Читать книгу A Catalogue of Manuscripts Known to Contain Old English Dry-Point Glosses - Dieter Studer-Joho - Страница 6

This book would have never seen the light of day, if it had not been for the support and encouragement of a good number of people, and I would like to take the opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to them.

Andreas Fischer is solely responsible for kindling my enthusiasm for historical linguistics in general and Old English philology in particular. I am profoundly grateful to him for backing my PhD project, even though it was already foreseeable that the office of President of the University would leave him precious little time for dry-point concerns.

I am deeply indebted to Elvira Glaser for being such a great boss to me for so many years. I very much enjoyed the time under her supervision, first as her student assistant (and personal book mule) and later as a research assistant at the Phonogrammarchiv der Universität Zürich. The perfectly nonsymbiotic combination of Swiss German dialectology and Old English dry-point glossography was only rendered possible by her boundless patience and unwavering confidence in my capabilities. Moreover, I am profoundly grateful to her for securing an extension to my assistantship for an additional year, which allowed me to finish my PhD thesis in perfect peace of mind and in financial security, too.

Andreas Nievergelt was an immeasurably important inspiration for my dry-point interests. He gave me advice and moral support on countless occasions. His unbelievable diligence and his knowledgeability have always been a tremendously motivating beacon during the often painfully slow progress of my PhD project.

I also wish to acknowledge the generous financial support of the Swiss National Science Foundation for this publication and I am grateful to the Narr Francke Attempto Verlag and to Andreas Fischer, Martin Heusser and Daniel Schreier, the editors of Schweizerische Anglistische Arbeiten, for givining me the opportunity to publish my work in their series. At the same time I would also like to thank Martin Heusser for his support in designing the title page and I am grateful to the British Library for their permission to reproduce a miniature from their holdings.

I am much obliged to Michael Schwarzenbach, Stephan Schmid and Camilla Bernardasci for being wonderful office colleagues and for making me continuously look forward to my working days at the Archives all those years. Annina and Ludwig Rübekeil Seiler encouraged me to keep up the good work so many times, and Christine Wallis gave me hope that I was not the only person on the planet working in this somewhat dusty corner of English philology.

I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to my family: I am eternally grateful to my parents, Trudi and Sepp Studer-Bänziger, for their unconditional love and wholehearted support through all those many years. Above all, however, I am indebted in uncountable ways to my dear wife and soulmate Nicole Studer-Joholove of my life, whose positive influence on me during our two decades of shared history so far defies any description: I cherish your company beyond measure and I take great pride and joy in sharing parenthood of our beautiful daughters Lisa and Michelle with you.