Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more

Recommended product

Popular links

Popular links


Paper in Medieval England

Paper in Medieval England

Paper in Medieval England

From Pulp to Fictions
Author:
Orietta Da Rold, University of Cambridge
Published:
September 2020
Availability:
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Format:
Adobe eBook Reader
ISBN:
9781108899796

Looking for an examination copy?

If you are interested in the title for your course we can consider offering an examination copy. To register your interest please contact [email protected] providing details of the course you are teaching.

    Orietta Da Rold provides a detailed analysis of the coming of paper to medieval England, and its influence on the literary and non-literary culture of the period. Looking beyond book production, Da Rold maps out the uses of paper and explains the success of this technology in medieval culture, considering how people interacted with it and how it affected their lives. Offering a nuanced understanding of how affordance influenced societal choices, Paper in Medieval England draws on a multilingual array of sources to investigate how paper circulated, was written upon, and was deployed by people across medieval society, from kings to merchants, to bishops, to clerks and to poets, contributing to an understanding of how medieval paper changed communication and shaped modernity.

    • Gives the most expert advice and information on how to approach the study of medieval paper, providing a step-by-step approach
    • Provides a multi-disciplinary analysis on the use of paper in medieval manuscript production including multilingual examples of how disciplines must interact to understand the complex affordances of paper
    • Demonstrates the importance of the study of paper for manuscript in historical and literary studies

    Reviews & endorsements

    ‘Paper in Medieval England is a learned and judicious book, underpinned by Da Rold’s deep and broad reading. While its argument offers several thoughtful interventions that will invite paleographers, cultural historians, and literary scholars to revisit some of their assumptions about paper, the real value of this monograph is more fundamental still: Da Rold’s study restores paper to its rightful place in literary history.’ Sebastian Sobecki, Speculum

    ‘This is the great merit of Da Rold’s book: it is a truly interdisciplinary study of paper in medieval England.’ Joan A. Holladay, Manuscript Studies

    See more reviews

    Product details

    September 2020
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781108899796
    0 pages
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • Paper and culture in medieval England: an introduction
    • 1. Paper stories
    • 2. The economics of paper
    • 3. Writing on paper
    • 4. The character of paper and its use in medieval books
    • 5. Paper in the medieval literary imagination
    • 6. Epilogue: the age of paper.
      Author
    • Orietta Da Rold , University of Cambridge

      Dr Orietta Da Rold is Lecturer in Literature and Material Text, 1100 to 1500 at the University of Cambridge. She is the Co-Director (with Elaine Treharne) of the successful AHRC-funded project and e-book, English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220 and is currently editing the Cambridge Companion to British Manuscripts with Elaine Treharne.