The Skellingcorner

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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna

Have managed to plough my way through the dreaded Frankenchapters (chapters 7-9, previously chapters 7-10), which has also given me material to buff up a slightly skinnier chapter with some extra worldbuilding and menace (which I’ll add after I finish this first full redraft/edit).

Writing “mystery” is hard, and I have trouble telling if I’m being super obvious, or if the characters infer too much from the information they’re given.
If anyone has any tips about placing clues, I’m all ears.

Anyway, finally moving on to the slightly more bonkers magical bits of the story, exciting! :D

writing editing DaA Skellingcrow
yourfavouritedoll
historieofbeafts

Saw another debate about whether it’s ever okay to write in books today & it reminded me of my favourite genre of marginalia: much worse copies of illustrations.

I’ve already posted the best bat, but it’s always worth looking at again:

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[British Library, Harley MS 3244, fol. 55v]

There’s also this chicken, which was struggling even in the original:

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[Kongelige Bibliotek, GKS 3466 8º,  fol.10]

& this genuinely terrible lizard:

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I’m not well-versed enough in analysis to say for sure that the 16th c. scribbler responsible is the same person who provided captions for the other images in this text, but I like to think so because some of them give strong indications of a personality type that’s still recognizable today:

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[I don’t have a shelfmark for these, but they’re from the UBC RBSC’s copy of Gesner’s Historia animalium. Also, the image of the donkey says “you asse” & the (notoriously gluttonous) gulon says “greedy gut” if you’re having trouble deciphering the script.]

historieofbeafts

Here’s another one from the Wellcome Library’s copy of The noble lyfe & natures of man, of bestes, serpentys, fowles & fisshes yt be moste knowen  (1521)

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Source: historieofbeafts
marginalia