Book excerpt: Despite a resurgence of interest in the history of the English language, this work is the only book available to introduce readers to the scripts used in Old and Middle English writing. The best way to understand changes in scripts across time is through visual examples, and this highly illustrated book reveals precisely how Middle English is different from Old English and how these gradual changes have developed. Images from important literary texts such as Caedmon’s “Hymn” and the Lindisfarne Gospels demonstrate the chronological progression of the writing.