Rare Book School
Preliminary Reading List

Latin Paleography, 1100-1500

Albert Derolez

Preliminary Advices

1. Bischoff, Bernhard, Paläographie des römischen Altertums und des abendländischen Mittelalters (1st ed. Berlin: E. Schmidt, 1979; 2nd rev. ed. Berlin: E. Schmidt, 1986). - (Grundlagen der Germanistik 24), pp. 163-213.

English translation: Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages (Cambridge, Eng.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 127-168. Available in paperback ($24.95) from Bernard M Rosenthal, Inc., Box 5279, Berkeley, CA 94705. telephone 415/549-2532.

2. Brown, Michelle P. A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600 (London: the British Library, 1990), pp. 1-12 and 72-136.

3. De Hamel, Christopher, A History of Illuminated Manuscripts, 2nd edition (London: Phaidon, 1994), Read ad libitum between pp. 108 and 256.

3. Derolez, Albert, The Palaeography of Gothic Manuscript Books, from the Twelfth to the Early Sixteenth Century, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003; Cambridge Studies in Palaeography and Codicology, 9), pp.1-27.

Mr Derolez intends to use the following text in class, and hopes that students will bring copies with them:

5. Cappelli, Adriano. Lexicon abbreviaturarum. Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane, 6th ed. (Milano: Hoepli, 1987).

Cappelli also exists in a German edition. For the purposes of this course, any fairly recent edition of either the Italian or the German version is fine (what we have indicated is simply the latest of many printings; the 6th ed. appears to date from about 1969). There is an English translation of Cappelli's introduction, published as The Elements of Abbreviation in Medieval Latin Paleography, translated by David Heimann and Richard Kay (Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Libraries, 1982).

Note: copies of Cappelli are available from Bernard M. Rosenthal, Inc., Box 5297, Berkeley, CA 94705, telephone 510/549-2532, for $29/copy postpaid if payment is enclosed with order.

7. Students are advised to bring a Latin dictionary to class.