The Renaissance Reform of the Book and Britain
The English Quattrocento

Reform of the script was central to the humanist agenda - this book suggests a new explanation of its international success.

David Rundle (Author)

9781107193437, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 May 2019

362 pages, 24 b/w illus. 16 colour illus.
25.3 x 17.9 x 2.2 cm, 0.92 kg

'… an extremely important addition to the growing scholarship on medieval/Renaissance periodization. And it is a champion for the value of manuscript studies and paleography in the pursuit of literary history.' Mimi Ensley, Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies

What has fifteenth-century England to do with the Renaissance? By challenging accepted notions of 'medieval' and 'early modern' David Rundle proposes a new understanding of English engagement with the Renaissance. He does so by focussing on one central element of the humanist agenda - the reform of the script and of the book more generally - to demonstrate a tradition of engagement from the 1430s into the early sixteenth century. Introducing a cast-list of scribes and collectors who are not only English and Italian but also Scottish, Dutch and German, this study sheds light on the cosmopolitanism central to the success of the humanist agenda. Questioning accepted narratives of the slow spread of the Renaissance from Italy to other parts of Europe, Rundle suggests new possibilities for the fields of manuscript studies and the study of Renaissance humanism.

Introduction: the revival of letters and the uses of palaeography
1. The eloquent page: humanism and script, humanism and England
2. Humanist script in England: the first ten years
3. British barbarians in Italy and Scotland's first humanist
4. The Dutch connexion: the significance of low countries scribes from Theoderic Werken to Pieter Meghen
5. The Butcher of England and the learning of Italy: John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester and the 'pupils of Guarino'
6. The victory of italic in diplomatic correspondence
7. Conclusion: beyond humanism, beyond words.

Subject Areas: Printing & reprographic technology [TDPP], Publishing industry & book trade [KNTP], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], Medieval history [HBLC1], Palaeography [history of writing CFL]