Paper in Medieval England
Paper in Medieval England
Orietta Da Rold provides a detailed analysis of the coming of paper to medieval England, and its influence on the literary and non-literary culture of the period. Looking beyond book production, Da Rold maps out the uses of paper and explains the success of this technology in medieval culture, considering how people interacted with it and how it affected their lives. Offering a nuanced understanding of how affordance influenced societal choices, Paper in Medieval England draws on a multilingual array of sources to investigate how paper circulated, was written upon, and was deployed by people across medieval society, from kings to merchants, to bishops, to clerks and to poets, contributing to an understanding of how medieval paper changed communication and shaped modernity.
- Gives the most expert advice and information on how to approach the study of medieval paper, providing a step-by-step approach
- Provides a multi-disciplinary analysis on the use of paper in medieval manuscript production including multilingual examples of how disciplines must interact to understand the complex affordances of paper
- Demonstrates the importance of the study of paper for manuscript in historical and literary studies
Reviews & endorsements
‘Paper in Medieval England is a learned and judicious book, underpinned by Da Rold’s deep and broad reading. While its argument offers several thoughtful interventions that will invite paleographers, cultural historians, and literary scholars to revisit some of their assumptions about paper, the real value of this monograph is more fundamental still: Da Rold’s study restores paper to its rightful place in literary history.’ Sebastian Sobecki, Speculum
‘This is the great merit of Da Rold’s book: it is a truly interdisciplinary study of paper in medieval England.’ Joan A. Holladay, Manuscript Studies
Product details
October 2020Hardback
9781108840576
280 pages
160 × 235 × 20 mm
0.58kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Paper and culture in medieval England: an introduction
- 1. Paper stories
- 2. The economics of paper
- 3. Writing on paper
- 4. The character of paper and its use in medieval books
- 5. Paper in the medieval literary imagination
- 6. Epilogue: the age of paper.
