Theory and Practice in Renaissance Textual Criticism: Beatus Rhenanus Between Conjecture and History.

Aus der Bibliothek von Prof. Wolfgang Haase, langj�igem Herausgeber der ANRW und des International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT) / From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - Sehr gutes Exemplar / Very good copy. - Recent research has placed great stress on the importance of Renaissance humanists� textual criticism and attitudes toward classical texts as a basis for understanding their ideas. Exactly how did they�in particular the German humanist Beatus Rhenanus�treat the classical texts they were editing? Renaissance historians, literary critics, students of historiography and of German history and literature, and classicists as well, will find this book illuminating. Much attention has been given to Italian and French scholars, while German Renaissance editors have been generally ignored in favor of Erasmus. Beatus was a close associate of Erasmus and learned much from the Dutch humanist, yet his critical method marked a break with Erasmus because he was more the textual scholar, who articulated a manuscript-based procedure for extracting new readings of ancient texts. Beatus edited a number of classical writers, including Tacitus, Livy, and Tertullian. Unlike most of his contemporaries who promised fidelity to the manuscripts without really knowing what such fidelity might entail, let alone delivering it, Beatus analyzed the handwriting and remains of words he found in his manuscripts and then tried to conjecture from them the actual words of the author. Often led astray by what he felt was his new method, he produced conjectures wildly at variance with.accepted modern readings. Nevertheless, Beatus argued forcefully in his annotations for a manuscript-based editorial method and he tried to be faithful to it. At the same time he used his criticism to write history. He was the most accomplished historian of the German Renaissance and understood the use of textual criticism for historical studies. Although the emphasis of this study is on the historical side, John D�Amico has successfully bridged the separation between history and literary studies. ISBN 9780520061996