Joseph A. Dane: Abstractions of Evidence in the Study of Manuscripts and Early Printed Books. Farnham, Burlington: Ashgate, 2009. Pp. viii + 176. Cloth £ 55.00.

• Joanna M. Martin

Joseph A. Dane’s Abstractions of Evidence in the Study of Manuscripts and Early Printed Books takes a direct and stimulating approach to some of the main and often (as the book demonstrates) problematic assumptions that have underpinned the study of medieval and early modern book history and text editing since the eighteenth century. The book contains nine essays, divided between two parts, each addressing distinct aspects of bibliography: the study of the manuscript book and the early printed book. Each essay offers new perspectives on some of the long-standing questions of the field and reveals the ways in which bibliographical evidence has been manipulated to satisfy the unstated and seldom interrogated enthusiasms, needs and agendas of scholarship in this area.

Seiten 416 - 418