Abstract

Based on data derived from five volumes of the Manuscrits datés series, the article explores the introduction of paper into book production during the course of the fourteenth century, and particularly its use in vernacular manuscripts. Central to the discussion is the oldest surviving Middle Dutch manuscript, dated 1358. With this as a guide, the essay suggests that the emergence of paper may be linked to the after-hours scribal activities of clerks, and to the demand for cheap books from middle-class readers. An appendix lists eighty-four paper books from the period 1300–1400.

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