Medieval and Renaissance Letter Treatises and Form Letters: A Census of Manuscripts Found in Eastern Europe and the Former U.S.S.R

Letter-writing was seen in the Middle Ages and Renaissance as a major branch of rhetoric, and its importance is testified to by the survival of numerous manuals, treatises, formularies and model letter collections. Dr Polak's pioneering inventory is the first comprehensive and organized compilation of over 1100 extant Latin manuscript sources consulted in almost 200 libraries and archives in what was until recently Communist Eastern Europe. The survey is arranged alphabetically by country, city, library or archive, and collection, and gives standard details of folios, incipits, explicits, colophons and bibliography. Four indexes of manuscripts, incipits, medieval and renaissance authors and select anonymous works are also provided.