be an open diptych. Berthe van Regemorter identified a similar figure in the Neo-Hittite Stela of Tarhunpiyas (Musée du Louvre, AO 1922.), dating to the late 8th century BC, who is seen holding what may be a form of tablature with a unique button closure. Writing tablets of ivory were found in the ruins of Sargon's palace in Nimrud. Margaret Howard surmised that these tablets might have once been connected together using an ingenious hinging system with cut pieces of leather resembling the letter “H” inserted into slots along the edges to form a concertina structure. Use in medieval to modern times Hermann of Reichenau (1013–1054), a monk and mathematician, used wax tablets "He had requested that his disciple, Berthold of Reichenau, should take wax tablets on which his writings were recorded and have these made into manuscripts. " Hériman of Tournai (1095—1147), a monk at the abbey of St Martin of Tournai, wrote "I even wrote down a certain amount on tablets". An example of a wax tablet book are the servitude records which the hospital of Austria's oldest city, Enns, established in 1500. Ten wooden plates, sized 375 x 207 mm (14.76 x 8.15 inches) and arranged in a 90 mm (3.54 inch) stack, are each divided into two halves along their long axis. The annual payables due are written on parchment or paper glued to the left sides. Payables received were recorded for deduction (and subsequently erased) on the respective right sides, which are covered with brownish-black writing wax. The material is based on beeswax, and contains 5-10% plant oils and carbon pigments; its melting point is about 65 °C. This volume is the continuation of an earlier one, which was begun in 1447. Wax tablets were used for high-volume business records of transient importance until the 19th century. For instance, the salt mining authority at Schwäbisch Hall employed wax records until 1812. The fish market in Rouen used them even until the 1860s, where their construction and use had been well documented in 1849. References Further reading Galling, K., 1971. "Tafel, Buch und Blatt" in Near Eastern Studies in Honour of W. F. Albright (Baltimore), pp 207–23. Writing media Manuscripts by type