Illuminated manuscripts date back long before the printing press, and their manufacture was arduous.
Literacy itself was rare in the Dark Ages and usually only the province of educated nobility and the professionally religious. Most people had no hope of learning to read, so the monks charged with copying religious texts were already practitioners of a rare skill for their time.
They weren’t just writing either. They carefully illustrated each page with drawings, cartouches and other decorative touches, and the text itself was a form of art in its calligraphic symmetry, designed to be beautiful as well as legible.
It took thousands of hours to complete a manuscript. There was no whiteout and no do-overs: a mistake meant the page had to be scrapped even if it represented a week’s worth of work.
So when a Flemish scribe finished a page of his manuscript and set it aside, he thought he was in the clear — until a cat came along and left its own signature in the form of paw prints.
Three of them, in fact, representing one and a half kitty strides. Two of the feline’s little feet found white space, but another landed right on top of the meticulously rendered text.
It kind of puts keyboard cats in context, doesn’t it? Our four legged friends may occasionally ruin our drafts or emails — or in my case wreck a music recording session with a discordant keyboard solo by walking across a synthesizer at an inopportune time — but at least they don’t cost us dozens of hours of work.
The 500-year-old, kitty-marked manuscript is now the centerpiece of “Paws On Parchment,” a new exhibit at Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum.
Click here for more details from the museum, which is open Tuesday through Saturday, with late hours on Thursday evenings. Admission is free.
And if you ever take up calligraphy as a hobby, keep your work hidden from your feline overlords!
Pain In The Bud 
No shock here. 🤣🤣
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I love seeing the old pawprints. Soooo cute!
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500 years later, kitty’s efforts are finally appreciated!
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I wonder what curses escaped the wretched monk’s lips when he spotted the paw prints, and how much penance he had to perform as a result!
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Right? I figure that’s gotta be at least two days’ worth of work between the calligraphy and the illumination.
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Gilda. Did you move my knitting stuff? Cannot find my ball of yarn. No. Look under bed. Might be there. If you take up knitting put that stuff in drawer. 🤣🤣Sure enough the cat moved it to bedroom.
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At least the ink was dry. The cats here are best at losing the margins on the page and dimming the screen. (Although one time Sarge turned the brightness all the way up and almost blinded me.)
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I will not hear that slander! Sarge can do no wrong!
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He’s glad you understand.
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My cats totally trashed my keyboard by running over it, while at the same time their claws were pulling out the keys.
About $100 later – $18 + tax + shipping and $75 for someone to install it – I have a new keyboard, which I have to watch like a hawk, because I do NOT want to have to buy another one.
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$75 to install a keyboard?! They’re plug and play! Even if it’s wireless, it’s a two minute job.
I’m one of those people who is “IT support for life” for family and friends. Removing viruses, installing networks, installing hardware, fixing connection issues, etc. If you ever need help with that kind of thing, please don’t hesitate to drop me an email. I’m serious. Whoever charged you $75 to plug in a keyboard is not cool.
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Thank you for your VERY kind offer. I just assumed I would not be able to remove the damage keyboard, and put on the new one. I saw a video on Youtube which explained how to change out keyboards, but it confused me to the max. Hence, I got the guy who’s been my computer repairman for years.
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