The Role of the Scroll: An Illustrated Introduction to Scrolls in the Middle Ages - Hardcover

Thomas Forrest Kelly

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393285030 ISBN 13: 9780393285031

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019

Synopsis

"...[a] lively book...There are many beautiful images here: we are able to study scrolls containing recipes - culinary, medical, magical and alchemical (some of them were lavishly illustrated); rolls of arms; maps for pilgrimages; and royal genealogies." Times Literary Supplement

Why make a scroll when you can make a book? This is the key question that music historian Thomas Forrest Kelly answers in The Role of the Scroll. Scrolls were the standard form of book in Western antiquity, but from the fourth century onward, the codex began to outnumber scrolls. And yet, people in the Middle Ages continued to make them.

In these colourful pages, you'll discover remarkable scrolls that range from showy court documents for empresses to tiny amulets for pregnant women, from pilgrimage maps to small, portable actors scrolls. An alchemical recipe for gold will give you a glimpse into medieval life as a metalsmith and surveying a lengthy list of gifts for Queen Elizabeth I enables you to observe a royal court party. Lively and accessible, The Role of the Scroll is essential reading and viewing for anyone interested in how people have kept record of life through the ages.

Don't miss selected images from the book - scroll down!

About this title

Review:

"This lavishly illustrated survey provides a superb overview of these important and often beautiful artefacts." --Times Higher Education

"...well-illustrated and highly readable... --Catholic Herald

"This is a wonderful introduction to the medieval scroll. A thoroughly enjoyable reading with numerous insights on this very popular form and exceptionally illustrated with key examples and explanatory caption." --Orietta Da Rold, Fellow at St. John s College, Cambridge

About the Author:

Thomas Forrest Kelly is professor of music at Harvard University. He studied musicology and chant on a Fulbright in France, and he has taught at Wellesley, Smith, Amherst, and Oberlin Colleges. His previous books include Capturing Music, Music Then and Now, First Nights: Five Musical Premieres, and First Nights at the Opera. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0393285030
• ISBN 13: 9780393285031
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208