© Columbia University Press
Books, Banks, Buttons: And Other Inventions from the Middle Ages
June, 2005
Paper, 240 pages, 100 color illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-12813-1
$26.00
/ £15.50
Cloth, 240 pages, 100 color illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-12812-4
$77.50
"This enchanting tale, masterfully recounted by a pre-eminent historian of the Middle Ages, reveals the fertile imagination and extraordinary inventiveness of a period whose legacy to the modern world included not just books, banks, and buttons, but also eyeglasses, playing cards, pasta, table forks, underwear, the mechanical clock, and domesticated cats inside the house." — Library Journal
"[Frugoni] deftly fashions a narrative that takes readers on an informative, often charming and wryly humorous, journey . . . What particularly distinguishes this volume, though, is the more than 100 exquisite illustrations that aptly represent social and religious attitudes toward the inventions and innovations of the time . . . Highly recommended." — Choice
"Written in an engaging and open style with many delightful color illustrations showing the various objects, the book examines such commonplace items as forks, glazed windows, paper watermarks, rudders and wheelbarrows, placing them in their medieval context with the support of contemporary sources." — History Magazine
"It is likely that this book will lead new students to develop a fascination with the Middle Ages while introducing seasoned scholars to topics they have overlooked." — Michael E. Hoenicke Moore, SpeculumSouthern Illinois University
"A thoroughly engaging look at the slow, subtle development of civilization." — Dan Smith, Blue Ridge Business Journal
"These contents provide a scholarly overview of the changes evinced by era while retaining a readable style and refreshing pace." — Gray Pleuth, Bloomsbury Review
"From glasses to the compass, from buttons to the university, this brilliant work of Chiara Frugoni paints a portrait of an epoch that was anything but dark and immune to progress and that was everywhere rich with vital and important inventions." — Jacques Le Goff, author of History and Memory
"Brilliant. . . . Lucid, graceful, always lively and imaginative. . . . There is no precendent for the range of themes gathered [here] . . . with rare critical intelligence and perceptivity. . . . In short, the book is a . . . masterpiece." — Irving Lavin, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ
"This enchanting tale, masterfully recounted by a pre-eminent historian of the Middle Ages, reveals the fertile imagination and extraordinary inventiveness of a period whose legacy to the modern world included not just books, banks, and buttons, but also eyeglasses, playing cards, pasta, table forks, underwear, the mechanical clock, and domesticated cats inside the house." — Patricia Fortini Brown, chair, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University