Review: Simon Swynfen Jervis (ed.), The Alphabet Book of Amos Lewis:

An Elizabethan Calligraphic Manuscript Revealed, Cambridge, John Adamson, 2024

Abstract

This facsimile edition of the so-called Alphabet Book, written by the churchman Amos Lewis in England around 1585 offers a valuable framework for revisiting both past and present research focused on the revitalized field of historical calligraphic artefacts. The following book review examines the content and material features of the manuscript, with particular attention to the sociohistorical and cultural context of Elizabethan England in which it was elaborated. Considerations about the previous arts of writing that likely influenced the author contribute to a better understanding of key aspects of early modern handwritten culture including the form, functions, circulation and impact of such distinctive specimens.