The present volume contains twelve chapters authored by specialists of Asian, African and European manuscript cultures reflecting on the cohesion of written artefacts, particularly manuscripts. Assuming that ‘codicological units’ exist in every manuscript culture and that they are usually composed of discrete elements (such as clay tablets, papyrus sheets, bamboo slips, parchment bifolios, palm leaves), the issue of the cohesion of the constituents is a general one. The volume presents a series of case studies on devices and strategies adopted to achieve this cohesion by manuscript cultures distant in space (from China to West Africa) and time (from the third millennium bce to the present). This comparative view provides the frame for the understanding of a phenomenon that appears to be of essential importance for the study of the structure of written artefacts. Regardless of the way in which cohesion is realised, all strategies and devices that allow the constituents to be kept together are subsumed under the term ‘binding’. Thus, it is possible to highlight similarities, convergences, and unique physical and technical methods adopted by various manuscript cultures to face a common challenge.

Written artefacts are traditionally studied because of their content. Material aspects of these artefacts enrich the study of ancient history in many ways. Eleven case studies in five sections on the ancient world, including the Near East, Egypt, the Mediterranean, China and India, demonstrate the impact of a holistic approach that considers materiality and content alike. Following an introductory sketch of relevant research, the first section, 'Methodological Considerations', critically examines the limitations the evidence available imposes on our understanding. 'Early Uses of Writing' addresses material and spatial aspects of inscriptions, and their communicative functions over the textual ones. The third section, 'Material Features', deals with clay, wooden and papyrus manuscripts and demonstrates the importance of an integrated approach. The contributions to 'Co-presence of Written Artefacts' take into account that written artefacts come in clusters. The final section, 'Cultural Encounters', presents studies on the interactions between social strata and ethnic groups, challenging previous ideas. The volume contributes to the comparative study of written artefacts in ancient history, stimulating cross-disciplinary and -cultural research.

This text uses case studies of law students, lawyers and merchants to explore overlooked dimensions of Irish migration the middle class, community and the social geography of London in the eighteenth century.

Awarded with the 15th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography 2010. This classic can be ranked among the well-known international standard works on the subject of bookbinding. The author, Dr. Jan Storm van Leeuwen, gives in this work an elaborate general historical introduction to his subject. It also contains a general introduction to each province, as they were known in the eigteenth century, and an extensive overall picture of the towns where luxury bindings were manufactured, describing the bookbinder's workshops and binderies of each town. The historical introduction is completed with a catalogue of the approximately 2000 relevant bindings in the collections of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) and its sister institution the Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum. About 1500 other bindings that the author studied over time in other collections are also described. But the most important feature of this work is that all (nearly 10.000) stamps on these bindings are represented by a picture. Never before so many bindings (3500) have been recorded, described and discussed in such detail and with the benefit of an established model and terminology. The print edition is available as a set of four volumes (9789061943693).