Footnote [Paperback]

Anthony Grafton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2003

Devoted entirely to the history of the footnote, this quirky but academic study emphasizes the importance of the footnote in offering empirical support for the stories we live by. Its own story is neither so simple nor so reliable as it might seem, the footnote being the creation of a varied and talented group which includes almost as many philosophers as historians. It numbers among its celebrated practitioners Swift, Pope, Gibbon, Rank, Hume and Hegel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Faber Paperbacks (April 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571196012
• ISBN-13: 978-0571196012
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,887,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Footnotes Can Be Fun!, September 5, 2007

By 

Lance Kirby (Portsmouth, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Footnote (Paperback)

Anthony Grafton's short history of this often-irritating contrivance is a delightful defense of the footnotes importance. In an age that has become increasingly lazy in intellectual matters, and the call of some for the removal of all such arcana, Professor Grafton makes us deeply aware of the footnotes place in the study of history, and its continued importance as a major implement in the historian's toolbox. Taking us first to the supposed birth of the footnote with the Enlightenment and the immortal Gibbon, he moves on to Ranke and "Scientific History", then backtracks to the Middle Ages and Renaissance to reveal its true origins. Any lover of the history of the book, or history in general, cannot fail to enjoy it.