Bonnie BLACKBURN and Leofranc HOLFORD-STEVENS, *The Oxford Companion to the
Year*. xx + 937 pages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN
0-19-214231-3. UK Price: £35.00; ordering information may be found at:
http://www.oup.co.uk/isbn/0-19-214231-3
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This is an extraordinary book, belonging in every reference library in the
English-speaking world.: a bold claim, but a fairly accurate one, given not
only the quantity of information contained, but the unmistakable calm and
humane authority in which it is presented.
Emphasizing UK and US practice, the book sheds light on most anything to do
with the measurement and commemoration of time and times. The first part of
the book presents customs associated with every day of the year: not simply
saints' feasts and public holidays, but traditional and folkloric
remembrances as well. Descriptions follow as to the seasons, the terms at
Oxbridge and UK law courts, the months, the week, the calculation of
moveable feasts in the Western and Orthodox churches, as well as other
holidays (including Thanksgiving).
The second part of the book adds even more to the volume's usefulness,
describing calendars and chronology as clearly as one could ever hope.
Following descriptions of the origins, development and types of days and
times, the book moves to discuss a variety of calendars: Roman, 'Modern',
Baha'i, Chinese, Egyptian (including Coptic and Ethiopian), Greek, Hindu,
Jewish, Muslim, and a variety of others (including Anglo-Saxon, Armenian,
Celtic, French Republican and Icelandic). After a brief excursus on written
forms of calendars such as almanacs and liturgical calendars, chronology is
explored, in such a way as to allow the reader to understand types of years
(such as regnal and eponymous); emphasis on Christian dating (especially
regarding Easter and the historical development of the computus) makes this
book even more useful for western medievalists. A series of appendices
present information on regnal years (both papal and English/British), dating
by introits at Sunday mass, the differences between Julian and Gregorian
Easters, and charts presenting the main dates of the Christian, Jewish and
Muslim calendars for the years 1997 to 2020 of the Common Era. (Indeed, the
very concept of the Common Era is discussed on page 782.)
It is important to note that this is in no way a cut-and-paste job of
antecedent chronological works. What distinguishes it, and makes it a book
to be used and read regularly (rather than consulted rarely) are the clarity
of exposition, and especially the choice of the telling anecdote. The tome
is crammed with quotations from literary and historical texts, illustrating
not only the letter but also the spirit of the topics under discussion.
Opening the book at random to almost any page will provide readers with
grist for thought and anecdotes that beg to be shared. The authors are to be
thanked for sharing their knowledge and insight with us.
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George Ferzoco
University of Leicester
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