Anthology

In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, fiction or non-fiction excerpts. There are also thematic and genre-based anthologies. Complete collections of works are also called "complete works" or opera omnia in Latin.

Etymology

The word entered the English language in the 17th century, from the Greek word, ἀνθολογία (anthologia, literally "a collection of blossoms", from ἄνθος, ánthos, flower), a reference to one of the earliest known anthologies, the Garland (Στέφανος, stéphanos), the introduction to which compares each of its anthologized poets to a flower. That Garland by Meléagros of Gadara formed the kernel for what has become known as the Greek Anthology. Florilegium, a Latin derivative for a collection of flowers, was used in medieval Europe for an anthology of Latin proverbs and textual excerpts. Shortly before "anthology" had entered the language, English had begun using "florilegium" as a word for such a collection.

History

Before 20th century

Europe

The Palatine Anthology, discovered in the Bibliotheca Palatina, Heidelberg in 1606, is a collection of Greek poems and epigrams based on the lost 10th-century Byzantine collection of Constantine Kephalas, which in turn was based on older anthologies. In the Middle Ages, European collections of florilegia became popular, bringing together extracts from various Christian and pagan philosophical texts.