the ideas of those who wrote, but also of the markets, workshops and materials of an age.