Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Text extracted from opening pages of book: THE fflTEMATMAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES VOLUME LXX THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SEKIES HANDBOOK OF GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY BY EDWARD MATJNDE THOMPSON D. C. L., LL. D., F. S. A. HONORARY FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD CORRESPONDENT OF THE INSTITUTE OF FEAHCE AND PBIJSTCIPAL LIBRAEIAJf OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM NEW YOEK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1893 Authorized Edition. TO MY FRIEND LEOPOLD DELISLE MEMBER OP THE INSTITUTE AND ADMINISTRATOR-GENERAL OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF FRANCE PREFACE. THIS Hand-book does not pretend to give more than an outline of the very large subject of Greek and Latin Palaeography. It must be regarded as an introduction to tlie study of the subject, indicating tlie different branches into which it is divided and suggesting the lines to be followed, rather than attempting full in struction. It in. no way supersedes the use of such works as the collections of facsimiles issued by the Palasographical Society and by other societies and scholars at home and abroad; but it is hoped that it will serve as an aid to the more intelligent and profitable study of them. Our conclusions as to the course of development of the handwritings of former ages are based on our know ledge and experience of the development of modern forms of writing. Children at school learn to write by copying formal text-hands in their copy-books, and the handwriting of each child will bear the impress of the models. But as he grows up the child developes a handwriting of his own, diverging more and more from the models, but never altogether divesting itself of their first influence. Thus, at all times, we have numerous individual handwritings, but eachbearing the stamp of its school and of its period; and they, in their turn, re act upon and modify the writing of the next generation. In this way have arisen the handwritings of nations viii Preface. and districts, of centuries and periods, all distinguish able from eacli other by the trained eye. And tlie i acuity o distinction is not entirely, but to a very great degree, dependent on familiarity. Anyone will readily distinguish the handwritings of individuals of his own time, and will recognise his friend's writing at a glance as easily as he recognizes his face; he has more difficulty in discriminating between the individual handwritings of a foreign country. Set before him specimens of the writing of the last century, and he will confuse the hands of different persons. Take him still farther back, and he will pronounce the writing of a whole school to be the writing of one man; and he will see no difference between the hands, for example, of an Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Fleming. Still farther back, the writing of one century is to him the same as the writing of another, and he may fail to name the locality where a MS. was written by the breadth of a whole continent. Palaeographical knowledge was formerly confined to a few, chiefly to the custodians or owners of collections of manuscripts; works of reference on the subject were scarce and expensive; and facsimiles, with certain excep tions, were of no critical value. In these days, when photography has made accurate reproduction so simple a matter, the knowledge is within the reach of all who care to acquire it. The collections of facsimiles which have been issued during the last twenty years have brought into the private studymaterials which the student could formerly have gathered only by travel and personal research. And more than this: these facsimiles enable us to compare, side by side, specimens from manuscripts which lie scattered in the different libraries of Europe and which could never have been brought together. There is no longer any lack of Preface, ix material for tlie ready attainment} of palceographical knowledge. Abroad, this attainment is encoaraged In various countries by endowments and schools. In our own country, where the development of such studies is usually left

Principal librarian of the British Museum and eminent palaeographer, Sir Edward Maunde Thompson (1840-1929) had originally produced a handbook on the history and development of Greek and Latin handwriting in 1893. He extensively revised and expanded it for this 1912 edition, incorporating numerous facsimile plates. Thompson begins his treatment with an introduction to the Greek and Latin alphabets, then surveys ancient writing materials and implements, and describes the use and development of scrolls and codices. Later chapters, accompanied by valuable illustrations, examine the different forms of first Greek then Latin handwritten texts, from the earliest surviving examples (fourth century BCE) to the end of the fifteenth century. Punctuation, accents and abbreviations are considered, and the various scripts - cursive, uncial, majuscule and miniscule - are all illustrated and examined. Tables of Greek and Latin literary and cursive alphabets are also provided.

Thomas of Walsingham (c.1340-c.1422) was a monk of St Alban's abbey whose Latin chronicle of the years 1328-88 was long thought lost. It was rediscovered by chance and edited by Edward Maunde Thompson (1840-1929), whose edition, published in 1874 with English side-notes, is based on a Harleian manuscript he found in the British Museum, supplemented by Bodleian and Cottonian manuscripts. Walsingham's chronicle is notable for its scurrilous attacks on John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster and father of Henry IV. This scandalous material accounts for its suppression by the monks of St Alban's, who would have been fearful of offending the Plantagenet dynasty. Thompson's introduction provides a full history of the discovery and comparison of the manuscript sources, a discussion of the contents of the chronicle, and two later English texts based on it. A portion of Walsingham's Polychronicon, covering the years 1376-7, is provided as an appendix.

These two Latin chronicles are principally concerned with the events of the mid-fourteenth century, and are particularly interesting for their accounts of the French campaigns of Edward III in the 1340s and 1350s. The chronicle of Adam Murimuth (c.1275-1347), which the writer designed to be a continuation of earlier works, begins in 1303 and extends to 1347. Although it is meagre at first, its latter parts are much fuller as Murimuth was able to draw on contemporary accounts. The chronicle of the deeds of Edward III by Robert of Avesbury (d.1359) is a military history of his reign up to the year 1356. It makes use of important documents that are not reproduced elsewhere. Published in 1889, this edition by Edward Maunde Thompson (1840-1929) includes an introduction providing historical background and relating what little is known of each chronicler. The Latin texts are accompanied by English side-notes.

The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. Volumes 66 and 67 of the series, edited by E. M Thompson and first published in 1883, contain the bulk of the diary of Richard Cocks (c.1565 1624), supplemented by a selection of letters. Cocks was the head of a trading post established in Japan by the British East India Company from its foundation in 1613 until 1622, when it went out of business. His diary describes Japanese society and culture in the early seventeenth century, as well as the activities of British merchants there.

The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. Volumes 66 and 67 of the series, edited by E. M Thompson and first published in 1883, contain the bulk of the diary of Richard Cocks (c.1565 1624), supplemented by a selection of letters. Cocks was the head of a trading post established in Japan by the British East India Company from its foundation in 1613 until 1622, when it went out of business. His diary describes Japanese society and culture in the early seventeenth century, as well as the activities of British merchants there.

The Henry Bradshaw Society was established in 1890 in commemoration of Henry Bradshaw, University Librarian in Cambridge and a distinguished authority on early medieval manuscripts and liturgies, who died in 1886. The Society was founded for the editing of rare liturgical texts'; its principal focus is on the Western (Latin) Church and its rites, and on the medieval period in particular, from the sixth century to the sixteenth (in effect, from the earliest surviving Christian books until the Reformation). Liturgy was at the heart of Christian worship, and during the medieval period the Christian Church was at the heart of Western society. Study of medieval Christianity in its manifold aspects - historical, ecclesiastical, spiritual, sociological - inevitably involves study of its rites, and for that reason Henry Bradshaw Society publications have become standard source-books for an understanding of all aspects of the middle ages. Moreover, many of the Society's publications have been facsimile editions, and these facsimiles have become cornerstones of the science of palaeography. The society was founded for the editing of rare liturgical texts; its principal focus is on the Western (Latin) Church and its rites, and on the medieval period in particular, from the sixth century to the Reformation. Study of medieval Christianity - at the heart of Western society - inevitably involves study of its rites, and the society's publications are essential to an understanding of all aspects (historical, ecclesiastical, spiritual, sociological) of the middle ages.

The Henry Bradshaw Society was established in 1890 in commemoration of Henry Bradshaw, University Librarian in Cambridge and a distinguished authority on early medieval manuscripts and liturgies, who died in 1886. The Society was founded for the editing of rare liturgical texts'; its principal focus is on the Western (Latin) Church and its rites, and on the medieval period in particular, from the sixth century to the sixteenth (in effect, from the earliest surviving Christian books until the Reformation). Liturgy was at the heart of Christian worship, and during the medieval period the Christian Church was at the heart of Western society. Study of medieval Christianity in its manifold aspects - historical, ecclesiastical, spiritual, sociological - inevitably involves study of its rites, and for that reason Henry Bradshaw Society publications have become standard source-books for an understanding of all aspects of the middle ages. Moreover, many of the Society's publications have been facsimile editions, and these facsimiles have become cornerstones of the science of palaeography. The society was founded for the editing of rare liturgical texts; its principal focus is on the Western (Latin) Church and its rites, and on the medieval period in particular, from the sixth century to the Reformation. Study of medieval Christianity - at the heart of Western society - inevitably involves study of its rites, and the society's publications are essential to an understanding of all aspects (historical, ecclesiastical, spiritual, sociological) of the middle ages.