Introduction to Manuscript Studies (review)

Leonard E. Boyle's enormously useful Medieval Latin Palaeography, a Bibliographical Introduction (1984), though annotated, is not discursive and now somewhat out of date. It is then with much gratitude that both beginning and advanced students of the medieval book will welcome this beautifully printed and illustrated, meticulously researched, and charmingly written work by Clemens and Graham, which brings the subject into the twenty-first century, or almost.

The book is divided into three parts with sixteen chapters running sequentially. It closes with an Appendix, a superb guide to the lexicography of medieval Latin by Anders Winroth, a Glossary of terms used, a Bibliography running at least to 2007 (though more of this subject later) and a detailed Index. 234 high-quality color illustrations show a large variety of script specimens, seals, charters, styles of decoration, page layout, bindings, initials, miniatures (chiefly from horae), and the like. The pictures alone are worth the cost of the book, especially those of binding types and decoration, which are exceptionally well reproduced.

These three parts are entitled "Making the Medieval Manuscript" with four chapters on making and preparing papyrus, wax, metal and wooden supports, parchment (with many illustrations from contemporary parchment makers), paper (with a good account of laid and chain lines), inks and pigments, tally sticks, text and decoration, corrections, the pecia system, glossing, annotation, quiring, and assembling, binding and storing books in presses and chests. There are also excellent treatments of pawn markings, cataloguing (with a helpful discussion of second folio description), and manicula drawings. ( John Leland the antiquary seemed to have imagined a six-fingered hand!)

Clemens and Graham are everywhere adept at explaining processes clearly and briefly. For example, in the preparation of papyrus reed pith: "The pith was then cut into manageable lengths and sliced into thin strips or fibers. The fibers were placed side by side until they formed a square; then a second layer of fibers was laid on top, at right angles to the first, and the two layers were pounded or pressed together to form a single square. The papyrus had to be wet during this stage so that its gummy sap would bond the sheet together" (p. 3).

In discussing and tracing outlines for miniatures on parchment or paper made from patterns, the authors are very clear on how patterns were traced on some sort of translucent membrane like modern tracing paper, but they do not indicate how the design arrived at on the membrane was then transferred to the parchment support for use by the illuminator. This problem is covered by James Farquhar and Sandra Hindman, Pen to Press: Illustrated Manuscripts and Printed Books in the First Century of Printing (1977), a book I did not see cited.

Part Two: "Reading the Medieval Manuscript," in a brief introduction deals with some of the forces playing upon manuscripts and why some were destroyed through obsolescence, religious zealotry, and in more recent times, the behavior of librarians who damaged pages with chemicals in efforts to read writing, and dealers and collectors who cut up books to make albums of manuscript illuminations. This portion treats such matters as punctuation, marks of abbreviation, damage from pigments or insects, repairs or patches on the support (the illustrations 1, 19, and 24 are truly excellent), ownership, origins, and provenance. A short but useful discussion of editing and editorial conventions leads into a list of Latin editorial sigla. Tips for description of manuscripts will benefit the beginner. Chapter Ten offers a selection of different scripts: Luxeuil, Insular, German, and Caroline Minuscule, English and German Protogothic, Beneventan, Textura Quadrata, Rotunda, English Cursive, Anglicana, Secretary, Bâtarde, Italian Semigothic, and Humanistic Book and Cursive hands. Each color page of script—drawn from manuscripts or fragments in the Newberry Library—is accompanied by a transcription and facsimile list of distinctive letterforms and ligatures.

It may be quibbling to note that, oddly, the term "text box," basic to manuscript measurement, does not seem to appear...