Amazon.com description: Product Description: This volume of 23 essays on the subject of runes, ranges from detailed discussion of the forms of particular runes in the runic alphabet and the interpretations of individual inscriptions (the Rothwell Cross and the Franks casket), to the wider matters on which runes throw light, such as magic, paganism, literacy and linguistic change. The articles, arranged chronologically, examine the question of runes from a variety of standpoints, but focus primarily on the use and development of the script among the Anglo-Saxons, and explore the history of scholarship in this field. The essays also include studies of Scandinavian inscriptions in England and on the Isle of Man.