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The European Book in the Twelfth Century

The European Book in the Twelfth Century

The European Book in the Twelfth Century

Erik Kwakkel , University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Rodney Thomson , University of Tasmania
April 2021
Available
Paperback
9781316502037

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    The 'long twelfth century' (1075–1225) was an era of seminal importance in the development of the book in medieval Europe and marked a high point in its construction and decoration. This comprehensive study takes the cultural changes that occurred during the 'twelfth-century Renaissance' as its point of departure to provide an overview of manuscript culture encompassing the whole of Western Europe. Written by senior scholars, chapters are divided into three sections: the technical aspects of making books; the processes and practices of reading and keeping books; and the transmission of texts in the disciplines that saw significant change in the period, including medicine, law, philosophy, liturgy, and theology. Richly illustrated, the volume provides the first in-depth account of book production as a European phenomenon.

    • Delivers the first comprehensive study of the European book in the historical period known as the 'long twelfth century' (1075–1225)
    • Brings together a number of interrelated cultural-historical events such as monastic reform and the introduction of Greek and Arabic science and philosophy to place in context the development of the manuscript and book during the 'twelfth-century Renaissance'
    • Chapters by leading scholars offer a multi-disciplinary approach to studying the phenomenon of the book in the twelfth-century from a European point of view

    Reviews & endorsements

    'The book should and probably will be perceived as a companion volume to twelfth-century manuscript studies. Whether you read it as a manual to acquire a broader knowledge of the period, or selectively, as a reference tool, its comprehensive character makes it a very accessible introduction to the subject for junior and experienced scholars alike.' Joanna Fronska, Manuscript Studies

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    Product details

    July 2018
    Hardback
    9781107136984
    434 pages
    235 × 156 × 24 mm
    0.84kg
    44 b/w illus. 1 table
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • Introduction Erik Kwakkel and Rodney Thomson
    • Part I. Book Production:
    • 1. Codicology Erik Kwakkel and Rodney Thomson
    • 2. Book script Erik Kwakkel
    • 3. Decoration and illustration Martin Kauffmann
    • 4. Scribes and scriptoria Rodney Thomson
    • Part II. Readers and Their Books:
    • 5. Scholars and their books Constant Mews
    • 6. The libraries of religious houses Teresa Webber
    • 7. Modes of reading Jenny Weston
    • 8. Practices of appropriation: writing in the margin Mariken Teeuwen
    • Part III. Types of Books:
    • 9. Hebrew books Judith Schlanger
    • 10. Liturgical books Nicolas Bell
    • 11. Books of theology and bible study Lesley Smith
    • 12. Logic John Marenbon and Caterina Tarlazzi
    • 13. Old texts in new contexts: the classical revival Irene O'Daly
    • 14. Reading the sciences Charles Burnett
    • 15. Medical books Monica Green
    • 16. Law books Charles Radding
    • 17. Vernacular books Ian Short and Nigel F. Palmer.
      Contributors
    • Erik Kwakkel, Rodney Thomson, Martin Kauffmann, Constant Mews, Teresa Webber, Jenny Weston, Mariken Teeuwen, Judith Schlanger, Nicolas Bell, Lesley Smith, John Marenbon, Caterina Tarlazzi, Irene O'Daly, Charles Burnett, Monica Green, Charles Radding, Ian Short, Nigel F. Palmer

    • Editors
    • Erik Kwakkel , University of British Columbia, Vancouver

      Erik Kwakkel is Professor at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. His research is devoted to the relationship between the physical appearance of manuscripts and the historical context in which they were produced and used. His publications include Turning Over a New Leaf: Change and Development in the Medieval Book (2012), co-authored with Rosamond McKitterick and Rodney Thomson; Manuscript of the Latin Classics 800–1200 (2015), Writing in Context: Insular Manuscript Culture 500–1200 (2013) and Author, Reader, Book: Medieval Authorship in Theory and Practice (2012), co-edited with Stephen Partridge.

    • Rodney Thomson , University of Tasmania

      Rodney Thomson FAHA. is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of Tasmania. His publications include Books and Learning in Twelfth-Century England: The Ending of 'Alter Orbis' (2006), and co-editor with Nigel Morgan of The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain 2: The Manuscript Book c.1100–1400 (Cambridge, 2008). Professor Thomson has compiled descriptive catalogues of the manuscript collections held at Lincoln, Hereford and Worcester Cathedrals, as well as Merton and Corpus Christi Colleges, Oxford and Peterhouse, Cambridge.