The scriptorium, a marvelous medieval laboratory, was something between a schoolroom and a printshop. It was a large space with many windows and sparsely furnished with such essential as lecterns, chests, bookshelves and chairs or stools. The latter were used mostly for resting since scribes worked standing up. The lecterns were inclined to allow scribes to mantain their quills at an angle to avoid messy marks or blots. The chests first held papyrus, then parchment and finally paper

Scribes or copysts, almost always monks, worked in the scriptorium and these were found in churches and monasteries. All the monks in an abbey usually had turns copying sacred and profane texts, charters, private correspondence and official acts. Partecipating in the elaboration of a manuscript or a book was considered a dedicated, pious work for the greater glory of God. At the same time, those abbeys wich excelled in callygraphy and the production of miniatures became something like prestigious printing houses and as the fame of a scriptorium grew, so did its wealth.