The Role of the Scroll: An Illustrated Introduction to Scrolls in the Middle Ages

A beautifully illustrated, full-color guide to scrolls and their uses in medieval life.

Scrolls have always been shrouded by a kind of aura, a quality of somehow standing outside of time. They hold our attention with their age, beauty, and perplexing format. Beginning in the fourth century, the codex—or book—became the preferred medium for long texts. Why, then, did some people in the Middle Ages continue to make scrolls?

In The Role of the Scroll, music professor and historian Thomas Forrest...