The Footnote: A Curious History, by Grafton, Anthony
Inventory #: 01238
Price: $30.00

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The Footnote: A Curious History, by Grafton, Anthony. Harvard University Press: Cambridge: Massachusetts, 1997. Edition: First edition in English. ISBN: 0674902157. Hardcover, 8vo, 6 by 8.5 inches, 241 pages. From the copyright page: Original English manuscript was translated into German and published under the title: Die tragischen Ursprünge der deutschen Fussnot (Berlin, 1995); this is a revision of the original English version.

Quarter bound in gray cloth over tan, paper-covered boards; lettering in gilt and black on spine. Includes many footnotes and an Index.

Condition: Near Fine in a Near Fine jacket. Light reading smudge to the bottom page edges, otherwise Fine. Jacket has a few short scratches to the surface laminate, otherwise Fine.

Contents: Publisher's Note:

A history of the footnote, written by a classics scholar who finds its origin in the attempts by historians to satisfy the demands of colleagues for documentation without frustrating the desires of general readers for an uninterrupted narrative.

Grafton describes the development and flourishing of the footnote in the 18th century, when it served to comment ironically on the narrative in the text, as well as to support its veracity. Grafton has transformed what might have been merely a pedantic issue into a far-reaching essay in cultural and intellectual history which will be of interest to anyone who has ever written or read a footnote. In this engrossing account, footnotes to history give way to footnotes as history, recounting in their subtle way the curious story of the progress of knowledge in written form.