First published in 1969, English Cursive Book Hands rapidly
established itself as a key resource for the study and teaching of
palaeography. It covers the changes in handwriting that arose from
the mid-twelfth century, tracking the growth and development of the
cursive script that came to dominate book production in medieval
England. This reprint is a re-issue of the 1979 second edition
published by Scolar Press. This study sets out the nature of the
developments which took place in English book hands, from the
mid-twelfth century, largely determined by two factors: the
increasing demand for books, and the increase in the size of the
works to be copied. The secularization of learning and the rise of
the universities created a voracious demand for texts and
commentaries. At the same time improving standards of literacy led
to a demand from a wide range of patrons for books of a more
general nature. In such circumstances speed and ease of writing
became increasingly important. Scribes began to use different kinds
of handwriting for different classes of books, and as a result a
new 'hierarchy' of scripts arose, each with its own sequence of
development. Towards the end of the thirteenth century the cursive
script which had recently been evolved for the preparation of
documents was introduced into books. A hierarchy also arose in the
cursive script itself, as scribes began to devise more than one way
of writing depending on the degree of formality they required.
Eventually the varieties of cursive usurped the functions of other
scripts in the copying of nearly all kinds of books and documents.
English Cursive Book Hands illustrates the developments which took
place in the cursive handwriting used in England for writing books.
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