A Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology

This is the first Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology ever to be published. Dealing with the subject of documentation - which affects everyone''s lives (from every-day letters notes and shopping lists to far-reaching legal instruments if not autograph literary masterpieces) - Peter Beal defines in a lively and accessible style some 1500 terms relating to manuscripts and their production and use in Britain from 1450 to the present day. The entries which range in length from one line to nearly a hundred lines each cover terms defining types of manuscript their physical features and materials writing implements writing surfaces scribes and other writing agents scripts postal markings and seals as well as subjects relating to literature bibliography archives palaeography the editing and printing of manuscripts dating conservation and such fields as cartography commerce heraldry law and military and naval matters. The book includes 96 illustrations showing many of the features described.