Dear Bodleian Library / British Library

I am an artist sculptor currently engaged in making work for a commission for St Andrews University. Some links outlining the project are here:

I would like to have the experience of looking up close at some examples of palimpsest documents, ideally vellum manuscripts or suchlike. I am trying to gain an understanding (not just as knowledge of but also as in physical and sensual appreciation) of the difference – if there is one – between a palimpsest which has been made by scraping back a document so as to write upon it again and the simple overwriting of one document onto another.

I would appreciate it if you could let me know if it might be possible to visit you and look up close at some examples of the documents which could help me to grasp what a palimpsest is and what it means, which will feed into the nature of the work that I am setting out to make for exhibition this October.

Best wishes

Susan Diab

www.susandiab.com