Meetings With Remarkable Manuscripts Hardcover Christopher De Hamel by Christopher De Hamel 9780241003046, 0241003040 instant download after payment.

The idea for the book, which is entirely new, is to invite the reader into intimate conversations with twelve of the most famous manuscripts in existence & to explore with the author what they tell us about nearly a thousand years of medieval history - and sometimes about the modern world too. Christopher de Hamel introduces us to kings, queens, saints, scribes, artists, librarians, thieves, dealers, collectors & the international community of manuscript scholars, showing us how he & his fellows piece together evidence to reach unexpected conclusions. 

He traces the elaborate journeys which these exceptionally precious artefacts have made through time & space, shows us how they have been copied, who has owned them or lusted after them (and how we can tell), how they have been embroiled in politics & scholarly disputes, how they have been regarded as objects of supreme beauty & luxury & as symbols of national identity. The book touches on religion, art, literature, music, science & the history of taste.

Part travel book, part detective story, part conversation with the reader, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts conveys the fascination & excitement of encountering some of the greatest works of art in our culture which, in the originals, are to most people completely inaccessible. At the end, we have a slightly different perspective on history & how we come by knowledge. It is a most unusual book.