Glacial Errata, No. 57

Five Things for the Week of February 9, 2026.

Author

Colin Dickey
February 09, 2026

One

I’m not sure when it was, several years ago, that I discovered that an incredibly satisfying Google Image search is to simply type in “manicule.”

If you need something more soothing to scroll through instead of social media, may I recommend doing a manicule image search and just scrolling down. They never end, and the aggregate effect is so lovely. I can’t really explain why.

Two

A whole screen of them is great, in part because individually they can be so delightful. Here’s a really nice one.

Maastricht Book of Hours, Liège, 14th century, London, British Library, Stowe 17, fol. 193r

Three

Another great one, in which a dog explains a passage from Aristotle to a hare.

Aristotle’s Libri Naturales, 13th century, London, British Library, Harley 3487

Four

I reached out to some friends who work with medieval and early modern manuscripts, soliciting suggestions for their favorite manicules. Matthew Harrison sent me this great rooster one (The manicule in the header for this week is from the same manuscript), and Sarah Werner offered the fine hand that graces the cover of William H. Sherman’s Used Books: Marking Readers in the Renaissance.

And if you get tired of human hands, here’s a cephalopodic manicule, suggested by my friend Vim Pasupathi.

Erasmus, Adagio, 16th century, Washington DC, Folger Library, PA8503 1515 Cage, 2C3v

William H. Sherman, “Used Books: Marking Readers in Renaissance England”

Cicero, Paradoxa Stoicorum, 14th century, Berkeley, Bancroft Library, BANC MS USC 85, fol. 1v

Five

I also happened across this website that includes a “Museum of Mod Manicules,” celebrating the revival of the image through the 60s (think of animation for The Beatles or Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python work for obvious exampes). Here’s a nice one from John Alcorn’s delightful 1962 “Books!”

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