Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature - Hardcover

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

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199686327 ISBN 13: 9780199686322

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2014

Synopsis

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.

About this title

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.

Review

"For the third edition the authors have not only brought the bibliographical notes up to date but also made extensive amendments and additions, both small and large, throughout the text."

--James Diggle, Queens' College, Cambridge, The Classical Review 12/05/1993

"This is a very fine book indeed. The text is written with admirable lucidity, wit and charm. The book itself is a clearly printed and stout paperback, well worth the reommended retail price of $44.95, and of course, as befits a volume produced by the Oxford University Press on this topic
above all, the text is flawless. Clearly I would recommend Scribes and Scholars as a valuable acquisition for a school library which could be consulted with profit by senior students ... this book, with its overwhelming proof of the centrality of Classics in the western tradition, is essential
reading."

--M. Dyson, University of Queensland, Ancient History, 1992, No. 2 01/10/1993

"This enlarged version remains a valuable resource for both graduate student and scholar.Scribes and Scholars is a book which has done much good and will continue to do so."

--E. Christian Kopff, University of Colorado, Classical Bulletin (1992) 15/11/1993

"The third edition of this superb work has been carefully revised to reflect advances in classical scholarship since publication of the previous edition. The work is indispensable for classical students who have not read the previous edition, and recommended for those who want recent
information on an essential subject."

--Gerald O'Sullivan, Stockton State College, Classical World 17/12/1993

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0199686327
• ISBN 13: 9780199686322
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 336