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08668_Field_TCGG T433.txt
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1996-04-10
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meanings unknown, but there was no reading public in our
sense, either. This is a matter that has usually been confused
with ideas about “the extent of literacy.” But even if literacy
were universal, under manuscript conditions an author would
still have no public. An advanced scientist today has no public.
He has a few friends and colleagues with whom he talks about
his work. What we need to have in mind is that the manuscript
book was slow to read and slow to move or be circulated.
Goldschmidt asks (p. 90) us to
try to visualize a medieval author at work in his study.
Having conceived the plan to compose a book, he would
first of all proceed to collect material and to accumulate
notes. He would search for books on kindred subjects,
firstly in the library of his own monastery. If he found
something he could use, he would write out relevant