Joseph Dyer
"This handsomely illustrated and lucid study surveys the scroll across centuries and cultures. Fascinating discoveries await the reader on virtually every page. A delight to the eye as much as to the mind."
Lisa Fagin Davis
"In this beautifully and copiously illustrated volume, readers will be introduced to medieval scrolls magical and medical, genealogical and historical, alchemical and astronomical. An important contribution to the history of the book and will be a delightful read for any—pardon the misnomer—bibliophile."
Bernard Meehan
"There is much to admire in Kelly’s concise, well-illustrated, and vivid account."
Christopher de Hamel
"We all supposed that scrolls had more or less died out in the ancient world, to be superseded by the codex. This fascinating book unfolds a parallel universe of manuscripts throughout the Middle Ages. The living fossils from antiquity were actually still there, alive and invisible, in every aspect of medieval book production. They just keep rolling, they keep on rolling along."
Giulia Orofino
"A fascinating and scientifically sound study that will be highly appreciated by a wider audience of students and medieval manuscript lovers."
Orietta Da Rold
"This is a wonderful introduction to the medieval scroll. A thoroughly enjoyable reading with numerous insights on this very popular form and exceptionally illustrated with key examples and explanatory caption."
Michael Scott Cuthbert
"An astonishingly clear and interesting survey of how we used to read and how we read today…a gem of scholarship and of great interest to anyone, and will be the definite work for this dominant medium of reading for years to come."
Kirkus Reviews
2019-01-14
An overview of medieval scrolls highlights their intricate beauty and various uses.
In a generously illustrated and informative survey, distilled from the Medieval Scrolls Digital Archive website, medievalscrolls.com, Kelly (Music/Harvard Univ.; Capturing Music: The Story of Notation, 2014, etc.) focuses on the creation and use of scrolls in the Middle Ages at a time when books had been in common use since the advent of the codex in the fourth century. Why did people make a scroll when they could make a book? Scrolls, notes the author, have the advantage of being able to grow as needed to take on more information. In fact, "we are now in the new age of the scroll. All you have to do is look at your computer screen, tablet, or e-reader, and just scroll down." In Egypt, scrolls—such as the Book of the Dead—were made, laboriously, from papyrus; Egyptian papyrus also was the basis for literary scrolls in Greece and Rome. A long work, such as Virgil's Aeneid, required several scrolls, depending on the length of papyrus. Because new entries could be added, scrolls were useful for financial, legal, and other record-keeping. Kelly identifies scrolls that contained lists of gifts; recipes for cooking, medicine, and alchemy; prayers; petitions; and the testimony of witnesses in trials. Because scrolls could be unfurled in a linear manner, they became useful as maps and guides for holy pilgrimages; similarly, because they could indicate change through time, they were used to record histories and genealogies. In medieval plays and other performances, each actor's part was written separately on a scroll that could be hidden in the performer's hand. A director's scroll served as a combination of promptbook and stage manual. Miniature scrolls, some to be worn hidden in amulets, often contained prayers, magic spells, cryptic inscriptions, or the "names of exotic deities or demons." Kelly closely examines the many scrolls illustrated and provides some context that illuminates medieval life.
An illuminating volume designed to whet the reader's interest in perusing an extensive website.
