Bible in the Latin West - (Medieval Book) by Margaret T Gibson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The Bible in the Latin West surveys the changes in the most important book in the western world, the Latin Bible. Dr. Gibson beings the survey in late antiquity, discussing the sumptuous volumes of the great senatorial houses of the fourth century and how they influenced the early great Bibles of northern Europe. The discussion then moves through the Carolingian period, with its increased interest in commentary to early vernacular versions, and goes on to reveal how in the eleventh and twelfth centuries the growing number of monastic and university readers made new demands on texts which led to the inclusion of glosses and other scholarly apparatus. Later, the combined influences of increased literacy and growing wealth among the population called for vernacular translations and devotional aids such as Books of Hours. Gibson completes the survey with a look at early printed Bibles. This is a useful volume for anyone being introduced to the firsthand study of texts and their transmission, as well as for graduate students in history, English, modern languages, classics, and religious studies, The Bible in the Latin West contains an introductory survey, 28 plates with facing descriptions and analyses, a glossary, and extensive bibliographic material.

Review Quotes

"This volume is the first in a series devoted to the codicology of texts. It first sketches the history of the codicology of the Latin Bible under seven headings: late antiquity, the Carolingians, the vernacular, monastic Bibles, the university text, the new literacy, and the Bible in print. Then it presents on facing pages information about various codices (material description, historical significance, content, bibliography) and photographs of twenty-eight examples arranged according to the history of development." --New Testament Abstracts

"If nothing else, the simple physical evidence of Gibson's treatise can call us to imitate the respect and love possessed by antiquity for the sacred page- and his despite our own modern superabundance of historical, philological, and other aids to Biblical study." --Cistercian Studies Quarterly

"Margaret T. Gibson's introduction is freshly informative and characteristically incisive, especially on the earlier centuries, with valuable footnote citations of original sources and modern scholarship....The volume is a very good value for its price and deserves to be widely purchased and used in the increasing number of courses intended to introduce graduates and undergraduates to medieval literary history in the actual forms it took." --Medium AEvum

"The valedictory work of the late Margaret Gibson inaugurates an impressive series dedicated to the codicology of texts, to how and why the appearance of particular kinds of manuscripts changed over the centuries.... Gibson's goal is to present an example of each major kind of Bible, and she succeeds admirably. A lifetime of learning is made easily and elegantly accessible in this well-conceived and well-made book." --Religious Studies Review

"This book is not a haphazard collection of plates. It tells a story, and tells it well. The excellently clear plates combined with detailed and thoughtful comment teach us about the manuscripts in the best possible way." --D.C. Parker

"This modest volume is truly a tour de force of concise information about a significant topic." --Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarianship

"This volume possesses all the hallmarks of Margaret Gibson's contributions-impeccable scholarship, considerable erudition, and elegant prose that is always a model of restraint....Her condensed and learned explanations challenge as well as instruct....The depth of Gibson's understanding of the world of medieval learning enlivens and enriches this volume and makes it stand out from the type of introductory volume that might have been written by a scholar whose interests were focused more narrowly on the medieval Bible." --Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

About the Author

Margaret T. Gibson (d.1994) was a Senior Research Fellow at St. Peter's College, Oxford University. She published nine other books, and numerous articles in her field. Her works include Joseph Mayer of Liverpool and The Schools and the Cloister: The Life and Work of Alexander Nequam.