The European Book in the Twelfth Century

The ''long twelfth century'' (10751225) was an era of seminal importance in the development of the book in medieval Europe and marked a high point in its construction and decoration. This comprehensive study takes the cultural changes that occurred during the ''twelfth-century Renaissance'' as its point of departure to provide an overview of manuscript culture encompassing the whole of Western Europe. Written by senior scholars chapters are divided into three sections: the technical aspects of making books; the processes and practices of reading and keeping books; and the transmission of texts in the disciplines that saw significant change in the period including medicine law philosophy liturgy and theology. Richly illustrated the volume provides the first in-depth account of book production as a European phenomenon.