Deventer, Athenaeumbibliotheek, 11 J KL, roll (detail). Photo: Irene van Renswoude

Suzan Folkerts (curator), Suzan Boreel, Carmen Burgio, Mariken Teeuwen, Julia Knol, Emma Joppe. Foto: Irene van Renswoude

How was a roll like this actually used? A roll made of parchment is stiff and not easy to handle. A common theory is that illustrated rolls were brought out on special days and unrolled on a long table. A select company would then walk along the table to read the text and look at the illustrations. We tried this out during a visit to the Athenaeumbibliotheek with a group of trainees from the eCodicesNL project. Curator Suzan Folkerts gave us permission to unroll the roll on a long table. During this experiment, we found that the written text is actually too small to read when standing around the table. Even the names in the medallions are difficult to read from a distance. A more probable scenario is that someone who knew the contents of the roll by heart retold the stories while guests around the table looked at the illustrations.

Not much research has been done on the use of rolls during the Middle Ages. More research would be most welcome. What should also be considered further is how best to digitise a roll. In this portal, which includes images the Athenaeumbibliotheek has commissioned from Picturae, the roll is presented in a single image. The possibilities for scrolling through the roll and zooming in are therefore limited. Other libraries and institutions sometimes choose to photograph a scroll membrane by membrane. Although this procedure enhances the quality of the images, the presentation of separate pages on a screen creates the optical illusion of a codex rather than a roll. Going from one image to the next, instead of ‘scrolling’ down the roll, obfuscates a clear understanding of the roll as a physical object. A possible solution would be to create a video of the roll (see Kate Rudy, ‘Video killed the photo star’) to complement the presentation of images of individual membranes. While individual images would allow zooming in, the video would capture the physical characteristics of the roll and show how the roll ‘behaves’ when handled.  As we expand the portal in the coming years, we want to explore new ways of digitising not only complex objects such as rolls, but also ‘average’ codices.