The Hidden Language of Graphic Signs
Cryptic Writing and Meaningful Marks
Published on 19. August 2021
Book
Hardback
330 pages
978-1-108-84061-3 (ISBN)
Description
A common belief is that systems of writing are committed to transparency and precise records of sound. The target is the language behind such marks. Readers, not viewers, matter most, and the most effective graphs largely record sound, not meaning. But what if embellishments mattered deeply - if hidden writing, slow to produce, slow to read, played as enduring a role as more accessible graphs? What if meaningful marks did service alongside records of spoken language? This book, a compilation of essays by global authorities on these subjects, zeroes in on hidden writing and alternative systems of graphic notation. Essays by leading scholars explore forms of writing that, by their formal intricacy, deflect attention from language. The volume also examines graphs that target meaning directly, without passing through the filter of words and the medium of sound. The many examples here testify to human ingenuity and future possibilities for exploring enriched graphic communication.
Reviews / Votes
'... the book editors-classicist John Bodel and Mayanist Stephen Houston - are to be congratulated on assembling experts to produce a 'first' in this relatively neglected field.' Andrew Robinson, MivervaMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 259 mm
Width: 203 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
816 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-84061-3 (9781108840613)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
John Bodel | Stephen Houston
The Hidden Language of Graphic Signs
Cryptic Writing and Meaningful Marks
E-Book
08/2021
Cambridge University Press
€111.99
Available for download
E-Book
03/2021
Cambridge University Press
€78.99
Available for download
Persons
Content
Part I. Hidden Writing: 1. Buried and Camouflaged Writing in Early China Haicheng Wang; 2. Dazzled and Absorbed: Delayed Reading in Altered Egyptian Hieroglyphic Writing Andreas Stauder; 3. Impossible Unities: Full-Figure Glyphs among the Maya Stephen Houston; 4. Inscribe and De-scribe/Cipher and De-cipher: A Pious Phrase in Medieval Byzantium and Islam Scott Redford; 5. Script, Pseudoscript, and Pseudo-pseudoscript in the Work of Filippo Lippi Benjamin C. Tilghman; 6. Numerals as Letters: Ludic Language in Chronographic Writing Stephen Chrisomalis; Part II. Legible Signs: 7. Marking and Writing in an Egyptian Workmen's Community Ben Haring; 8. The Semiotics of Signa and the Significance of Signs in Roman Stamps John Bodel; 9. Late Antique and Early Medieval Monograms (c. 300-900): From Producers' Marks to Liminal Graphic Devices Ildar Garipzanov; 10. Crests and Familial Identity in Medieval Japan David Spafford; 11. Where Credit's Due: Making Marks and Counting Labor in the Andes Howard Tsai; 12. From Modeling to Destruction: Cyclicity and Multi-Sensoriality in Learning Catechisms in the Bolivian Highlands Berenice Gaillemin.