2020 Essays

Lifecasting in Ms. Fr. 640

Smith, Pamela H.

Over a third of Ms. Fr. 640 is devoted to mold making and metal casting, and, among these long and detailed entries are the accounts of many first hand trials of lifecasting. It is clear that lifecasting was a major preoccupation (perhaps the major preoccupation) of the author-practitioner. The folios pertaining to it contain the longest and most densely written entries, with numerous marginal additions, copious recounting of first hand experience, and many remarkable sketches, making them among the most complicated but rewarding for the modern reader-practitioner to decipher.