Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• (Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at the University of Manchester, UK and Director of the AHRC-funded project 'The Lexis of Cloth and Clothing in Britain c. 700-1450' and Maria Carmela Cesario, Lecturer in Medieval English Language and Literature at Brasenose College, University of Oxford, UK);
• 2. The construction and writing of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts
• (Alexander Rumble, Reader in Palaeography and Director of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies at the University of Manchester, UK)
• 3. Manuscript sources of Old English prose
• (Donald Scragg, Emeritus Professor of Anglo-Saxon Studies at the University of Manchester, UK
• 4. Manuscript sources of Old English poetry
• (Elaine Treharne, Professor of Medieval Literature at Florida State University, USA and Co-Director of the AHRC-funded project 'The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060-1220')
• 5. A survey of Latin manuscripts
• (Gernot Wieland, Professor of English at the University of British Columbia, Canada)
• 6. Reading between (and beyond) the lines: glosses and notes in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts
• (Timothy Graham, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Institute for Medieval Studies, University of New Mexico, USA)
• 7. Manuscript art
• (Catherine Karkov, Professor of Art History at the University of Leeds, UK)
• 8. From manuscript to computer
• (Stuart Lee, Acting Director of University Computing Services and a teaching member of the English Faculty at the University of Oxford, UK and Daniel O'Donnell, Associate Professor of English, Chair of the Text Encoding Initiative and Director of the Digital Medievalist Project, University of Lethbridge, Canada)
• Glossary
• Index of Manuscripts
• Index

About the Author

Gale R. Owen-Crocker is Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at the University of Manchester and has published widely in Medieval Studies. Her books include The Four Funerals of Beowulf and the structure of the poem (2000) and Dress in Anglo-Saxon England (2004), King Harold II and the Bayeux Tapestry (2005), for which she was volume editor and Medieval Textiles of the British Isles c. 450-1100: An annotated bibliography (2007), co-written with E. Coatsworth.

Reviews

A clear, reliable, practical and beautifully illustrated introduction to the subject. The book envisions an audience that ranges from advanced undergraduates all the way to established scholars and even graphic artists, and while the undergraduates have the most to gain from the book, there is something here that everyone can learn from. A common aim of all these chapters is to survey what for many will be recognisable territory, but every chapter embodies original research, and it is inescapably clear that the contributors to this volume have spent a lot of time with manuscripts. The book as a whole contains 115 well-chosen illustrations, many in colour, including a generous number of full-page reproductions from a wide range of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The quality of discussion and analysis in every single chapter is uniformly quite high, but it's the illustrations that will ensure this book's success as a teaching tool. This is a brilliantly conceived book, and just as brilliantly executed, and it should be required reading for all students of Anglo-Saxon England. The four pages of 'Further reading' at the end of the volume are a useful next step for students who have no prior experience with manuscript study. This is a valuable and well-produced book, and I plan to use it the next time I teach a seminar on Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. At a time when the history of the book is flourishing as an academic subject, this collection of introductory papers should find a ready market. The book is generously designed, its pages handsomely laid out, with good use made of wide margins. Each of the eight main chapters has its own introductory page and is equipped with apposite and well-explained illustrations, many in color, and minimalist and non intimidating footnotes. Gale Owen-Crocker is to be congratulated for putting together an interdisciplinary overview that should appeal to teachers and their students in medieval studies more generally. Working with Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, edited by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, provides a set of beautifully illustrated discussions of key topics which will be of immense use to those starting out in the field. Offers students, teachers and scholars a valuable research tool.