204 — Jennifer Borland The Sensory Experience of Books ‘This chapter focuses on how the senses were involved in experiencing objects, and in particular how they were involved in the physical manipulation and comprehension of books. Books, ofcourse, are not static objects; they contain images and informationthat are fundamental to a comprehensive understanding of them. As Richard Newhauser hhas argued, the senses were fundamental to medieval knowledge acquisition; they ‘were the “foundation of cognition,” in the words of Michael Camille." The complex mechanics of medieval manuscripts, and especially the folding almanacs with their necessity for elaborate manipulations, required sustained engagement with multiple ‘senses in ways not required by other types of objects, In discussions by Camille, Mark Cruse, Maura Nolan, Jonathan Wileox, and others, the intimacies of book use demon- strate that the senses were essential for the richest experience of reading?” ‘The multisensory nature of the act of reading folding almanacs creates an experience that one might describe as phenomenological. Not coincidentally in his introduction to Sensory Perception in the Medieval West, Simon C. Thomson notes the resonances between considerations of sensory experience and the embodied perception articulated by phenomenology.’ Phenomenology offers a philosophy for describing bodily experience or, in tho words of one of ite key theorists, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, one's “being-in-the-world.”* Thinking phenomenologically about ‘medieval objects and spaces allows one to acknowledge the interconnected nature {Richard 6, Newhauser, “Invoduction: The Sensual Middle Ages," in A Cultural History ofthe Senses inthe Mile Ages, ed, RichardG. Newhauser (London: Bloomsbury Press, 01), 1-22; Michael Cail, “Sensations ofthe Page: Imaging Technologies and Medieval Mluminated Manuscripts” In The omc Page in Maniscrpt, Print, and Digital Cute, ed. George Borstein and Theresa Tinke (Ann Aba University of Michigan Press, 1998), 33-54, at 33. See also RichardG. Newhauser, “The Senses, the Medieval Senorium, and Sensing (in) the Middle Ages," in Handbook of Medieval Culture: Fundamental Aspects and Condon of Medieval Culture, 3 vos. ed. Albrecht Classen (Betin: Walter de Gruyter, 209, 53159-1575; RichardG, Newhauser and Corie Schief, eds., “Pleasure and Danger in Peoepion: The Five Senses inthe Mile Agesand the Renaissance," special ssue, The Senses and Sate 5012010). 2 Camille, "Sensations ofthe Page"; Mark Cruse, "Matter and Meaning in Medieval Books,” The es ‘es and Society S (2010): 45-56; Maura Nolan, "Medieval Habit. Modern Sensation: Reading Man scripts in the Digital Age," The Chaucer Review 47 (2013): 465-476; Jonathan Wilcx, “The Sensory ‘ost of Remediation: or, Sniffing the Gutter of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts,” in Sensory Perception the Medieval West, ed, Simon C. Thorson and Michael D. J. Bintley (Turnhout: Brepol, 201), 27-5 Mote tecontly, Helga Latz has begun fo consider the specifically spatial experience ofthe coe as, compacted space ~a phenomenon tha seven more extreme inthe folded almanacs. See tela Lutz, “Folding Bodies nto Books” in Presence and Agency: Rhetoric, Aesthetics andthe Experience oft, fd. Caroline van Eck and Antie Wessels (Leiden: Lekden University Press, forthcoming). 3 Simon C. Thomson, “Sensory Perception Inthe Medieval Wes: Introduction, "in Sensory Perception inthe Medioval West, ed Simon C. Thomson and Michael D. J. Bintley (Turnhout: Brepols, 2016), 1-5. 4 Maurice Merleau-Poaty, Phenomenology of Perception, trans. Colin Smith (1945; rep London: ‘Routledge, 2005). 9 Moved by Medicine — 205 ofthe senses in most experiences, rather than focusing on the action of individual senses. Such an approach provides a critical apparatus for investigating user recep- {ion through the conceptofa “lived body" that experiences the world and also impacts that world, a notion that resonates with medieval materiality. My own work has fre quently considered medieval spaces and objects, including manuscripts, through the Jens of phenomenology, which informs my approach to sensory engagement as well’ Reading a book involves, in the words of Maura Nolan, “a repertoire of bodily ations and gestures” that are activated by the handling of the book, creating a phe- somenological experience that engages all of the senses.* Both Nolan and Jonathan Wilcox consider the multisensory nature of medieval book reading in part by contrast- ing that experience with the inevitable limitations of digitized manuscripts, which rally only engage one sense: that of sight. According to Wileox, “the tactile is ever ‘wherein the operation of areal book, but absent from the digital simulacrum."” He goes nto describe how the materiality ofthe book is asserted through that tact, stating, “Parchment alerts an attentive hand tothe difference between flesh side and halt side, while the book asserts values of weight and heft, portability and haptic involvement of those who hold it" That haptic involvement on the part of the user is especially pronounced withthe folding almanacs and the many manipulations they encourage. Books have a sensory impact on their viewers: the sonses play a role in facitat- {ng use or comprehension ofan object, but an object may director contol the sensory ‘experience as well. Medieval perception was affected by both animate and inanimate ‘ates and things or, as Chris Woolgar assets, “the sensorium extend to and was affected by qualities of objects and beings round about them." A number of scholars ofthe senses have pointed (0 the notion of object agency inthe formation of sensory 5 jennifer Borland, “Unruly Reading: The Consuming Role of Touch in the Experience of a Medieval Manscrip,"in Scrape, Stoked, and Bound: Material Engaged Readings of Medieval Manuscripts, e, Jinathan Witeox Turnout: repos, 2013), 97-1, plates 25-230, Jenifer Borland, “Audience andSpa {Experience in the Nuns’ Church at Clonmacnoise,” ferent Vision: A Journal of New Perspectives inMedival rt 3 (201) 1-05; Jennifer Borland, “Encountering the Inthe,” in Transparent Things: A Cabinet, el. Karen Eileen Overbey and Maggie M. Wiliams (New York: punctum books, 2013), 7-38, Nolan, "Medieval Habit, Modem Sensation,” 465. See also Elaine Trehame, “leshing Out the Text: The Transcendent Manuscript in the Digital Age,” postmedieval (2013): 4€5~478; and Yet Houston, “Surface and Substance,” The Material Collective Blog, accessed 4 April 2018, bp: /tematerialcollective.org/surface-substance/. TWileox, "The Sensory Cost of Remediation,” 38. For another perspective on accessibility and di ‘on in relation to the folding almanac BL Harley MS 937, see Chelsea Siva, “Opening the Medieval Fong Almanac," Exemplaria 30 (2018): 49 B lox, "The Sensory Cost of Remediation,” 38. Wilcox organized the hands-on manuscript work- ‘shopat University of owa in 2008 in which I participated, and heals edited the resulting publication, Scaped,Sroed, and Bound: Materially Engaged Readings of Medieval Manuscripts (seen. 5 aboxe) 5 Chris Woolgar, “The Socal Life ofthe Senses: Experiencing Self, Others, and Environments,” in A.utura History of he Senses inthe Middle ges, ed. Richard G. Newhauser (Landon: Bloomsbury Tress, 2014), 23-43, at 43,206 — Jennifer orand experience; forinstance, Thomson has suggested that an “audience's sensory perception could be exploited or piqued by objects and experiences in the medieval world.” In thinking about the power these books have to manipulate their users, I draw on Jane Bennett's ideas about active objects and their potential for animation." In the case of the folding almanacs, movernent and resistance to movement are the most pronounced actions they make, engaging the user primarily through tactility and sound. ‘The patticular format of the folding almanacs requires a different sort of engagement than does the traditional codex form seen in most medieval manuscripts. The user's ‘senses are not just engaged by the act ofreading; the unusual manipulation necessitated bythealmanacs’ form therepeated opening and losingoffolios, the foldingandunfold- ing ofthe parchment ~ itself directs the user's experience and stimulates the senses. My. argument here, that the folding almanacs direct the sensory experience of their users, builds on previous work that explores another facet oftheir format. Elsewhere, Karen COverbey and I have contemplated the portability and potential performativity of these ‘manuscripts. We consider the way in which their manipulation could have facilitated ‘medical efficacy through an almost ritualistic performance of folding and unfolding, enacted by the handler for the benefit of the patient or audience, animating the space of the consultation." Building on that previous work but moving in a different direction in iis chapter I think tute abut the effect of such manipulations on the handlers them selves, As Newhauser has pointed out, “sensory organs were not just passive receptors of information, but actively participated in the formation of knowledge." The folding almanacs actively engage the senses of their handlers ~ through sight, but also through touch and sound — to facilitate cognition and understanding of their medical content ‘within the embodied exchange of health consultation. By consenting to actively engage the folios of these manuscripts, the handlers themselves are moved. The Format and Organization of Folding Almanacs ‘The folding almanacs have been described as essentially calendar books, meant to provide guidance for determining the best time for the treatment of a particular ailment. The notion of propitious times was pertinent in a variety of cultural contexts and, according to Hilary M. Carey, can “be seen as part of popular rather than leased Jo Thomson, “Sensory Perception in the Medioval Wes: Introduction, "1. 41 Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter (Dusham: Duke University Press, 201) 12 Karen Eileen Overbey and Jennifer Borland, “Diagnostic Performance and Diagrammatic Manip ulation in the Physician's Flding Almanacs," in The Agency of Things in Medieval and Early Modem “Arts Materials, Power and Manipulation, ed GratynaJurkowlaniee, Ika Matyjasckiewice, and Zuzanna Samnecka (New York: Rutledge, 2018), 144-156. aa Newhammer. “Introductions The Sensual Middle Ages," Zi. 9 Moved by Medicine — 207 Figure Bloodletting man, ca. 1406, Collection: British Library, London, Harley MS $311, (ol. 10%, etal. Copytight The British Library Board. caiture."™ The folding almanacs supplied what was needed to determine the phases and movements of the moon before undertaking a procedure, Most ofthese manuscripts are made up of ust afew folios, al folded individually to create a pocket-sized object. In some cases, the leaves are folded into thirds; in others, fourths. The extant manuscripts do not always have the same content or number of folios, Carey describes the organization of one ofthe trifold variations this way: “Each {olois divided into two horizontally and three vertically, making six recto and six verso sections, with an upper half’! and a lower half ‘bon each side."® A hypothetical rep- resentative example might contain ten leaves, of which folio 1 could display the table of rovable feasts, the calendar canon, and a vein man as in Figure 1.* Folios 2 through 5 1 Hilary M. Carey, “Astological Modicine and the Medieval English Folded Almanac," Socal History eine 17 (2004) 345-353, at 361-362. That said, these books were more advanced than the basic, “nore popular regimen of noting good ancl evil days ofthe month.” 15 Hilary M, Carey, "What isa Folded Almanac? The Form and Function ofa Key Manuscript Source {or Asro-medical Practice in Later Medieval England,” Socal History of Medicine 16 (2003): 481-509, LAPT F. Gumber includes usefil diagrams of various types: Gumber, Bat Rooks: A Catalogue of Folded Manuseripts Containing Almanacs or Other Texts Tunmhiout Brepos, 2016), 19-23 ised ier it aida Rileek aia ES, Wis Chitin SOL aa Wadena ae. ta.208 — JenniferBorland ‘might contain the calendar, which looks similar to the calendars in late medieval books of hours. Each month occupies half of one side of a folio, with three months depicted on each ofthe four folios, the text filling the spaces in columns that are usually demar- cated by the folds, The fourth space of each folio is what remains visible when itis completely folded up, and it is left blank except for the title ofthe folios contents (or example, “April, May, June” in Figure 2). Lunar tables and a corresponding canon, and Figure 2: Titles for April, May, june calendars, Almenoch,tebulafestrum, mobilium ab anno 1364 Lusque annum domini 1462, Yor, England, between 1406 and 1424, collection: The Rosenbach, Priladelphia, WS 1008/29, ol. 3, Photograph: |. Borland. 9 Moved by Medicine —= 209 often the zodiac man, might appear on folio 6 (Plate XIVb). Folios 7 through 9 could display eclipses, often spectacularly illuminated with gol: folio 7 might display solar eclipses with a canon, and folios & and 9 could show lunar eclipses (Plate XV). We night also find a diagram ofthe Sphere of Apuleius, a prognostication device, as well asvessels containing urine samples along with a canon, on folio 9 (Plate XVI). Finally, fio 10 could contains a tract on astrological prediction. ‘The sophisticated organization of the folding almanac’s information highlights its remarkable symbiosis of form and content, with both elements working together to create anuasual and singular type of book. More than forty folding almanacs with tis ype fast medical content have survived, most made in England during the fiteenth cen tur: The specific folded format ofthis group of manuscripts, along with their limited ‘Posrephicand temporal scope, i remarkable. ince these innovative pocket-sized books contain information that was also available in traditional codex form, their makers were Using an unconventional and sophisticated format for existing content.* The organiza tion ofthis information within the folding almanac is ingenious: itis tightly laid out on tach folio and positioned so that it can be easily read by the holder ofthe manuscript ‘egress of how fully folio has been unfolded (infact, viewed from any other position, ‘hematerial will b upside down). tis only possible fo open one folio ata times thus, each, {imeafliois viewed, the page must be folded back up before another one can be opened. “The folding almanacs produced in fteenth-rentury England are not the only twooks created in this manner, but they represent the largest group: thirty-one out afte sixty or so folded manuscripts catalogued by J.P. Gumbert."" Gumbert states that books made in this format have three distinct features: (1) they have folded leaves which cannot be read unless unfolded; (2) the leaves are not grouped into ‘ules, but instead have tabs on one edge, which are gathered and sewn together "into a stab"; and () the bookis held by the stub, and the text on the unfolded leaf istead “from outer (-upper) edge toward the stub.” These characteristics demon- state the primary differences between these manuscripts and other small medieval codices, such as tiny books of hours or girdle books. The folding book served a spe dificunction, and seems to have appeared in the thirteenth century as a solution to the problem of “how to make something that is small outside but large inside.” It accommodates a sizeable amount of text while being small enough to be carried on ‘one's person, Such folded books do eventually disappear, except inthe case of one type of text that particularly benefited from the “large Inside” made possible by 17 Thiry-one English folding almanacs are currently known, Carey ists twenty-nine in *What is & Telded Almanac?” J.P. Gumbert catalogues sixt-three books total using ths forme, of which for ‘your ae almanacs (thirty English and fourteen Continental). Gumbert, Bat Books. 1 Carey, “Astrological Medicine,” 362 19 Gumber, Bat Books 20 Gumbert, Bat Books, 17-18. 21 Gumbert, Bat Books, 23210 — JenniferBoriand this format: calendars, and especially almanacs.” These texts might only bea few leaves thick if created in codex form, which would be awkward; their wide tables do best with larger leaves, which would be far too big to carry on a girdle or belt." In the case of the folding almanac, form and content work together to create an ingen: ious solution, making objects that are functional, accessible, and informative. For most of the surviving almanacs, a user would have begun by holding the entire closed manuscript in their palm, much as one might hold a smartphone today. Usually the tab or binding would be held facing the user, while the opposite, open edge of the manuscript would be oriented away from them.” The handler would then select a folio based on the titles written on the folded, closed folios ~ in fact, the ori- entation of these titles can be used to determine the proper orientation of the manu: script as a whole (Figure 2), These titles appear on the verso and face outward when the tri- or quarter-fold is closed, but are hidden from the viewer once the opening of the folio commences. The user would then bend the other closed folios away from the selected one, in order to open up sufficient space around it for unfolding. The selected folio would next be opened, first by unfolding it horizontally, which would result in gaining access to the fist of the three half sheets that contain content ~ this first half sheet, the reader will note, is Facing the right direction to be read by the handler. Ifthe user then required access to the other two half sheets, they would fully open the folio away from them, in order to view the entirety of the recto side, which ustaliy con- tained two half sheets of content oriented correctly for the reader. To access another folio, the open folio would first have to be closed, reversing the order of unfolding that already took place, Although each instance of use would be somewhat unique, depending on the idiosyncrasies of user, illness, time of year, and other factors, the process of opening and closing sequential folios might eventually become somewiat ‘mechanical or habitual, as the handler became familiar with the nuances of the spe-