The standard is Bernhard Bischoff, _Latin Palaeography: Antiquity
and the Middle Ages_, translated Daibhi O Croinin and David Ganz
(Cambridge University Press, 1990).
You might also want to pick up A. Cappelli, _Dizionario di
Abbreviature latine ed italiane_ (1979). Somewhere along the way I
acquired an English translation of the Preface and front matter.
For something lighter, you might want to check out the lovely books
from the British Library done by Michelle Brown: _The British Library
Guide to Writing and Scripts: History and Techniques_ and
_Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms_
(more on illustrations, but handy to have).
If you can manage it, you might try to sign up for one of a summer
paleography course offered at various universities.
Sorry for the lack of diacriticals on names and titles above.
.Karen
--
Dr. Karen Jolly
Associate Professor, History
University of Hawai`i at Manoa
[log in to unmask]
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kjolly
