0

Okay, I am typesetting something where there is snippets from something that is typewritten and something that is a medieval manuscript. Naturally, I think it would be funny to mimic those looks. Here's what I have so far:

\documentclass{memoir}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{aurical}
\usepackage{mdframed}
\definecolor{light-gray}{gray}{0.95}

% The environments

%% Typewriter page
\newenvironment{ttenv}
{\begin{mdframed}[innerleftmargin=1.5cm,innerrightmargin=1.5cm,innertopmargin=2em,backgroundcolor=light-gray]\ttfamily}
{\vspace{2em}\par\end{mdframed}}

%% Ancient manuscript
\newenvironment{sigsand}
{\begin{mdframed}[innerleftmargin=1.5cm,innerrightmargin=1.5cm,innertopmargin=1em,backgroundcolor=light-gray]\Fontauri}
{\vspace{2em}\par\end{mdframed}}

\begin{document}

\begin{ttenv}
This is the faux typewriter page!
\end{ttenv}

\begin{sigsand}
This is the faux ancient manuscript page!
\end{sigsand}

\end{document}

The results are not horrible:

Fakeness Galore!

... but I sure feel they could be better. My questions are:

  • How can I make the writing was a bit uneven, especially for the "manuscript"? - How can I make the pages appear less flat?
  • How can I make the edges of the "papers" a little jagged, especially for the "manuscript" one?

I'm open for ideas, also!

  • 1
    Sorry, but a medieval manuscript would not look anything like that. It wouldn't be less even, but more so and, probably, richly illustrated, too. And it wouldn't be on paper and it wouldn't be in modern English. And I'm not sure exclamation marks existed then, either. There are already questions about everything you actually say you want, though. – cfr Dec 08 '17 at 02:37
  • I am well aware what medieval manuscripts looks like, "something that evokes" them would probably be a better wording. It should of course be easily readable to modern audiences. – Kristian Nordestgaard Dec 08 '17 at 02:39
  • https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/29402/how-do-i-make-my-document-look-like-it-was-written-by-a-cthulhu-worshipping-madm?s=1|29.5574, https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/291313/how-do-i-make-my-document-look-like-it-was-handwritten?s=9|16.6822, https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/86150/torn-page-effect?s=2|57.0754, https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/86372/torn-paper-matching-up-the-torn-edges?s=1|107.2906, https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/86804/pirate-treasure-map?s=4|30.2727, https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/86150/torn-page-effect etc. – cfr Dec 08 '17 at 02:39
  • I didn't think it would be news. But nothing there would be even vaguely associated with a medieval manuscript for me. It just looks like untidy writing, which isn't what I associate with such manuscripts at all. – cfr Dec 08 '17 at 02:42
  • https://i.stack.imgur.com/GKST5.png ?? – cfr Dec 08 '17 at 03:09
  • Since you’re using memoir, do you know its \medievalpage layout? And have you looked at the bookhands package? – Thérèse Dec 08 '17 at 03:11
  • You’ve tagged this xetex, though you use fontenc and not fontspec. If you really are using xetex (or luatex) and can therefore use fontspec, see https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/29487 for unevenness (which was very much involuntary). – Thérèse Dec 08 '17 at 03:20
  • @Thérèse: no and no to \medievalpage and bookhands. Will look into those.

    And yes, I do use xelatex ... I'm just not very good with setting up fonts properly.

    – Kristian Nordestgaard Dec 08 '17 at 03:26
  • 1
    To make the undulating font I mentioned more readable to contemporary eyes, you can use the last technique in https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/315635/ (for luatex only). Peter Baker (of Junicode fame) also created Eadui, which is both very readable and equipped with ornamental capitals (there’s an example showing how to use the capitals at https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/235760/). – Thérèse Dec 08 '17 at 03:40
  • @Thérèse: Eadui is very nice, looking into it now. – Kristian Nordestgaard Dec 09 '17 at 02:45

0 Answers0