Guide to Scripts Used in English Writings up to 1500 (Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies) - Softcover

Roberts, Jane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1781382662 ISBN 13: 9781781382660

Publisher: Liverpool University Press, 2015

Synopsis

The resurgence of interest in the history of the English language has prompted this indispensable introductory guide to the scripts used in Old and Middle English writing. The best way to gain a sense of changes in scripts across time is through visual examples. The reader is introduced gradually to vocabulary suitable for the description of script through a range of plates, for example, Caedmon's Hymn (the earliest extant English poem); the opening of an Exeter Book poem; the Lindisfarne Gospels; the opening page of King Alfred's first translation; an illustrated version of the story of Abraham and Isaac; passages from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; early (Layamon) and late tellings of the story of Arthur (Malory); contrasting manuscripts of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde; Langland; York plays. Each plate is reproduced full size where possible, accompanied by a full transcript, commentary and notes.

About this title

About the Author

Jane Roberts is Professor Emerita of Medieval English Language & Literature at King's College London.

Review

“This book is set to become the only tool for teachers and learners of English medieval-palaeography.”—Journal of the Early Book Society 

(Journal of the Early Book Society)

“Hereis that rarity, a book for scholars and enthusiasts alike—for anyone, in fact, with a feeling for our earliest literature, and the manuscripts in which it has come down to us.”—English Studies  (English Studies)

“An immensely interesting and useful book for teachers and students of English palaeography, and equally for interested bibliophiles not engaged in any formal scholarly study of handwriting.”—Times Literary Supplement

(Times Literary Supplement)

Edition details

• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1781382662
• ISBN 13: 9781781382660
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 328