OK, so the x-height is 7mm, or 5 nib widths. (As Michelle Brown's/Patricia Lovett's Historical Source Book for Scribes says and my re-measurements have confirmed)
There's only one small problem.
7/5 = 1.4, not 1.5
Looking at pen nib width charts
http://callibeth.blogspot.com/search/label/pens
well - I don't have a Koh-I-Noor technical pen and I don't know if they come in left handed.
This other chart doesn't even HAVE a 1.4 nib width shown.
| | | William Mitchell | | | | Line Height Measurements (in millimetres) | ||||
| Millimetres | Osmiroid | Right Hand | R/H Italic | Speedball C | Hiro | Brause | 3 nib widths | 4 nib widths | 5 nib widths | 7 nib widths |
| 0.50 mm | Ital Ext Fine | Size 6 | Size 5 | Size 6 | Size 5 | ½ mm | 1.5 mm | 2 mm | 2.5 mm | 3.5 mm |
| 0.60 mm | – | Size 5 | – | – | – | – | 1.8 mm | 2.4 mm | 3 mm | 4.2 mm |
| 0.75 mm | Italic Fine | Size 4 | Size 4 | – | Size 4 | ¾ mm | 2.25 mm | 3 mm | 3.75 mm | 5.25 mm |
| 1.00 mm | Italic Med | Size 3½ | Size 3 | Size 5 | – | 1 mm | 3 mm | 4 mm | 5 mm | 7 mm |
| 1.25 mm | Italic Broad | Size 3 | Size 2 | – | Size 3 | – | 3.75 mm | 5 mm | 6.25 mm | 8.75 mm |
| 1.50 mm | B2 | Size 2½ | Size 1 | Size 4 | – | 1½ mm | 4.5 mm | 6 mm | 7.5 mm | 10.5 mm |
| 2.00 mm | B3 | Size 2 | – | Size 3 | Size 2 | 2 mm | 6 mm | 8 mm | 10 mm | 14 mm |
| 2.50 mm | B4 | Size 1½ | – | – | Size 1½ | 2½ mm | 7.5 mm | 10 mm | 12.5 mm | 17.5 mm |
| 2.75 mm | – | – | – | – | Size 1 | – | 8.25 mm | 11 mm | 13.75 mm | 19.25 mm |
| 3.00 mm | B5 | Size 1 | – | Size 2 | – | 3 mm | 9 mm | 12 mm | 15 mm | 21 mm |
| 3.50 mm | B6 | Size 0 | – | Size 1 | – | – | 10.5 mm | 14 mm | 17.5 mm | 24.5 mm |
| 4.00 mm | B8 | – | – | – | – | 4 mm | 12 mm | 16 mm | 20 mm | 28 mm |
| 5.00 mm | B10 | – | – | Size 0 | – | 5 mm | 15 mm | 20 mm | 25 mm | 35 mm |
28 December : There is another nib width comparison chart in the SCA_S&I files. It gives (only) an Osmoroid BR as having a 1.4 mm width.
So I'm going to stick with the 1.5mm width Brause I have.
Meisterin Katarina Helene suggested that of course they were cutting quills back then, so had more opportunity to create a 1.4mm wide nib.
The letters will only be the tiniest bit thicker and more cramped. But since I know - if I do copy a page of writing from one of the images I have of the Bedford Psalter on a transparent sheet, and hold it over the original - I'll know (one reason) why the letters aren't exactly the same.
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