Finally, here is the definitive glossary of the book, offering readers all the terms they will need for thorough understanding of how books are made, the materials they are made of, and how they are described in the bookselling, book collecting, and library worlds. Every key term --- over 1,300 different words --- that could be used in booksellers' catalogs, library records, and collectors' descriptions of their holdings is represented in this dictionary. This authoritative sources covers all areas of book knowledge: -the book as physical object, -typeface terminology, -paper, -printing, -book collecting, -book design, -bibliography, -calligraphy, the language of manuscripts, -writing implements, -librarianship, -legal issues, -the parts of a book, and much more. The definitions are supplemented by more than 100 illustrations showing the book as a physical object: parts of books, kinds of illustrations, kinds of printing techniques, tools that librarians, booksellers, and collectors refer to that are used in the making of books, kinds of binding structures and decoration, kinds of paper decoration, and other things.

Printer's ornaments include tail and head pieces, initial letters, borders to title-pages or text, and decorative blocks. Plomer covers the period from the beginning of printing in England to the time of publication. Profusely illustrated and fully indexed.
Hardcover. xii, 291 p. [1] p. incl. front., plates. London, Grafton & Co., 1924

Books have been with us in one form or another since the dawn of civilization, and the general reader is often in need of information about the written and printed word. This dictionary is an indispensable tool for anyone who seeks quick and easy information on the history of the book, including articles on virtually everything the curious reader will want to know. It presents 650 alphabetically arranged articles of varying length and covers such diverse topics as: bibliographies and bibliographical societies; the history of printing, publishing, and bookselling; famous books, bestiaries, and bibles; and writing in the ancient world. A unique addition to the reference shelf, the work is a must for all those who use and love the printed word.

The Oxford Companion to the Book is a unique work of reference, covering the book (broadly conceived) throughout the world from ancient to modern times. It includes traditional subjects such as bibliography, palaeography, the history or printing, editorial theory and practice, textualcriticism, book collecting, and libraries, but it also engages with newer disciplines such as the history of the book and the electronic book. The Companion is intended to be a highly informative and genuinely useful work of reference and the only book of this kind in the field. It is intended for an international readership and has been written by an international team of scholars. As appropriate to its subject matter, the finished book is designed to be both exceptionally practical and aesthetically pleasing to own.

This is the first comprehensive survey of the history of the book in Britain from Roman through Anglo-Saxon to early Norman times. The expert contributions explore the physical form of books, including their codicology, script and decoration; examine the circulation and exchange of manuscripts and texts between England, Ireland, the Celtic realms and the Continent; discuss the production, presentation and use of different classes of texts, ranging from fine service books to functional schoolbooks; and evaluate the libraries that can be associated with particular individuals and institutions. The result is an authoritative account of the first millennium of the history of books, manuscript-making and literary culture in Britain which, intimately linked to its cultural contexts, sheds vital light on broader patterns of political, ecclesiastical and cultural history extending from the period of the Vindolanda writing tablets through the age of Bede and Alcuin to the time of the Domesday Book.

Classical mythology had a vigorous life long after the fall of Rome. Medieval commentators interpreted these myths allegorically. Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, poets and playwrights such as Chaucer and Shakespeare drew upon classical myths to convey Christian beliefs allegorically. While readers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance could be expected to understand the allegorical significance of the ancient myths, contemporary readers are often unfamiliar with the veiled moralizations embedded in the mythological allusions of medieval and early modern authors. While numerous classical dictionaries identify the figures and tales of Greek and Roman mythology, this reference book explains the allegorical significance attached to the myths by Medieval and Renaissance authors. Thus the reader who encounters an allusion to Hercules in a sixteenth-century drama can quickly discover that Hercules was often interpreted as a personification of virtue during the Renaissance, and that the labors of Hercules could represent the triumph of morality over vice. Included are several hundred alphabetically arranged entries for the gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, and places of classical myth and legend. Each entry includes a brief account of the classical myth, with reference to the Greek and Latin sources. The entry then discusses how Medieval and Renaissance commentators interpreted the myth allegorically, and how poets, dramatists, and artists employed the allegorization of the myth in their creative works. Each entry includes a bibliography, and the volume concludes with appendices and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources.

Explains biblical motifs, names, and allusions that are frequently used in English literature, and provides examples for each item.

The Dictionary of Greek and Latin Authors and Texts gives a clear overview of authors and Major Works of Greek and Latin literature, and their history in written tradition, from Late Antiquity until present: papyri, manuscripts, Scholia, early and contemporary authoritative editions, translations and comments.

This valuable reference work offers concise, expert answers to questions on all aspects of life and culture in medieval England-art, architecture, law, literature, kings, commoners, women, music, commerce, technology, warfare, religion, and many others. It takes as its scope English social, cultural, and political life from the Anglo-Saxon invasions in the fifth century to the turn of the sixteenth century. To make it even more useful to information seekers, the Encyclopedia also traces England's ties to the Celtic world of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, to the French and Anglo-Norman world of the Continent, to the Viking and Scandinavian world of the North Sea, and to the world of medieval Christendom. The result is a detailed portrait of the English Middle Ages and their key historical events, personages, and cultural contexts.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages is a major new reference resource for all key aspects of European history, society, religion, and culture from 500 to 1500. Since neighbouring areas of Asia and North Africa impinged on and helped shape the civilization of the West, relevant aspects of the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic dynasties, and Asiatic peoples such as the Avars and the Mongols are included. It is designed both for medievalists, who need a detailed and reliable reference tool for their own research and teaching, and for non-specialists, who need an accessible guide to the study of the Middle Ages. All entries are written with both audiences in mind. Over 800 scholars, guided by an international advisory board of five and an international editorial board of 26, have written the over 5,000 entries, and these entries have been lavishly supplemented by more than 500illustrations and 50 maps. Each entry contains a brief bibliography.Distinguishing this research resource are its balanced coverage of both the whole geographical extent of the European Middle Ages and sixteen major topics centrally important to the study of the period. Ten members of the editorial board have ensured ample coverage of geographical regions: France,Germany and Austria, Spain and Portugal, Italy, Sicily, and Latin Greece, the Low Countries, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, Scandinavia and Iceland, and Central and Eastern Europe. In addition sixteen members of the board have ensured similar coverage of major international topics: art and architecture, archaeology, science, medicine, technology, law, ecclesiastical history, intellectual history, philosophy, social and economic history, Romance, Germanic, and Slavic languages and literatures, Islam, Judaica, medieval Latin, and music and liturgy. There are also separate and substantial entries on women and children in each of the geographical areas represented and in Jewish and Islamic society.

The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend is both a critical history of the Arthurian tradition and a reference guide to Arthurian works, names, and symbols. It offers a comprehensive survey of the legends in all of their manifestations, from their origins in medieval literature to their adaptation in modern literature, arts, film, and popular culture. Not only does it analyze familiar Arthurian characters and themes, it also demonstrates the tremendous continuity of the legends by examining the ways that they have been reinterpreted over the years. For instance, the motif of the abduction of Guinevere can be traced from Chretien de Troyes's Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart and the vulgate cycle of French romances in the 13th century, to Malory's retelling of the story in the Morte d'Arthur, through various modern adaptations like those in T. H. White's The Once and Future King and the contemporary film First Knight.This indispensable reference guide contains seven essays that trace the development of the Arthurian legend, encyclopedic entries, bibliographies, and a comprehensive index. The essays explore the chronicle and romance traditions, the influence of Malory, the Grail legend, the figures of Gawain andMerlin, and the story of Tristan and Isolt. The entries, which highlight key Arthurian characters, symbols, and places, offer quick and easy references. The extensive chapter-by-chapter bibliographies, which are subdivided by topic, augment the general bibliography of Arthurian resources.Comprehensive in its analysis and hypertextual in its approach, The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend is an essential reference book for Arthurian scholars, medievalists, and for those interested in cultural studies of myth and legend.