Author(s) :

Shegalem Fekadu Mengstie.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

The art of writing in Ethiopia has been a long tradition since the beginning of the first millennium BCE. The use of parchment as a medium of writing could be dated back to 7th C AD and continued actively until 19th C AD. Nowadays, writing on parchment is practiced only by few church fathers in few places. The objective of this article is to show the historical development of book-making and its change and continuity among the past and current practices in Ethiopian churches and monasteries. Data were collected through detailed survey in book-maker’s workshop, observation, interview and secondary data analysis. As the data shows, books in Mahdere Maryam are being produced in codex and scroll forms. Parchment, ink and ink pen are used in the production of a book in the form of manuscript. The parchment is processed from skin using different materials through various stages. Similarly, inks are produced from vegetable substances through traditional techniques. Ink pen also prepared from bamboo, reed and hen’s feather. While writing the books, the book-makers use one to four columns depending upon the nature and size of the book copying or writing. After they wrote the book in a selected column, the next step is binding the book by using thin wood and ox skin as a cover. As a part of binding they use different materials to decorate the cover of the book. The use of those materials to incise the cover to make decoration is not diversified as it was in the past. Finally, the tradition of book-making and its related knowledge has lost its importance and partially reliable among few Ethiopian churches and monasteries.

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