Book and Media Studies

This volume explores the Late Medieval and Renaissance transmission of texts of different genres, languages and periods from the book historical point of view, taking into consideration not only the textual but also the material aspect of the traditions. The authors include eminent specialists as well as mid- and early career scholars.

This text is the first publication to examine decorated books produced across the globe during the period traditionally known as medieval. Through essays and case studies, the volume's contributors expand the historiography, chronology, and geography of manuscript studies to embrace a diversity of objects, individuals, narratives, and materials from Africa, Asia, Australasia, and the Americas--an approach that contributes to the emerging field of scholarly inquiry known as the Global Middle Ages.

This beautifully illustrated book provides an accessible introduction to the medieval manuscript and what it can tell us about the world in which it was made and used. Books Before Print explores how manuscripts can act as a vibrant and versatile tool to understand the deep historical roots of human interaction with written information.

This book looks at the work of scribes, illuminators and bookbinders. This lavishly illustrated account tells the story of manuscript production from the early Middle Ages through to the high Renaissance. Each stage of production is described in detail, from the preparation of the parchment to the final illumination of the manuscript. This book also explains the role of the stationer or bookshop.

This text describes the origin and history of illumination in the Middle Ages, covering the artists and their techniques, and the patrons who commissioned them. It explains the subject matter found in medieval works, such as saints and Bible stories and the use of ornamental flourishes, and is illustrated with many fine examples of the genre including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells.

Magic in Medieval Manuscripts explores the place of magic in the medieval world and the contradictory responses it evoked, through an exploration of images and texts in British Library manuscripts.

The eighteen essays collected here address medieval authors, craftsmen, book producers, and patrons of manuscripts from different epochs in the Middle Ages, extending from late antiquity to the early Renaissance, and ranging from North Africa to northern England. Their investigations reveal valuable information about the history of texts and their transmission, and their careful scrutiny of texts and of the physical manuscripts that convey them illuminate the societies that created, read, and preserved these objects.

In the present collection of articles by Malcolm Parkes two overarching concerns emerge: the palaeography of manuscript books in relation to what Parkes has previously called the 'grammar of legibility'; and the importance of considering the circumstances in which medieval books were produced, copied and read. The individual studies discuss the handwriting of individual scribes, and the evidence script can provide of the circumstances of a book's production, the effect of punctuation and layout of text on the reader's interpretation of a work, and the provision and production of books for communities of readers, both clerical and academic.

This book looks particularly at the shift from manuscripts to the physical book, while taking into account the medieval book as not only as a source of information, but also as an aesthetic experience, a status symbol, and a shrewd investment.

This extensively illustrated book acts as an introduction to some of the most beautiful and historically interesting manuscripts in the collections of the British Library, and contains 140 full-colour reproductions from this rich tradition. Illuminations from Books of Hours offers an unparalleled opportunity to see a wide range of examples from these precious manuscripts, many of which have never been reproduced before.

Besides investigating illuminated manuscripts from The British Library's collection, this guide explores the role of illuminators in the mediaeval book trade--how books were commissioned, patrons found, illuminators and scribes made to work together, various materials and techniques employed, and time and expertise tapped to produce masterpieces.

Christopher de Hamel vividly describes the circumstances in which illuminated manuscripts were created - from the earliest monastic Gospel Books to the most lavish Books of Hours. For the second edition of this book, the text has been revised and updated and the whole volume completely redesigned with a striking wealth of new colour illustrations.

For readers who wish to trace the evolution of scripts in the West from antiquity to the early modern period, and who want to read the work of their scribes, this volume provides a wide-ranging collection of materials supported by 55 full-page illustrations from manuscripts.

This text describes each stage of production from the preparation of the vellum, pens, paints and inks to the writing of the scripts and the final decoration and illumination of the book. He then examines the role of the stationer or bookshop in co-ordinating book production and describes the supply of exemplars and the accuracy of texts.

After beginning with the physical composition of mediaeval books, Shailor's work studies mediaeval manuscript genres and their historical place in the cultures that produced them. While useful to the mediaevalist, this book will also interest the general reader.