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Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Looking at Medieval Books: Learning to See

Looking at Medieval Books: Learning to See

Paperback

Series: Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies

Medieval & Renaissance HistoryLiterary CriticismArchitects

ISBN10: 183624343X
ISBN13: 9781836243434
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Published: Feb 4 2025
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.56
Height: 0.38 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
Unlike books familiar to us from print culture, every medieval book is unique, the product of individual circumstances of planning, execution, and history. This is a fundamental difficulty for study, particularly for those beginning the investigation of texts in manuscript. There are two conventional ways of approaching this difficulty: explaining the series of processes by which a manuscript book is constructed and explaining how to construct a professional description of a manuscript book. Neither addresses a problem fundamental for beginners: what happens when a librarian presents you with a manuscript? How should you proceed? Fundamentally, this is a problem of visual examination, and taking its procedure from the grand M. R. James and M. B. Parkes, this book attempts to stimulate the visual and experiential. It attempts, in a heavily exemplified account, to explain what might be there in a manuscript to perceive and what it might mean. The argument follows a process of examination that begins with the physical bulk of what's in front of you (and its cover, or binding) and ends with traces of the book's history.

Also in

Medieval & Renaissance History