Manuscripts and ghosts

Essays on the transmission of medieval and early renaissance literature

John Scattergood

‘An enlightening collection of essays on the production of manuscript books, mainly in England, before printing arrived and changed everything. It examines who made the books, the place in the culture of the time, and who the initial and subsequent owners were … A light in an often neglected aspect of medieval society, Scattergood is the Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Trinity College Dublin, and seems to recognise the scholar’s and writer’s obligation to entertain and interest’, Books Ireland.

‘This is a volume that anyone who has an interest in manuscripts and their histories, whether a literary scholar or not, will read with profit and pleasure. The scholarship is meticulous though carried with a lightness that makes the volume a pleasure to read. It is a significant contribution to the study of manuscript culture that is much more than mere codicological description’, Raymond Gillespie, Irish Archives.

‘[A] handsome volume … the thoughtful selection and arrangement ensures that the book has an internal cohesion of subject and focus that is reflective of Scattergood’s ideological concerns as a scholar over his career … the focus on the physicality of the manuscript book is the single most unifying feature of this collection … Scattergood makes his research accessible and eminently readable, which is why this volume will be used and enjoyed by students and colleagues alike', Carrie Griffin, Journal of the Early Book Society (2007).

‘Manuscripts and Ghosts is a richly varied collection of essays by a dedicated scholar of manuscript books, many of them in Dublin’s Trinity College Library’, Jeanette Beer, Archives (Spring 2008).

‘The volume is a worthwhile contribution to the field of manuscript studies, whose relevance for the study of medieval literature is currently being recognised very broadly, on the continent, in Britain, North America and elsewhere’, D. Renevey, Bulletin Codicologique.