Scribes and Scripts (Calligraphy in the High Middle Ages)

In the era from 1000 to 1250, Europe underwent momentous social changes—including a growth in literacy and the emergence of the first universities—that resulted in a demand for more books. This in turn spurred new methods of book production and a critical period of development in calligraphy: through a series of incremental changes, bold leaps, and cultural exchanges, the rounded forms of the Caroline minuscule gave way to the straight strokes of Gothic blackletter, which were easier to produce—and would form the basis of the first typefaces cut by Gutenberg and his contemporaries. Scribes and Scripts traces this evolution through fifty-six noteworthy illuminated manuscripts—and their scribes, many of whose names and circumstances are known to us.

Author Richard Gameson, an eminent historian of the book, provides a fascinating commentary on the calligraphy and illumination of each manuscript and the career of its scribe, including the social factors that influenced his or her work. The manuscript pages are reproduced in their entirety, and additional details highlight salient aspects of the calligraphy and decoration. Throughout the book, model alphabets and samples of key stages in the evolution of high medieval script provide an indispensable resource for calligraphers.

Scribes and Scripts is perhaps the finest survey of high medieval calligraphy for a general audience, and certainly the richest, for it places the subject in the context of history and, indeed, individual lives. It will be an essential volume, and a source of considerable delight, for anyone interested in calligraphy, illuminated manuscripts, or medieval history.