Great post! Pins and books have a long history that is yet to be written, from using pins and a Bible to tell the future to playing games in reading instruction (or pointing to the passage to be read aloud as in the Chardin painting) Leaving them where they are is a good idea.
Fantastic post. Are we able to reliably date some of these pins? I’ve often wondered how old a pin holding a volvelle down or otherwise stuck in a book is. You mention that the detatchable head may indicate pre-19th century. Are there other ways to tell what era a pin might be from?
Thank you for your comment Laura. Mary Beaudry indicates that it is difficult to date pins precisely as they were made the same way throughout the early modern period. I suppose that testing their metal composition could help with a more precise dating. Meanwhile the best indication of a pin’s date is whether or not it is composed of one or two pieces.
Comments
Very interesting, I have never seen a pin used for these purposes.
Jan Kellett — August 4, 2015
Great post! Pins and books have a long history that is yet to be written, from using pins and a Bible to tell the future to playing games in reading instruction (or pointing to the passage to be read aloud as in the Chardin painting) Leaving them where they are is a good idea.
Andrea Immel — August 5, 2015
Thank you, Andrea, for pointing to other uses of pins in books (I had never noticed the pin in Chardin’s painting before).
Caroline Duroselle-Melish — August 10, 2015
Fantastic post. Are we able to reliably date some of these pins? I’ve often wondered how old a pin holding a volvelle down or otherwise stuck in a book is. You mention that the detatchable head may indicate pre-19th century. Are there other ways to tell what era a pin might be from?
Laura Aydelotte — August 10, 2015
Thank you for your comment Laura. Mary Beaudry indicates that it is difficult to date pins precisely as they were made the same way throughout the early modern period. I suppose that testing their metal composition could help with a more precise dating. Meanwhile the best indication of a pin’s date is whether or not it is composed of one or two pieces.
Caroline Duroselle-Melish — August 10, 2015