SMC 19
Trends in Statistical Codicology
Edited by Marilena Maniaci
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110743838
The application of statistical techniques to the study of manuscript books, based on the analysis of large data sets acquired through the archaeological observation of manuscripts, is one of the most original trends in codicological research, aiming not only to reconstruct on a sound basis the methods and processes used in book manufacture and their tendential evolution in space and time, but also to interpret them as the result of a dynamic interplay between various and often incompatible needs (of cultural, technical, social and economic nature) that book artisans had to reconcile in the best possible way.
The present collection of essays in English translation was guided by the desire to offer a multifarious well-articulated picture of the application of statistical methodology to the various aspects of manuscript production, namely analysis of materials, characterization of book types, manufacturing techniques, planning and use of layout characterization of scripts and scribal habits.
The volume aims to present to a wider readership a series of significant papers which have appeared over the last fifteen years, by means of which the statistical approach continues to demonstrate its vast potential.
FrontmatterI
ContentsVII
Statistical Codicology. Principles, Directions, Perspectives1
Marilena Maniaci
Forms and typologies
The Structure of Atlantic Bibles35
Marilena Maniaci
The Miniaturisation of Bible Manuscripts in the 13th Century: A Comparative Study65
Chiara Ruzzier
Making a Count of Hagiographic Books. Quantitative Aspects of the Production and Dissemination of Latin Hagiographic Literature (2nd–15th Centuries) 87
Michel Trigalet
Materials and tools
Parchment in Byzantine Manuscripts of the 11th and 12th Centuries: Characteristics and Use103
Marilena Maniaci
Watermarks Galore. Observations on the Number and Homogeneity of Papers Used in Manuscripts and Incunabul149
Ezio Ornato
An Experiment in Dating Documents through the Analysis of Watermarks: The Letter ‘P’ in Incunabula of the Low Countries183
Ezio Ornato
Manufacturing techniques
Quiring in Manuscripts of the Late Middle Ages205
Paola Busonero
The Art of Not Quartering Skins: Techniques Employed for the Subdivision of Bifolia in Byzantine Manuscripts309
Marilena Maniaci
The Arithmetic Properties of Lineation in Humanistic Manuscripts323
Denis Muzerelle
The ‘Non-Unitary’ Greek Codex: Typologies and Terminology337
Marilena Maniaci
The Third Dimension of the Book: Codicological Aspects of Multi-Textuality 377
Denis Muzerelle and Ezio Ornato
Layout and text formatting
Canons and ‘Recipes’ for the Layout of the Medieval Book: New Observations and Verifications415
Marilena Maniaci
Divergences between the East and the West in the Construction and Management of the Written Space: General Principles and Specific Solutions465
Marilena Maniaci
A Medieval Puzzle. The ‘Architecture’ of the Page in Manuscripts and Incunabula of the Codex Justinianus509
Luciana Devoti
Words within Words: Layout Strategies in Some Glossed Manuscripts of the Iliad575
Marilena Maniaci
At the End of the Line: Text Continuity and the Division of Words in Byzantine Manuscripts599
Marilena Maniaci
Scripts and scribes
The Rhythm of the Scribe: A Serial Analysis of the Density of Writing in the Gospels of Henry the Lion663
Frank M. Bischoff
The Scribe’s Gesture and its ‘Shadow’: An Essay on the ‘Modular Ratio’ of Scripts707
Denis Muzerelle
Quantitative Codicology and Scientific Paradigms. A Typology of Latin Formulae in the Colophons of Western Manuscripts725
Lucien Reynhout
Concerning the (Re)discovery of French Scriptoria: Contribution of the ‘Catalogue of Dated Manuscripts’735
Denis Muzerelle
Index of Written Sources767