Erik Kwakkel

Genuinely a great read, and not even a bit scary or dense considering the subject matter. I read this in tandem with one of Dr. Kwakkel's classes and it's one of my favourite "textbooks" I've been assigned so far in my 6+ years of college. Many colourful and high-resolution images to learn from, and it's written in a casual enough tone to basically be casual reading. I've had to tread the waters into medieval paleographic/manuscript books for essays these past few months and this is the most accessible one there is. I'm a lucky kid!… (more)

Books Before Print, at least in its paperback version, hits the sweet spot of being affordable and accessible to an undergraduate audience which is studying the history of the book for the first time. Various aspects of the study of codexes are discussed through short written chapters which make mostly of copious full-colour images and good use of modern comparatives (even if Kwakkel occasionally pushes them too far—are volvelles really like a smartphone app? Eh.) There are a couple of typos (like iste liber pertinent, should of course be pertinet) and oddities with the translations (the anathema clause on p. 146 includes the phrase "et cum Iuda proditore Domini perpetuo cremetur incendio" which is silently omitted from the translation given on p. 149) that I don't think undergrads will notice and that I don't think detract from the book's overall utility.

Depending on the course you're teaching, you may want to supplement this with other texts. Almost all of the exemplars cited come from western European contexts: there are one or two references to Russian manuscripts, a single reference to micrography in Hebrew manuscripts, and nothing that I can remember about Arabic manuscripts. If you're trying to incorporate palaeography as well as codicology, Clemens and Graham is still a stronger option. But as an introductory text for a general audience, this is really well done.… (more)