Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature / Edition 4

by L. D. Reynolds, N. G. Wilson

Overview

One of the remarkable facts about the history of Western culture is that we are still in a position to read large amounts of the literature produced in classical Greece and Rome despite the fact that for at least a millennium and a half all copies had to be produced by hand and were subject to the hazards of fire, flood, and war. This book explains how the texts survived and gives an account of the reasons why it was thought worthwhile to spend the necessary effort to preserve them for future generations.

In the second edition a section of notes was included, and a new chapter was added to deal with some aspects of scholarship since the Renaissance. In the third edition (1991), the authors responded to the urgent need to take account of the very large number of discoveries in this rapidly advancing field of knowledge by substantially revising or enlarging certain sections. The last two decades have seen further advances, and this revised edition is designed to take account of them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199686339
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/28/2014
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

The Late L. D. Reynolds (d. 1999) was a Fellow and Tutor at Brasenose College, Oxford. He has editrd Texts and Transmission: A Survey of the Latin Classics and is responsible for the Oxford Classical Texts of Seneca (Letters and Dialogues), Sallust, and Cicero (De finibus).

N. G. Wilson is Emeritus Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College, Oxford. With D. A. Russell, he provided an editon of Menander Rhetor with accompanying translation and commentary. He has contributed to the Oxford Classical Text series Sophocles (in collaboration with Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones), Aristophanea (2007), and the forthcoming Herodotus.

Table of Contents

Preface1. Antiquity2. The Greek East3. The Latin West4. The Renaissance5. Some Aspects of Scholarship Since the Renaissance6. Textual CriticismAbbreviationsNotesIndex of MSS.General IndexNotes to the PlatesPlates

Editorial Reviews

"A valuable resource for both graduate student and scholar....Every student of ancient literature needs to own and read this book."—Classical Bulletin

"A thorough, lively and up-to-date assessment of a complex historical process; an excellent introduction."—Charles Witke, University of Michigan

Praise for the First Edition: "This is an excellent book; its authors have fulfilled with striking success their aim to produce 'a simple introduction for beginners to the processes by which Greek and Latin literature have been preserved.' They have dealt with the essentials of this vast subject, and with the rudiments of textual criticism, in five very readable chapters, and their book deserves to be lastingly popular with...undergraduates."—Journal of Hellenic Studies

"Indispensable for classical students who have not read the previous edition, and recommended for those who want recent information on an essential subject."—The Classical World

"The many virtues of this book, which has become a classic of its kind, have been widely recognized and justly praised."—Bryn Mawr Classical Review

From the Publisher