New Publication: ‘The Birth of the Author: Pictorial Prefaces in Glossed Books of the Twelfth Century’ by Jeffrey F. Hamburger

This book argues that the images devised to accompany medieval commentaries, whether on the Bible or on classical texts, made claims to authority, even inspiration, that at times were even more forceful than those made by the texts themselves. Paradoxically, it was in the context of commentaries that modern concep­tions of independent authorship first were forged.