A Guide to Early Printed Books and Manuscripts

A Guide to Early Printed Books and Manuscripts provides a concise introduction to the language and concepts employed in bibliographical studies and textual scholarship as they pertain to early modern manuscripts and printed texts.

Focusing on documents from the late sixteenth and early mid-seventeenth century, the author explains the complex process of viewing documents as artefacts, showing readers how to describe documents properly and how to read their physical properties. This helpful Guide demonstrates how we are to use this information, together with an understanding of the processes of production and modification, as a tool for studying the transmission of literary documents.

An invaluable resource illuminating the complex relationship between the material processes and the meanings of the written and printed word, A Guide to Early Printed Books and Manuscripts is essential reading for anyone interested in book history and textual scholarship.