This work, by the greatest living authority on medieval palaeography, offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date account in any language of the history of Latin script. It also contains a detailed account of the role of the book in cultural history from antiquity to the Renaissance, which outlines the history of book illumination. Designed as a textbook, it contains a full and updated bibliography. Because the volume sets the development of Latin script in its cultural context, it also provides an unrivalled introduction to the nature of medieval Latin culture. It will be used extensively in the teaching of latin palaeography, and is unlikely to be superseded.

‘ … the combination of new ideas, the comprehensive treatment, the rich notes and bibliography, all complemented by the extraordinary judgement which is the hallmark of Professor Bischoff’s writing, make this handbook unequalled and unapproached in our present literature and a superb guide to further study.’

Source: Speculum

‘Latin palaeography has received its vade mecum from its foremost representative.’

Source: Eranos

‘I suspect that this may well be the last time that one scholar will be able to produce a survey of the state of the subject in a single volume on this scale, in which a wealth of material and discussion have been unified by the personal interpretation of one who has thought deeply and fruitfully about the subject for many years.’

Source: Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur