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An Introduction to English Runes

R.I. Page

$96.95   $87.31

Paperback

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English
Boydell & Brewer
18 May 2006
Runes are quite frequently mentioned in modern writings, usually imprecisely as a source of mystic knowledge, power or insight. This book sets the record straight. It shows runes working as a practical script for a variety of purposes in early English times, among both indigenous Anglo-Saxons and incoming Vikings. In a scholarly yet readable way it examines the introduction of the runic alphabet (the futhorc) to England in the fifth and sixth centuries, the forms and values of its letters, and the ways in which it developed, up until its decline at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. It discusses how runes were used for informal and day-to-day purposes, on formal monuments, as decorative letters in prestigious manuscripts, for owners' or makers' names on everyday objects, perhaps even in private letters. For the first time, the book presents, together with earlier finds, the many runic objects discovered over the last twenty years, with a range of inscriptions on bone, metal and stone, even including tourists' scratched signatures found on the pilgrimage routes through Italy. It gives an idea of the immense range of information on language and social history contained in these unique documents. R.I. PAGE is former Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Cambridge.

By:  
Imprint:   Boydell & Brewer
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Height: 234mm,  Width: 156mm,  Spine: 15mm
Weight:   442g
ISBN:   9780851159461
ISBN 10:   085115946X
Pages:   268
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Professor R.I. PAGE is former Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Cambridge, and Librarian of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Reviews for An Introduction to English Runes

Remains the only book-length study providing a comprehensive and scholarly guide to the Anglo-Saxon use of runes. The new edition has been substantially updated and expanded...No serious library of Anglo-Saxon studies should be without it. JOURNAL OF ENGLISH AND GERMANIC PHILOLOGY [John Hines]


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