On December 9th on Zoom, the tenth lecture in the Alcuin Society Virtual Lecture Series 2021, Dr. Erik Kwakkel gives a talk about the existence of cheap books, before the introduction of print in his presentation Cheap Books Before Print.

“Focusing on a selection of manuscripts from Western Europe, this presentation introduces some common ways in which medieval scribes lowered the cost of the book, from the introduction of faster letter shapes to the use of discarded parchment. Also discussed are the kinds of readers who asked scribes to “cut corners” and what motivated their requests.” Learn more about this presentation.