Custom Books for Count Matsunaga and Countess Elena

Gifted Upon the Occasion of the Coronation of Their Heirs

Crafted by Lord SeanAngus Macduinnchinn

Article by Aidan Cocrinn OL  mka Holly Cochran © July 2016

 

Summer Coronation 2016, celebrating the crowning of Krununger Logan and Drotting Ylva was held in the Barony of Coeur d’Ennui on July 9. 2016. The event drew a spectacular crowd from across the Kingdom, and even visitors from outside the Falcon Borders.

Before Coronation Court, I had the distinct honor of presenting TRM Matsunaga and Elena with a gift from Their Scribes and Text Writers, hand-made by Lord SeanAngus Macduinnchinn (mka Christopher Brown) from the Barony of V’Tavia. He had driven all Friday evening and Saturday in the pre-dawn hours to deliver these treasures to me before opening Court.

Each preprint scroll included in the books had the name of the text writer, the calligrapher and the illuminator noted on the scroll. The inside covers are pieces of the Royal Pavilion which gave its life at Gulf Wars. His Grace Ostwald provided the fabric to me in secret some months prior to his passing, not knowing the ultimate purpose – only that it was to go for a stepping-down gift for Matsu and Elena.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These books, then, contain not only the gifts of the Scribes and the Text Writers, as well as the gifts of the very talented Ld. SeanAngus, but a piece of the very heart of Calontir’s Living room and a memory of Duke Sir Ostwald, as well. We hope Their Excellencies will smile when they glance through the memories of Their Reign.

In Service-

Royal Scribe to Matsunaga and Elena

Aidan Cocrinn, OL

Lord SeanAngus provided the following information regarding the books, his process and the documentation he used to produce them. He also provided the photos included in this article. These are the words of Ld. SeanAngus Macduinnchinn:

HRM Matsunaga received a scroll of pre-printed scrolls, which when unfurled and hung from a dowel, which appears as the scales of an Asian dragon. The name of the scroll format is “Dragon Scale” scroll. This binding is sometimes called xuanfeng zhuang (“fluttering in the wind” or whirlwind binding). While it is not the traditional, single scroll Kakejiku, we see the lineage in its transferal from the Buddhist monks of the mainland to Japan, as was the codex bindings of the teachings of Buddha.

From these roots in China came the transition of the scroll to the codex, the “Dragon scale scroll” as fleeting in history as the cherry blossoms in spring. Few Extant examples exist in China. Examples from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) and sometimes the rare dragon bound book, can be found in the National Palace Museum.

(Ref: “Dragon Scale Binding: The Rebirth of an Ancient Bookbinding Technique” http://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0056/271212/web/)

(Ref: “International Dunhuang Project” http://idp.bl.uk/)

 

 

 

 

HRM Elena received a Coptic binding of single sheets of pre-printed scrolls. This binding is found throughout the Mediterranean area including mainland Spain, largely due to the Arabic influence there from around 700-1500. The Coptic binding is particularly suited to single sheet bindings, having been used in the earliest known “true” codices, for both legal and religious preservation of writing.

 

(Ref: “The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding by J.A. Szirmai “)

Each binding contains a piece of the Purple Pavilion destroyed in the 2016 Gulf War storms.

These bindings were produced as a keepsake of Their Reign, and may serve as a reminder of the inspiration each member of the SCA provides to one another.

SeanAngus Macduinnchinn (c) July 2016

 

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