A method for detecting ink writings in a specimen comprising stacked pages, allowing a page-by-page reading without turning pages The method compris- es steps of taking a set of projection x-ray images for different positions of the specimen with respect to an x-ray source and a detector from an apparatus for taking projection x-ray images; storing the set of projection x-ray images in a suitable computer system; and processing the set of projection x-ray images to tomographically reconstruct the shape of the specimen.