"...this translation should soon become the standard textbook for the teaching of Latin palaeography in English-language and North American graduate schools. Both the author and the translators deserve our thanks for bringing this project to its worthwhile conclusion. We now have at our disposal in English not only a modern scholarly synthesis on the history of Latin writing up to about the year 1500, with the insights and intuitive judgments of an accomplished master in the field, but also an authoritative and well-documented treatise on how manuscripts should be understood as the products of their contemporary cultural environment." Phoenix

"...the combination of new ideas, the comprehensive treatment, the rich notes and bibliography, all complemented by the extraordinary judgement which is the hallmark of Professor Bischoff's writing, make this handbook unequalled and unapproached in our present literature and a superb guide to further study." Speculum

"Its publication is an auspicious occasion for English speakers who study western medieval manuscripts. The translators, paleographers in their own right, have understood and translated the text accurately and with skill. The volume includes twenty-three well-produced plates, superbly chosen by Bischoff to illustrate types of script and furnished by him with partial transcriptions and bibliography..." Speculum

"This book, by the most distinguished living paleographer, should be on the shelves of all those interested in pre-1500 writing. A manual intended for students, it is the most concise and reliable introduction to its subject, as well as a guide to further reading, with extensive bibliographical citations in the footnotes." Calligraphy Review