My Word!

The ink book, by the way, has turned out to be fabulously boring, little more than a compilation of every time someone in antiquity mentioned the existence of ink. We do get some tantalizing statements like:

"One [black ink formula of the eighth century] in particular is worthy of notice as it names (blue) vitriol, yeast, the lees (dregs) of wine and the rind of the pomegranate apple, which if commingled together would give results not altogether unlike the characteristic phenomena of "gall" ink."

Yeast? Pomegranite juice? Wine dregs? What do you do with them to turn them into ink? But the author, alas, does not tell us.

Where is this all going? I can only guess. I'll keep on with it a bit longer but may abandon ship if it doesn't pick up soon.