Immaterial Texts in Late Medieval England: Making English Literary Manuscripts, 1400–1500 ISBN-13: 9781009100588

ISBN-13: 9781009100588

Binding: Hardcover

Author: Wakelin, Daniel

Details: Daniel Wakelin introduces and reinterprets the misunderstood and overlooked craft practices, cultural conventions and literary attitudes involved in making some of the most important manuscripts in late medieval English literature. In doing so he overturns how we view the role of scribes, showing how they ignored or concealed irregular and damaged parchment; ruled pages from habit and convention more than necessity; decorated the division of the text into pages or worried that it would harm reading; abandoned annotations to poetry, focusing on the poem itself; and copied English poems meticulously, in reverence for an abstract idea of the text. Scribes interest in immaterial ideas and texts suggests their subtle thinking as craftspeople, in ways that contrast and extend current interpretations of late medieval literary culture, material texts and the power of materials. For students, researchers and librarians, this book offers revelatory perspectives on the activities of late medieval scribes.

Release Date: 08-09-2022

Package Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches

Languages: English

Edition: New

Number Of Pages: 300