Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages / Edition 1

by Bernhard Bischoff, Daibhm O. Cróinin, David Ganz

Overview

First published in 1979, this work, by the greatest living authority on medieval palaeography, offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date account in any language of the history of Latin script. It contains a detailed account of the role of the book in cultural history from antiquity to the Renaissance and outlines the history of book illumination. By setting the development of Latin script in its cultural context, it provides an unrivalled introduction to the nature of medieval Latin culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521367264
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/12/1990
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	302
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.98(d)

Table of Contents

List of abbreviations; Preface; Introduction; Part I. Codicology: 1. Writing materials and writing tools; 2. The external characteristics of the written heritage; 3. Writing and copying; Part II. The History of Latin Script: 4. Latin script in antiquity; 5. Latin handwriting in the Middle Ages; 6. Supplement; Part III. The Manuscript in Cultural History: 7. Roman and Christian antiquity; Plates; Bibliography; Index of names and subjects.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"...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

Editorial Reviews

"...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

From the Publisher