The study of physical aspects and structure of manuscripts, including the material on which they are written, collation, ruling, handwriting, writing tools, binding, etc. Palaeography aims to read scripts accurately, to date and localize them. Codicology and palaeography are often referred to as ‘the archaeology of the book’ because they look into the materials and techniques used to make one. The codicological and palaeographical analysis also embraces mutual relations between written texts and illuminations.