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A Comparative History of the Literary Draft in Europe
Edited by Olga Beloborodova and Dirk Van Hulle
[Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages XXXV] 2024
► pp. 23–34

1.1.1
Medieval holograph manuscripts

Absence and ubiquity

While all medieval books are manuscripts, it is often said that few are authorial holographs; most are copies by other scribes for circulation. Many traces of composition have been lost, as that process occurred orally or on ephemeral materials. Nonetheless, some authorial holographs survive and show similar stages of composition and revision to the literary holographs of later periods. In addition, scribal copies themselves show evidence of rewriting that could potentially be considered a kind of authorship, thus making these copies into holographs for scribal authors, especially in works of pragmatic literacy. Authorial holographs are therefore not rare but ubiquitous.
Keywords: author, dictation, scribe, amanuensis, draft, copy, variance, revision, practical, letter
Article outline
  • Lost first drafts
  • Surviving second drafts
  • Scribal copies as drafts
  • Notes
  • References
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References (41)
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