Ciao Mark S.
Its interesting to note that historical accounting of dates in the past was extremely accurate manually--and despite different date systems that were common until Julian dates converged with Gregorian. Social historians can largely rely they are accurate.
The idea of "the copy" is fascinating. Now its a doddle. Then is was a serious project.
... From scribe to mimeograph to photocopy to scan to its never analogue.
Side note
Josiah