first try at zoomorphic initials

This was a Lindquistringes for a friend, given out last weekend:


Lindquistringes for Kathryne Elizabeth Gordon



The design is based on British Library MS Harley 2793 f.33, from the first half of the 9th century. This was my first attempt at doing a zoomorphic initial. I didn't quite capture the look of despair on the fish's face, or the bored look on the duck, but I'm still pretty happy with how it turned out.

The text reads:

By these words let the will of Ulfr and Caoimhe, king and queen of Drachenwald be known. We have not only heard many testiments of the deeds of our subject Kathryne Elizabeth Gordon but also seen them with our own eyes. We wish to reward this service by making the said Kathryne a member of our Orden des Lindquistringes in witness of all she has rendered to us. This we do on the 4th day of December, a.s. xlv, at Yule Ball in our shire of Flintheath.

still not interested in ebooks

But this article was an interesting read, and I'm sure that someday Joel will probably put some pressure on me to start converting my ever growing library. I've noticed a clear correlation between raises in our income over the last 5 years and the rate that my library has been expanding. And I just laughed when I read the "22 boxes" of books in the opening paragraph. I have half again as many as that (thereabouts) in storage in Iowa, in addition to the 812 I have here in Amsterdam. As an example: When I started using librarything in August 2007, I had slightly less than the 200 (or maybe 250) books that was the limit for free accounts. That means in the last three years I've acquired about 600 books, so about 200 per year.

This is something that cannot go on indefinitely, even if we intend to raise any potential children as bibliophibians.