BOOKS ON PALEOGRAPHY AND KINDRED SUBJECTS.
Part of a guidebook’s business is to direct people’s attention to other
similar works likely to be of use to them.
Few accomplishments can be learnt with the aid of only one book on
the subject, and paleography is a combination of many elements. Few
English writers have expended their genius in books on handwriting;
it has not in this country been looked upon as one of the sciences.
Abroad the subject has been more studied, especially by the French, in
whose language many valuable books on it have been compiled. The type
required for the abbreviations is expensive; small editions only were
issued, and many valuable works are in consequence rare and little
known, being only met with in public libraries or among collections of
old books. Thus seventeen volumes of ‘La Bibliothèque de l’École des
Chartres,’ published in Paris between the years 1839 and 1886, will
fetch as much as £30; ‘Album de la Paléographie’ (Quantin, 1887), £6;
‘Elements de la Paléographie,’ par Natalis de Wailly, two volumes,
1838, £3 3s.; ‘Musée des Archives Nationales,’ 1872, £1 10s.
A very useful book, less expensive than the above, was written by Prou,
published in Paris by Alphonse Picard, éditeur, 82, Rue Bonaparte;
and cheaper still than this is the ‘Paléographie des Chartes et des
Manuscrits du XI. au XVII. Siècles,’ par Alphonse Chassant, published
by Auguste Aubry, Rue Dauphine 16, Paris. The best-known cheap book on
the subject, however, is a small paper-bound volume, ‘Dictionnaire des
Abbréviations Latines et Françaises,’ par Alphonse Chassant, published
by Jules Martin, 19, Boulevard Haussmann, Paris, at the low price of 2
francs 50 centimes; it has already reached a fifth edition.
There are also books on paleography written in German, Spanish and
Italian, but these are seldom met with in England.
Now let us see what our own countrymen have done towards elucidating
our national manuscripts. The list will not be a long one.
It must be borne in mind that first of all four separate languages are
required, namely, Anglo-Saxon, Norman-French, Latin and Old English.
For the first of these, the standard work is Bosworth’s Anglo-Saxon
dictionary; a second-hand copy may be bought for 8s. 6d. It contains
the alphabet and grammatical peculiarities of the Anglo-Saxon language,
besides the dictionary of words.
For Norman-French, all that is required at first start is a familiarity
with the modern language. Any good, old-fashioned dictionary will be of
assistance, and later on Roquefort’s dictionary, Lacombe’s Burguy, and
the glossary in the Supplement to Ducange, may be resorted to, to solve
difficulties.
Latin and English may be studied together, the one being translated
verbatim from the other.
The standard English work upon handwriting as a whole is called ‘The
Origin and Progress of Handwriting,’ by Astle; it was published in
the beginning of this century. A good copy is now worth two or three
sovereigns, though I have seen it advertised for 12s. 6d. This book
deals with every kind of known writing from its earliest existence.
There are facsimiles of Hebrew, Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, and other
languages, besides specimens of English charters of each century.
The Paleographic Society was started in 1873, and their yearly volumes
contain exact representations of the old documents, but these cost £1
1s. each. They are valuable as having the facsimile and its transcript
side by side, but as yet they have only selected very old charters,
not considering mediæval English deeds worthy of consideration.
Bosworth’s Anglo-Saxon dictionary is the standard work on this subject.
Some Anglo-Saxon manuscripts were published in 1878 by command of
the Queen, upon the recommendation of the Master of the Rolls, the
work being undertaken by General Cameron, director of the Ordnance
Survey, with translations added by W. Basevi-Saunders. The charters
selected were those among the archives of Canterbury Cathedral, as
they give three centuries of Anglo-Saxon history, A.D. 742 to
A.D. 1049. This work now fetches £2 2s.
A collection of early Anglo-Saxon charters, those of Abingdon Abbey,
has been issued in the ‘Rolls Series’ in two volumes.[6] Other
Anglo-Saxon documents have been printed and translated at various times.
Domesday Survey has been reproduced by a photographic process, and is
extremely clear and well executed; it is also published in four volumes
in a more readable type, but still abbreviated. Each county can be
obtained in a separate volume. The translations are not given; this for
the student is rather an advantage than otherwise.
No subject has been more studied than Domesday Book. Translations,
explanations and dictionaries have been written upon it. These are
very valuable as explaining the obscure points and giving the modern
acreage, as compared with the carucate, bovate and hide. To understand
a county history these must be closely compared. Many of the manors
named in the old Survey are now lost. It must be remembered that waste
lands and commons were not always mentioned, nor were churches or
any property which was not taxable. For this reason Domesday often
disappoints us by its meagreness of detail, but it forms the beginning
or basis from which an inquiry may be started, and to pursue it through
the centuries which followed, the public rolls and manuscripts are the
only means of information; of these Domesday will prove valuable as a
key.
The really practical book on old English writing best known and most
popular, because neither complicated nor expensive, is Wright’s
‘Court-hand Restored,’ price £1, compiled in 1846 to meet a long-felt
want, for Latin having ceased as the law language, lawyers no longer
were obliged to know old legal forms and words as part of their
profession, although they often felt the need of understanding them
where any search through old deeds was requisite. Since then this book
has passed through nine editions, the last of which was brought out in
1879, edited and improved by Mr. C. T. Martin, of the Public Record
Office.[7] It contains alphabets in all styles, facsimiles of all
classes of English writing, with translations, a glossary of obsolete
words and place-names, supplying a valuable textbook to paleography,
giving the reader all the information necessary for studying old deeds.
Since then (1892) Mr. Martin has compiled a fuller and more elaborate
glossary, called ‘The Record Interpreter,’ 10s. 6d. The amateur will
need no other books if he is provided with these two volumes. A list
of abbreviations taken from the Pipe Rolls was issued among the yearly
volumes of the Pipe Rolls Society, price 12s. 6d. The fourth volume of
‘The Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense,’ edited by the late Sir Thomas
Duffus Hardy, in the Rolls Series of ‘Chronicles and Memorials,’ also
contains a list of contracted words and their explanations. Its price
is 10s. 6d.
The study of old deeds brings in its train a multiplicity of other
subjects bearing upon old customs and legal formulæ, some of which were
complicated. All the writers upon the law explain these formalities;
‘though now antiquated so far as the actual law work and procedure
is concerned,’ they give the ancient methods; of these ‘Blackstone’s
Commentaries’ is the best known.
Jacobs’ ‘Law Dictionary’ is another similar book; also ‘A New Law
Dictionary,’ by J. Nicholson. But these books are now out of date; they
may by chance be met with at sales or on bookstalls, where they may be
bought for a few shillings. Perhaps an advertisement in the _Exchange
and Mart_ might be successful in obtaining replies. Of guides to
various branches of archæology there are plenty lately issued since the
subject became fashionable.
‘Record Searching,’ by W. Rye, gives a glimpse into the various public
collections of books and MSS., and the class of information likely to
be derived from manuscripts.
‘How to write the History of a Family,’ by Phillimore, is a similar
work, useful to genealogists.
‘How to write the History of a Parish,’ by J. C. Cox, LL.D.
The information contained in all these three last books might be with
advantage remodelled and extended. They are in reality indices to help
the archæologist and put him in the way of obtaining information.
A charming little book, full of information, has been written by Mr.
Chester Waters, upon Parish Registers, price 3s. 9d. Every clergyman
should possess a copy of it.[8] On Church History there are recently
published two very good 1s. volumes, called ‘Illustrated Notes on
English Church History,’ by Rev. Arthur Lane; small engravings of all
the English cathedrals and many handsome and celebrated churches are
given, but no descriptions of them. A very good series of Diocesan
Histories has been brought out by the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge. These may now be bought second-hand at 1s. per volume.
For derivation of words and place-names there is no better guide than
Taylor’s ‘Words and Places,’ and Edmunds’ ‘Place-names’; both these
are trustworthy, and have become recognised authorities; and also
Bosworth’s Anglo-Saxon dictionary.
Quality rather than quantity should be the antiquary’s motto in his
choice of a library, but antiquarianism and archæology require many
books of reference, and it is well to know those books most likely to
be of permanent use instead of wasting room upon volumes not required
after the first reading. Upon Manor Rolls there is a very clever work
lately issued by the Selden Society (volume ii.). It gives much new
information on Manorial Customs. All the volumes issued by this society
are very interesting. They are edited by F. W. Maitland. Upon Monastic
History there are many very interesting books, mostly published by
Burns and Oates, London.
A list of useful books might be extended indefinitely, especially if
brought up to date. Archæology is a cumulative science gleaned from
varied sources. The antiquary usually is possessed of more brains than
money, but if he is fortunate enough to possess both, a large library
will be to him a never-ending source of amusement.
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