iron-gall ink

Ingredients

hawthorn bark, wine, atramentum, incandescent iron

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

In the 'Diversis artibus', Theophilus describes the preparation of a plant ink from hawthorn bark and wine. The mixture is left to dry in the sun and stored in small parchment bags. Before use, the dry ink is mixed with wine and a small amount of 'atramentum'. To darken the ink, a piece of incandescent iron can be added to the mixture (p. 92).

Remarks

This is believed by many scholars to be the first explicitly European recipe for iron-gall ink. The term 'atramentum' in this context is debated and could be translated as either vitriol or carbon ink, potentially making this a mixed ink (p. 92).