The Design Elements of Medieval Books of Hours

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Oct 2001

The Design Elements of Medieval Books of Hours

Mary Webb ; Michael J. Albers University of Memphis

Abstract

The commonsense principles of modern document design are direct descendants of the principles used in the Books of Hours, a hybridized religious instruction manual created in the commercial scriptoria of the 13th century. This article analyzes the design of Books of Hours and discusses how these medieval documents fit within the four design criteria (supertextual, extra-textual, intratextual, and intertextual) put forth by Kostelnick and Roberts [1]. The analysis reveals the early user of good document design features as the medieval scriptoria worked to address the audience and task requirements of the Books of Hours.

Journal: Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published: 2001-10-01
DOI: 10.2190/1bll-2da9-d52x-tu4j
Open Access: Closed
Topics: multimodality

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

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Cites in this index (1)

Albers (2000)

The technical editor and document databases: What the future may hold

Technical Communication Quarterly

Also cites 1 work outside this index ↓

Smith K., The Neville of Hornby Hours and the Design of Literate Devotion, The Art Bulletin, March 1999.

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