First, drop the fake “quote” about “horribly yellow.”Ulan wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 11:30 pm It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that you change your whole story on a turn of a dime. No, that wasn't an exact quote, but it's an example for your showmanship in this thread. Most of this thread consists of you telling everyone how horribly yellow the London leaves are, compared to the Leipzig ones, and that this proves some tea magic. Well, turns out the London leaves aren't yellow, at least not more yellow than the Leipzig ones, of which you presented a photograph in a live setting yourself. Remember?
That's one of the "white as snow" Leipzig leaves. I wouldn't want to eat that snow...
But yeah, now you want to tell us about the phenomenal condition the London leaves are in, which proves that they not as old as they are. You always wanted to have it both ways, having the manuscript defaced by tea magic and in phenomenally good condition, just to cover all bases. And no, desert heat isn't bad for parchment. Turns out that humidity isn't bad for parchment, either (leaking roofs and flooded basements excepted). What parchment doesn't like is change of humidity. But all of this, including the internal color standards, has already been discussed - and linked - in this thread. As I said, this is just a reminder for newcomers to this thread, that much of what is spouted here has been debunked.
“desert heat isn't bad for parchment.“
Parchment science says you are wrong.
You seem to be very confused on the basics.
“Phenomenally good condition” has always referred to Leipzig and London. Flexible, easy--peasy page turning and many quotes about their exceptional condition. And no problem with the acid from ink eating into the parchment.
(Coloring by herbs or lemon juice do not affect the actual parchment condition, modern forgers will try to create “age” by baking the parchment, a major application of dry heat.)
Dryness and heat are especially difficult for parchment, and that is Sinai, supposedly for 1000+ years.
Here is the CSNTM today:
Manuscripts Deteriorate Over Time
https://www.facebook.com/CSNTM/photos/a ... 7453370702
My comment:
==========
The exception to this truth appears to be Codex Sinaiticus, which withstood 1000+ years in the hot desert climate of Sinai and yet parchment and ink remain in "phenomenally good condition" (Helen Shenton of the British Library.)
And parchment and ink science even changes to accommodate the supposed age of Sinaiticus.
Either the materials were truly amazingly exceptional, or ....
alternatively ...
Sinaiticus was actually prepared at Mt. Athos c. 1840 and brought to Sinai. Note that it has no provenance before 1840 and the story of creation at Mt. Athos has many elements of historical imperatives, such as Constantine Simonides and friends working on mss. in Athos at precisely the right time, as confirmed in 1895 in the Spyridon Lamprou catalog of manuscripts at Mount Athos.
Note also the whack-a-doodle story created by Tischendorf in 1859 that he saved 43 leaves from fire in 1844, when actually he simply extracted five consecutive intact quires and three consecutive leaves from the manuscript, which Uspensky reported seeing intact the next year in 1845.
==========