An Introduction to Greek and Latin Palaeography Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Of course, E.M. THOMPSON Introduction... is the standard work on this highly popular subject (??) in the English language. Well organized and better explained, it tells the story of Greek AND Latin scripts from the most ancient remnants to the age of printing (and even beyond). He does so in nineteen chapters that span some 600-odd pages of 6.5 X 8.5 inches, with some 150 in-text fac-simile plates. This book is much to be preferred to its little brother by the same author ("A Handbook of..."), not only on the grounds of subject coverage, but also of page size (and there are current reprints of it, but none of them with more than barely acceptable quality).
The REALLY GOOD NEWS is the availability of this newly typeset edition (Tiger and Stripes), with the typesetting very clearly and even elegantly done. They say they have digitally improved the fac-similes, even to the point of substituting a new photograph in a hopeless case. I can't verify the claim for myself, since I haven't seen neither the original nor the current cheap reprints, but what I can say is that the plates (with full transcriptions) are very useful, with a degree of quality that differs so much from one to another that it's very difficult to speak of an "average" quality.
The only complaint I have with this beautiful, well-produced and long awaited for volume is the lack of any updating whatsoever. To make a current textbook of it would be of course a most daunting (and expensive!) task, obviously not even considered here. But what we could hope for, however, was an extended Introduction or Afterword by one (or two: Greek and Latin) current leading authority on the field(s), putting Thompson's work in the trail of current studies, and giving some revision and updating. And we could hope for an updated Bibliography that wouldn't do any harm (there is none). And, of course, if you are to work on the Greek papyri, a very important and constantly developing sub-field (with, say, some ten thousand unearthed and yet unpublished items), you will have to look elsewhere.
IN SUMMARY, a well done and very necessary job by Tiger and Stripes people. You can rely on it.

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