Paleography Resources & Tools

Digital Tools & Resources:

Medieval Handwriting IOS app (The University of Leeds, 2013)

Interpreting abbreviations:

Abbreviationes (© Dr. Olaf Pluta, Institut für Philosophie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum)

Adriano Cappelli’s Lexicon Abbreviaturarum online @University of Cologne (1st printed in Milan, 1912 as Lexicon abbreviaturarum: Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane).

Translation tools:

Lewis and Short Latin <–> English Dictionary (@ Perseus Digital Library: Tufts University)

William Whitaker’s Words (@University of Notre Dame, 1993-2010)

Articles on Paleography &c:

James J. John, “Latin Paleography”, Medieval Studies: An Introduction, Ed. Powell (2nd ed. Syracuse UP, 1992)

A Palaeographer’s View: The Selected Writings of Julian Brown, Eds. Janet Bately, Michelle P. Brown & Jane Roberts (London: Harvey Miller, 1993):

• “Latin Palaeography since Traube” [I]
• “Names of Scripts: A Plea to All Medievalists” [II]
• “Aspects of Palaeography” [III]

Hands & Scripts ‘Cheatsheets’:

“Secretarie Alphabete” Handout (c/o Heather Wolfe: The Folger Shakespeare Library, 2011)

Middle English Palaeography handout (c/o Linne Minney, Centre for Medieval Studies: University of York, 2006)

Medieval Alphabets Handout (c/o Paul Needham & Will Noel RBS Course, Walters Art Museum, 2011)

Symbols, Abbreviations &c:

“Some Common Abbreviations” from Michelle P. Brown, A Guide to Western Historical Scripts From Antiquity to 1600 (London: The British Library, 1990): Appendix.

“Some Symbols Used & Other Misc. Info” from Jane Roberts, Guide to Scripts used in English Writings up to 1500 (London: British Library, 2005).

“Select Glossary of Technical Terms & Punctuation Symbols” from Malcom B. Parkes, Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of Punctuation in the West (esp. Glossary) (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992).

“Select Glossary of Technical Terms Applied to Handwriting” from Malcolm B. Parkes, Their Hands Before Our Eyes: A Closer Look at Scribes: The Lyell Lectures Delivered in the University of Oxford, 1999 (Aldershot, England/ Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008).

On Transcription &c:

Katherine Kerby-Fulton, “How to Transcribe Middle English,” Opening Up Middle English Manuscripts: Literary and Visual Approaches, Eds.  (Ithica & London: Cornell UP, 2012): pp. 2-5.

Paleography & Calligraphy:

Michael Gullick, Calligraphy (Wakefield, RI: Moyer Bell, 1996): Selections

Edward Johnston & A. E. R. Gill, “Manuscript & Inscription Letters: For Schools & Classes & for the use of Craftsmen” (1920)

Misc.:

List of Paleography Resources_(c/o Peter Stallybrass, ca. 2011)

Alexander R. Rumble & Pamela R. Robinson, “Palaeography & Codicology” from Medieval England: An Encylopedia, Eds. Paul M. Szarmach, M. Teresa Tavormina & Joel T. Rosenthal (London & NY: Garland Publishing, 1998): 576-9.

“Calligraphy”, feature on Ewan Clayton, The Golden Thread: The Story of Writing (2013) in The Daily Telegraph

“Illuminating language”, The Daily Telegraph‘s review of Ewan Clayton, The Golden Thread: The Story of Writing (London: Atlantic Books, 2013)