Organizing the Written Word

Scripts, Manuscripts, and Texts

Edited by Marco Mostert

Book cover: Organizing the Written Word

Extent: 308 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Medieval Studies

Series: Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy

Series volume number: 30

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(June 2020)

ISBN: 9782503507651

Price: $100.00

Out of stock

What are the differences and similarities between early and late medieval ways of finding written information? How and why were the manuscript page and the organization of written texts changed? How and why did ‘consultation literacy’ as we now know it develop? These are some of the questions addressed in the contributions to these c


The ways in which we search for information today often differ from the ways literate individuals in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages interacted with manuscripts in search of knowledge. At some stage in the development of western literacy, the need to find written information led to the invention and propagation of consultation aids that we now take for granted, including page numbering, indices, and cross-references. This volume seeks to enhance our understanding of an important aspect of medieval literacy and of the western literate mentality by addressing some crucial questions. What are the differences and similarities between early and late medieval ways of finding written information? How and why were the manuscript page and the organisation of written texts altered? How and why did ‘consultation literacy’, as we now know it, develop?

  • Edited by Marco Mostert