A Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology : 1450 to 2000

This is the first Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology ever to be published. Dealing with the subject of documentation - which affects everyone's lives (from every-day letters, notes, and shopping lists to far-reaching legal instruments, if not autograph literary masterpieces) - Peter Beal defines, in a lively and accessible style, some 1,500 terms relating to manuscripts and their production and use in Britain from 1450 to the present day. The entries, which range in length from one line to nearly a hundred lines each, cover terms defining types of manuscript, their physical features and materials, writing implements, writing surfaces, scribes and other writing agents, scripts, postal markings, and seals, as well as subjects relating to literature, bibliography, archives, palaeography, the editing and printing of manuscripts, dating, conservation, and such fields as cartography, commerce, heraldry, law, and military and naval matters. The book includes 96 illustrations showing many of the features described. Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 9 Illustrations......Page 13 A......Page 22 B......Page 52 C......Page 76 D......Page 127 E......Page 154 F......Page 171 G......Page 190 H......Page 204 I......Page 213 J......Page 237 K......Page 240 L......Page 241 M......Page 262 N......Page 282 O......Page 290 P......Page 300 Q......Page 348 R......Page 353 S......Page 375 T......Page 429 U......Page 446 V......Page 449 W......Page 457 Y......Page 472 Select Bibliography......Page 473 One of the world's leading experts on English manuscripts defines some 1,500 terms, including types of manuscript, their physical features, writing implements, writing surfaces, scribes, scripts, postal markings, and seals. Peter Beal. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 452-457).