Technology
The Original Book
Creation
I will use Patrick Conner’s analysis of the Exeter Book's make.
According to Conner, the pages of the Exeter Book are made from limp insular membrane, which means that it was made from scraped animal hide. According to him, this gives a rough finish that is potentially reminiscent of suede. He also notes that during the ruling of the codex, the gatherings were folded, pricked, and ruled in a horizontal fashion, according to Conner. However, the membranes are not uniform thickness. This caused several auxiliary rulings as a result. The ornamentation was most likely created by the scribe himself. They are drypoint art, which means no ink is involved. However, Conner claims that there is still evidence of expert artistry, as all the illustrations are very neat and advanced. The inscription itself was done neatly with black and occasionally red ink (for the drop caps).
This is a very traditional way to create 10th century manuscripts, and unfortunately there was not advanced technology during this period. Thus, this was all created meticulously by hand. This impacts the endangerment of the text as a multitude copy cannot be made, and resultantly smaller chance for the text to survive. Furthermore, hand-making books leaves room for flaws. As discussed before, the book was created during the 10thcentury and contains many culturally relevant themes. However, it was inscribed in Old English. As time passes, this language lost popularity and eventually became obsolete. At this point, the Exeter Book lost value and was neglected, endangering it as a result. However, cultural relevance of the Exeter Book grew in the 19th century, and continues today. Resultantly, there are more efforts to study and preserve the Exeter Book.
Physical Preservation
The preservation of the Exeter Book is relatively similar to most manuscripts of this time. Clark College Libraries states that this is done through storing manuscripts in acid and lignin-free buffered storage containers. Polyester sleeves can also be used to mitigate damage. Sheets of the same size and weight should be stories together. Safe handling with clean hands is also essential.
Alternative ways of preservation include incorporating elements of the book into art and literature, which was previously addressed in the context section, particularly in stage 3.
The DH Project
While not a mode of preservation, online projects and archives can help to increase the reach and accessibility of the Exeter Book. To achieve this, specific technology is necessary.
The Digitisation Technology that the University of Exeter uses is advanced and is not typically accessible to the layperson for financial reasons. They use 60-megapixel medium format cameras to take high quality images of the pages. They also utilise a conservation cradle to support fragile manuscripts while taking pictures of them. They engage with sustainable digital archive practices by planning, using curated repositories as places for depositing data, and ensuring project documentation is kept safe.
This digital archive project is useful for educational reasons, and the open-access format makes it much easier to use for these purposes. It is good for scholarly research, but also very accessible to the public. The Exeter Book project is free, easy to use, and very high quality. Through increased accessibility to the book, England's national history, identity, culture, literature, and art become more attainable. However, in the future it would be nice to see a similar archive with encoded translations of the text. As the layperson (and even many scholars) cannot understand Old English, this would be a key feature to further improve accessibility.