Specimens of Mediaeval Hebrew Scripts, Vol. III: Ashkenazic Script

This handsomely produced series aims to provide students of mediaeval Hebrew manuscripts with a simple, convenient tool for identifying types of writing hands and for assessing the provenance of undated manuscripts on the basis of comparison with manuscripts bearing dates. Each specimen manuscript is represented both by a sample page, generally reproduced in its actual size, and by a table showing the different forms taken by the letters of the alphabet in that manuscript, produced by graphic artists. These tables may be likened to morphological indexes, aiding the scholar in identifying similar letter forms by breaking the writing down into its individual components. The sample pages supply the texture, character, style and general impression of the writing hand. Volume III in the series focuses on the Ashkenazic script - the Hebrew script which was used, at least from the last quarter of the twelfth century, in the German lands and their surroundings, in northern and central France and in England, and from the end of the fourteenth century also in northern Italy.