Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies: An Introduction ed. by Alessandro Bausi et al.

This is an important book. It is also an unusual book, in more than one way. As explained in the preface (pp. xii–xiv), Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies is a handbook produced by the COMSt research program, which was funded through a grant from the European Science Foundation for 2009–2014. The project united hundreds of manuscript scholars from all areas and sub-disciplines of research who set out to look for common ground and a better understanding of one another’s ideas and methods (p. xiii). The main focus of their work is the manuscript, broadly though somewhat peculiarly defined as “handwritten book forms of the codex area” (p. 1). While roll and rotulus are included in the scope, writing on other objects, such as ostraca and cloth, are not.

In this sizable book of 677 pages, the codex form is studied in its historical development and within a geographical area dubbed “oriental” by the editors. The meaning of this term is discussed in detail in the General Introduction. However, while the section in question (pp. 2–4) is crucial for understanding why this volume covers what it covers, it is confusing and poorly written. Equally unclear is the explanation of the kind of expertise brought together by the COMSt research program (pp. 1–2), which may otherwise have helped to clarify why certain manuscript cultures are included while others are not. The best attempt to provide a clear working definition of “oriental” is found on page 2, where it becomes clear that the term covers “all non-Occidental (non-Latin-based) manuscript cultures which have an immediate historical (‘genetic’) relationship with the Mediterranean codex area.” The editors are the first to admit (generously so at p. 3) that this definition is problematic, if only because the choice of what to include remains, to some extent, arbitrary. One consequence is that the Ancient Near Eastern civilizations are excluded, notably the cuneiform script cultures, which are crucial for understanding the codex form.

Following a general introduction (pp. 1–66), the book presents five sizable thematic chapters, covering different areas of study: (1) Codicology (pp. 69–266), (2) Paleography (pp. 267–320), (3) Textual Criticism and Text Editing (pp. 321–466), (4) Cataloguing (pp. 467–538), and (5) Conservation and Preservation (pp. 539–82). The chapters are broken up into short essays of two to five pages each, which are individually written by a total of seventy-three experts from the COMSt research program, most of them senior scholars. These smaller segments bear short and factual titles, making it easy for the reader to take advantage of the detailed Table of Contents (pp. v–ix). In-text references are provided sporadically and where necessary, often—though not often enough—with page numbers. At the end of each chapter a list of relevant publications is given in the form of short references. The book is concluded by a massive bibliography (pp. 583–654), as well as a number of short indices: on Languages and Traditions, Place Names, Persons and Works, Institutions and Projects, and Collections and Manuscripts. A larger General Index is also provided.

It is rare for a single volume to unite such a diverse range of topics related to the medieval manuscript. Especially notable is the blend of chapters filled with material information (codicology and paleography) and those providing a more hands-on approach (preservation and cataloguing). Its breadth makes the book relevant to a wide range of scholars, both junior and senior. However, the most innovative and useful feature of this publication is another kind of multi-faceted focus it harbors. The book breaks the mold in that it is not devoted to a single manuscript culture, but rather encompasses all major oriental traditions: Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Persian, Slavonic, Syriac, and Turkish. While this broad scope could easily have suffocated or disoriented the user, the editors provide a structure that facilitates clarity and understanding, and indeed, promotes curiosity and further reading. As is visible from the chapter divisions, the research disciplines, rather than the individual manuscript cultures, are made into the leading threads of this book. Thus in the opening chapter the reader is introduced to the codicology of manuscripts in ten or so different traditions, while the next chapter does the same for paleography, etc. In other words, this is not a volume in which manuscript cultures are simply discussed serially; rather, they are integrated into well-balanced comparative overviews.

The scope and design of Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies not only entices scholars to peek over the fence and look into their neighbor’s yard, the “comparative manual” (p. 9) encourages them to read beyond their own comfort zone and compare practices from different manuscript cultures. To highlight the many interrelations and differences among cultures, the chapters on Paleography and Cataloguing have short comparative introductions, and the chapter on Codicology has a longer one. The latter is important in its own right and should become required reading for students who are introduced to medieval manuscripts. By contrast, the chapters on Conservation Techniques and Textual Criticism are not set up comparatively, simply because they deal with shared materials and methodologies, respectively. Within the chapters the traditions are presented alphabetically, showing that none is given preferable treatment. However, due to differences in the status quaestionis of research, the analyses of the individual traditions vary in detail and length. Additionally, their structure is not always the same, which sometimes turns a comparison exercise into a challenging affair.

This book is useful for all scholars and students dealing with medieval books, including individuals primarily working with Latin manuscripts. While the latter are excluded from this publication, experts of Latin codices will still get a lot of mileage out of Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies, if only to realize that certain Latin “novelties” are encountered much earlier (and may perhaps even be rooted) in oriental traditions. Examples of these are the use of quire numbers (present in Greek manuscripts from at least the third century) and the practice of ruling in ink (encountered in Arabic manuscripts from the seventh century). While the criterion for including a given writing culture remains somewhat opaque, as discussed, the editors should be applauded for bringing such a broad body of scholarship together, and for doing so in such a short time frame. Combined with its very low price, this book deserves a place on the bookshelf of anybody working with medieval manuscripts.