The resurgence of interest in the history of the English language has prompted this indispensable introductory guide to the scripts used in Old and Middle English writing. The best way to gain a sense of changes in scripts across time is through visual examples. The reader is introduced gradually to vocabulary suitable for the description of script through a range of plates, for example, Caedmon's Hymn (the earliest extant English poem); the opening of an Exeter Book poem; the Lindisfarne Gospels; the opening page of King Alfred's first translation; an illustrated version of the story of...