Printing and the Renaissance: A Paper Read Before the Fortnightly Club of Rochester, New York (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Slater, John Rothwell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 133086610X ISBN 13: 9781330866108

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from Printing and the Renaissance: A Paper Read Before the Fortnightly Club of Rochester, New York This chapter opens with the founding of the scriptorium, or monastic copying system, by Cassiodorus and Saint Benedict early in the sixth century. To these two men, Cassiodorus, the ex-chancellor of the Gothic king Theodoric, and Benedict, the founder of the Benedictine I order, is due the gratitude of the modern world. It was through their foresight in setting the monks at work copying the scriptures and the secular literature of antiquity that we owe the preservation of most of the books that have survived the ruins of the ancient world. At the monastery of Monte Cassino, founded by Saint I Benedict in the year 529, and at that of Viviers, founded by Cassiodorus in 531, the Benedictine rule required of every monk that a fixed portion of each day be spent in the scriptorium. There the more skilled scribes were entrusted with the copying of precious documents rescued from the chaos of the preceding century, while monks not yet sufficiently expert for this high duty were instructed by their superiors. The example thus nobly set was imitated throughout all the centuries that followed, not only in the Benedictine monasteries of Italy, France, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, but in religious houses of all orders. It is to the mediaeval Church, her conservatism in the true sense of the word, her industry, her patience, her disinterested guardianship alike of sacred and of pagan letters, that the world owes most of our knowledge of antiquity. Conceive how great would be our loss if to archaeology alone we could turn for the reconstruction of the civilization, the art, the philosophy, the public and private life of Greece and Rome. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-

About this title

About the Author:

Bruce Rogers taught ESL and test preparation courses at the Economics Institute at the University of Colorado, USA, since 1979. He has also taught in special programs in Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, the Czech Republic, and Egypt. In addition to this series, he is the author of Introductory Guide to the TOEIC Test and The Complete Guide to TOEIC Test, both with National Geographic Learning.

About this edition

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 133086610X
• ISBN 13: 9781330866108
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 44