4 ms·

I'm currently hand-writing a copy of the Greek New Testament as a (theoretically) fun project. I've bound many books before, but this is the first I'll write by

by archon 13y ago

I'm currently hand-writing a copy of the Greek New Testament as a (theoretically) fun project. I've bound many books before, but this is the first I'll write by hand before binding. I sympathize with "Now I've written the whole thing: For Christ's sake give me a drink." If you want to truly appreciate the work monks did to preserve knowledge in the medieval period, try writing a book out by hand.

Zimahl 13y ago
How are you proofreading your copy? I'd hate for an error to result in Seventh Day Advent Hoppists[1]. [1] http://reddwarf.wikia.com/wiki/Seventh_Day_Advent_Hoppists http://reddwarf.wikia.com/wiki/Seventh_Day_Advent_Hoppists
- mixedbit 13y ago
  He could use recaptcha and then diff against an electronic version.
- Someone 13y ago
  They misinterpreted the word 'hop'. Obviously, it refers to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humulus_lupulus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humulus_lupulus
vectorbunny 13y ago
If you don't mind my asking, are you making your own paper, and if not, what are you using for the pages of the book?
- archon 13y ago
  No, I don't enjoy pain and frustration that much. I get large 22 inch by 30 inch sheets and cut them down to size (do a search for 'Zerkall Book Smooth' if you want the exact material). I cut out four 10x14 pieces per sheet, which gives me one signature. A signature consists of four sheets of paper stacked, then folded in half to make a little booklet. That yields 16 pages. Then the signatures are sewn together during the binding process. Edit to add: I would have loved to use real parchment for a more authentic end product, but that amount of parchment would have cost thousands of dollars.
scrumper 13y ago
Seems like that would be quite the family heirloom, good on you. How far through are you?
- archon 13y ago
  Somewhere around Romans 12, I think. The end product will be multiple volumes, with the gospels making the first volume. Judging by the size of Volume II (which contains Acts and in-progress Romans so far) I'll probably be able to fit in a few of the epistles before I split for Volume III.
  - scrumper 13y ago
    Wonderful. I wish you continued perseverance and a steady hand.
lotharbot 13y ago
Sounds like a very interesting project. I have a few questions, which I hope are not too much of an imposition. How far have you gotten? What's your estimated completion date and total man-hours for the project? What are you using as source material? If your source material contains non-canonical works (like the Epistle of Barnabas, included in the Codex Sinaiticus) are you going to hand-write those as well? What does your copying process look like? Do you write whole sentences, one word at a time, one letter at a time, etc.? Do you have error detection and error correction processes? (Some Hebrew Old Testament scribes used a rudimentary checksum - counting how many times each character appeared on a page, locating the middle character, etc. - and would destroy pages with errors.) Aside from a really cool book and hand cramps, what are you getting out of this? What have you learned so far, either about the process of hand-copying or about the content of the text you're copying?
- archon 13y ago
  > How far have you gotten? What's your estimated completion date and total man-hours for the project? I'm working on two volumes right now. The first volume will contain the four gospels, the second Acts, Romans, and some of the epistles. I'm about halfway through Luke in Volume I, and in chapter 12 of Romans in Volume II. I wish I had kept better track of the hours I've spent so far. I started the project 7 months ago, and I worked on it for about 3 to 5 hours a week. I imagine it will be at least another couple years before I'm completely finished. > What are you using as source material? If your source material contains non-canonical works (like the Epistle of Barnabas, included in the Codex Sinaiticus) are you going to hand-write those as well? My source is Nestle-Aland, 28th Edition, which is (I believe) confined to the 27 universally-accepted books of the NT. I may do an additional volume with some apocryphal works at some point, but I will need to find another source for those. > What does your copying process look like? Do you write whole sentences, one word at a time, one letter at a time, etc.? This has changed over time. When I first started the project, I could barely write the Greek alphabet, didn't understand what each letter sounded like, and had no knowledge of the language's grammar. So in the beginning, I drew every letter and accent and checked them against the source before continuing. This was extremely tedious. As time passed, I became more familiar with the alphabet and didn't have to individually draw each character. I also taught myself the associated sounds, both by rote memorization and by listening to recordings. Now that I've done that, I can "read" the text and know what it sounds like, even though I don't understand the meaning. So I typically copy in chunks of a few words, then make another pass to copy accents, breath marks, and punctuation. > Do you have error detection and error correction processes? I decided at the beginning of the project that I was not going to attempt complete accuracy. I accept that there will be errors. If something is obviously wrong, I'll correct it, but I won't obsess over and strive for 100% accuracy. A medieval scribe working with parchment would use a sharp blade to scrape away any mistakes. Since I'm working with cotton paper, I can't do that. I typically just cross out any word level mistakes. Any line level mistakes (it's quite easy to skip a line of text, especially when you're not literate in the language you're copying), are not so easily corrected, and I have to discard that entire sheet and redo it. This can be a pain, because in the signature format, the pages you are copying are out of order. (For example, the first sheet of a signature will contain pages 1, 2, 15, and 16.) So I have to re-copy up to four random pieces of text, while trying to maintain the same proportions of the previous copy so I don't throw off the text alignment of the next sheet. This is my least favorite part of the process. > Aside from a really cool book and hand cramps, what are you getting out of this? Enjoyment, mainly. I like to complain about the handcramps and eye strain, in the same way I like to complain about bughunting in code. But at the same time, in the same way I enjoy seeing my code do something cool and work right, I enjoy seeing the finished product of projects like this. Also, I'm teaching myself Koine Greek, and this project has done wonders for my ability to read and write Greek text. My knowledge of Koine grammar is rudimentary at best at the moment, so I can't translate yet, but because of this project I can effortlessly read and write it. > What have you learned so far, either about the process of hand-copying or about the content of the text you're copying? You hear anecdotes sometimes about some ancient scribes being illiterate, so they simply drew each character individually and checked them against the source. I've been there and done that, now, so I can say I've had the experience. I also now fully comprehend how much of a marvel the printing press was. It cannot be understated how important that invention was to both the spead of and creation of new knowledge. As for the text itself, I guess the biggest takeaway I have is that we can lose a lot of the elegance of the text in our English translations. Greek, being an inflected language, doesn't depend on word order for meaning like English does, so the authors could order words as they saw fit to make the sentences flow. Greek is a beautiful language.
EzGraphs 13y ago
Once you are done you will be all warmed up for Hebrew / Aramaic Old Testament - and writing from right to left might exercise another set of muscles ;).

by archon 13y ago

Zimahl 13y ago

How are you proofreading your copy? I'd hate for an error to result in Seventh Day Advent Hoppists[1]. [1] http://reddwarf.wikia.com/wiki/Seventh_Day_Advent_Hoppists http://reddwarf.wikia.com/wiki/Seventh_Day_Advent_Hoppists

mixedbit 13y ago
He could use recaptcha and then diff against an electronic version.
Someone 13y ago
They misinterpreted the word 'hop'. Obviously, it refers to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humulus_lupulus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humulus_lupulus

vectorbunny 13y ago

If you don't mind my asking, are you making your own paper, and if not, what are you using for the pages of the book?

archon 13y ago
No, I don't enjoy pain and frustration that much. I get large 22 inch by 30 inch sheets and cut them down to size (do a search for 'Zerkall Book Smooth' if you want the exact material). I cut out four 10x14 pieces per sheet, which gives me one signature. A signature consists of four sheets of paper stacked, then folded in half to make a little booklet. That yields 16 pages. Then the signatures are sewn together during the binding process. Edit to add: I would have loved to use real parchment for a more authentic end product, but that amount of parchment would have cost thousands of dollars.

scrumper 13y ago

Seems like that would be quite the family heirloom, good on you. How far through are you?

archon 13y ago
Somewhere around Romans 12, I think. The end product will be multiple volumes, with the gospels making the first volume. Judging by the size of Volume II (which contains Acts and in-progress Romans so far) I'll probably be able to fit in a few of the epistles before I split for Volume III.
- scrumper 13y ago
  Wonderful. I wish you continued perseverance and a steady hand.

lotharbot 13y ago

Sounds like a very interesting project. I have a few questions, which I hope are not too much of an imposition. How far have you gotten? What's your estimated completion date and total man-hours for the project? What are you using as source material? If your source material contains non-canonical works (like the Epistle of Barnabas, included in the Codex Sinaiticus) are you going to hand-write those as well? What does your copying process look like? Do you write whole sentences, one word at a time, one letter at a time, etc.? Do you have error detection and error correction processes? (Some Hebrew Old Testament scribes used a rudimentary checksum - counting how many times each character appeared on a page, locating the middle character, etc. - and would destroy pages with errors.) Aside from a really cool book and hand cramps, what are you getting out of this? What have you learned so far, either about the process of hand-copying or about the content of the text you're copying?

archon 13y ago
> How far have you gotten? What's your estimated completion date and total man-hours for the project? I'm working on two volumes right now. The first volume will contain the four gospels, the second Acts, Romans, and some of the epistles. I'm about halfway through Luke in Volume I, and in chapter 12 of Romans in Volume II. I wish I had kept better track of the hours I've spent so far. I started the project 7 months ago, and I worked on it for about 3 to 5 hours a week. I imagine it will be at least another couple years before I'm completely finished. > What are you using as source material? If your source material contains non-canonical works (like the Epistle of Barnabas, included in the Codex Sinaiticus) are you going to hand-write those as well? My source is Nestle-Aland, 28th Edition, which is (I believe) confined to the 27 universally-accepted books of the NT. I may do an additional volume with some apocryphal works at some point, but I will need to find another source for those. > What does your copying process look like? Do you write whole sentences, one word at a time, one letter at a time, etc.? This has changed over time. When I first started the project, I could barely write the Greek alphabet, didn't understand what each letter sounded like, and had no knowledge of the language's grammar. So in the beginning, I drew every letter and accent and checked them against the source before continuing. This was extremely tedious. As time passed, I became more familiar with the alphabet and didn't have to individually draw each character. I also taught myself the associated sounds, both by rote memorization and by listening to recordings. Now that I've done that, I can "read" the text and know what it sounds like, even though I don't understand the meaning. So I typically copy in chunks of a few words, then make another pass to copy accents, breath marks, and punctuation. > Do you have error detection and error correction processes? I decided at the beginning of the project that I was not going to attempt complete accuracy. I accept that there will be errors. If something is obviously wrong, I'll correct it, but I won't obsess over and strive for 100% accuracy. A medieval scribe working with parchment would use a sharp blade to scrape away any mistakes. Since I'm working with cotton paper, I can't do that. I typically just cross out any word level mistakes. Any line level mistakes (it's quite easy to skip a line of text, especially when you're not literate in the language you're copying), are not so easily corrected, and I have to discard that entire sheet and redo it. This can be a pain, because in the signature format, the pages you are copying are out of order. (For example, the first sheet of a signature will contain pages 1, 2, 15, and 16.) So I have to re-copy up to four random pieces of text, while trying to maintain the same proportions of the previous copy so I don't throw off the text alignment of the next sheet. This is my least favorite part of the process. > Aside from a really cool book and hand cramps, what are you getting out of this? Enjoyment, mainly. I like to complain about the handcramps and eye strain, in the same way I like to complain about bughunting in code. But at the same time, in the same way I enjoy seeing my code do something cool and work right, I enjoy seeing the finished product of projects like this. Also, I'm teaching myself Koine Greek, and this project has done wonders for my ability to read and write Greek text. My knowledge of Koine grammar is rudimentary at best at the moment, so I can't translate yet, but because of this project I can effortlessly read and write it. > What have you learned so far, either about the process of hand-copying or about the content of the text you're copying? You hear anecdotes sometimes about some ancient scribes being illiterate, so they simply drew each character individually and checked them against the source. I've been there and done that, now, so I can say I've had the experience. I also now fully comprehend how much of a marvel the printing press was. It cannot be understated how important that invention was to both the spead of and creation of new knowledge. As for the text itself, I guess the biggest takeaway I have is that we can lose a lot of the elegance of the text in our English translations. Greek, being an inflected language, doesn't depend on word order for meaning like English does, so the authors could order words as they saw fit to make the sentences flow. Greek is a beautiful language.

EzGraphs 13y ago

Once you are done you will be all warmed up for Hebrew / Aramaic Old Testament - and writing from right to left might exercise another set of muscles ;).