> [...] the maker was almost certainly a transcriber who used it to keep his place on the page and note the column he was writing in when he stopped. The wheel would be moved to the stopping point and the circle turned to the number of the column he had been writing in when he stopped.
It would make a lot more sense that the bookmark was placed in the source book rather than in the copy. I.e. the wheel would be turned to the source column they had been reading from.
thomascountz 2 days ago [-]
I imagined the same; and in that case, it wouldn't need to follow that it was transcriber's bookmark.
klimt01 2 days ago [-]
The other instrument, a pencil-beam light.
pseudohadamard 2 days ago [-]
Would that be necessary though? You've already got the perfect bookmark, all you'd need to do is check where in the copy the text stops and continue from there in the source. At most you'd need to bookmark the source page, but in theory not even that.
Luc 1 days ago [-]
This style of bookmark is rare so it follows it wasn't _necessary_. But with dense text it might be faster and perhaps less error prone than locating the right place in the text?
Scribe would change the margin size and line spacing, and the parchment would be a different size than the source, so the page breaks would end up in different locations in the text.
ungreased0675 2 days ago [-]
I have a pretty over engineered fidget spinner on my desk. (Flyaway) It’s amusing to imagine what a future archeologist would say about its function and importance to my work.
sorokod 2 days ago [-]
Likely to be classified as early 21st century religious artefact.
goodmythical 2 days ago [-]
Fertility symbol
pseudohadamard 2 days ago [-]
And now we know that the Antikythera Mechanism really was.
dukeofdoom 2 days ago [-]
Maybe bookmarks need innovation. Not sure what exists out there now, but could be a cool product
deberon 2 days ago [-]
I’ve been innovating on bookmarks for decades. Money, receipts, paint swatches, entire spiral notebooks, ripped off corners of magazines… bookmarks are everywhere!
doubled112 2 days ago [-]
Basically anything that will fit between pages and is in reach is a bookmark.
pseudohadamard 2 days ago [-]
Silliest thing I ever used as a bookmark was a refridgerator. It did require taking the book to the bookmark though.
akkartik 2 days ago [-]
Including the cover of another book.
thih9 2 days ago [-]
Perhaps a book that keeps track of the reading progress automatically. /s
nortlov 2 days ago [-]
Yes! A method to easily understand completion status without having to open a book to verify progress.
polnurfer 2 days ago [-]
Now that’s an NFT!
hypercube33 2 days ago [-]
Disappointing it doesnt list the expected or sale price that it went for on either the article or the linked auction page.
mfcl 2 days ago [-]
From the article:
> The pre-sale estimate £800-1200 ($1073-1610). It sold for £7,000 ($9390).
Rendered at 20:27:13 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
It would make a lot more sense that the bookmark was placed in the source book rather than in the copy. I.e. the wheel would be turned to the source column they had been reading from.
Scribe would change the margin size and line spacing, and the parchment would be a different size than the source, so the page breaks would end up in different locations in the text.
> The pre-sale estimate £800-1200 ($1073-1610). It sold for £7,000 ($9390).