641 Blood, Guts, and Books - Inside the Medieval Scriptorium (with Sara Charles) | My Last Book with Elizabeth Coggeshall

The History of Literature

Medieval manuscripts are so wondrously beautiful they deserve comparison with the world's finest works of art. But what lay behind the book's production? We might think of rows of monks, patiently toiling away in a hushed chamber - but that would be to ignore the actual conditions of book production. Sara Charles (The Medieval Scriptorium: Making Books in the Middle Ages) takes Jacke into the dirty, smelly, boring, and back-breaking world of an actual medieval scriptorium. PLUS Dante scholar Elizabeth Coggeshall (On Amistà: Negotiating Friendship in Dante's Italy) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read.

Additional listening suggestions:

• 589 Dante and Friendship (with Elizabeth Coggeshall)
• 613 Celebrating the Book-Makers (with Adam Smyth)
• 569 The Man with a Passion for Medieval Manuscripts (with Christopher de Hamel)

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com.

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