Leather case for writing tablets

The case is constructed from three layers of leather to form individual slots for the tablets. The two inner layers have an ogival profile at top which presumably facilitated the removal of the tablets. It is probable that there was an additional decorated outer case of 'cuir-bouilli' (boiled leather), which is now missing. The tablets have internal divisions for the wax and the number and shapes of the compartments vary from tablet to tablet, a flexible system which allowed the owner to select a particular tablet for a particular purpose. Complete examples of writing tablets with their cases survive in the Royal Library of Belgium; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and from excavations in York (see York Archaeological Trust).  

Writing ‘tables’ as they were known in the medieval period, were sold by booksellers and haberdashers, and regular consignments were imported into London from the Continent.