The Uses of Script and Print, 1300-1700

This volume investigates written communication before and after the introduction of printing. Focusing on England, it considers the uses of script and print by various individuals, groups and communities in the spheres of religion, law, scholarship and politics, and makes an assessment of the impact of printing.

This volume builds upon the widening interest in the connections between culture and communication in medieval and early modern Europe. Focusing on England, it takes a critical look at the scholarly paradigm of the shift from script to print, exploring the possibilities and limitations of these media as vehicles of information and meaning. The essays examine how pen and the press were used in the spheres of religion, law, scholarship, and politics. They assess scribal activity both before and after the advent of printing, illuminating its role in recording and transmitting polemical, literary, antiquarian and utilitarian texts. They also investigate script and print in relation to the spoken word, emphasising the constant interaction and symbiosis of these three media. In sum, this collection helped to refine the boundaries between cultures of speech, manuscript and print, and to reconsider the historical fissures which they have come to represent.