In this collection of richly documented case studies, experts in many textual traditions examine the ways in which important texts were preserved, explicated, corrected, and used for a variety of purposes. The authors describe the multiple ways in which scholars in different cultures have addressed some of the same tasks, revealing both radical differences and striking similarities in textual practices across space, time and linguistic borders. This volume shows how much is learned when historians of scholarship, like contemporary historians of science, focus on earlier scholars' practices, and when Western scholarly traditions are treated as part of a much larger, cross-cultural inquiry.

Broadens the discussion of the history of scholarly practices beyond the limits of individual, usually Western cultural traditions, and develops modes of meaningful comparison across cultures and periods.

Applies to the history of philology the techniques, concepts, and methods of the history of science - especially the relatively recent form of history of science that concentrates on practices and their development.

Brings the history of the humanities, in the form of the history and methodology of philological practices, into the purview of the history of science.