English Manuscript Studies 1100‐1700, Volume 13 New Texts and Discoveries in Early Modern English Manuscripts

Citation

Ellis‐Barrett, L. (2008), "English Manuscript Studies 1100‐1700, Volume 13 New Texts and Discoveries in Early Modern English Manuscripts", Library Review, Vol. 57 No. 2, pp. 149-150. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530810854026

This is the thirteenth volume of the Journal of English Manuscript Studies, an annual scholarly publication. The aim of the journal/series is to reflect the growing interest in manuscript sources for both literature and intellectual history from the medieval through to early modern times. The articles contained within the journal focus on manuscripts produced or owned within the British Isles between the period of the Conquest and the end of the seventeenth century. In this way, it is possible for scholars to research, discuss and produce papers on investigations that they have carried out into medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. A stated aim of the journal is to “stimulate awareness of the possibilities of manuscript study in general”. It is particularly interesting to note that the chosen coverage of the journal extends to as late a date as the end of the seventeenth century for this is nearly two centuries after the introduction of the printing press. Perhaps this proves that, despite new inventions and technologies, old practices remained and remain strong. In the case of this particular journal, manuscripts remained a viable and popular medium for writing and disseminating material and knowledge. Perhaps in the twenty‐first century we can hope that hand‐writing will not be lost to the age of the computer and e‐mail!

With thirteen essays ranging from discussions on the politics of the Elizabethan court to the sermons of John Donne, and early English manuscripts found at auction between January 2004 and December 2005, the material covered within this volume is diverse and fascinating. It is of interest probably as much to the historian as the English scholar. A number of the discoveries and new theories discussed and postulated in this journal could have some bearing on the historian's fuller understanding of not only facts about certain individuals but also a more general bearing on the way in which the lives and practices of individual men and women may have shaped the world in which they lived. For example, in her essay on the “New Manuscript Texts of Sermons by John Donne”, Jeanne Shami relates how she discovered two new Donne sermon manuscripts whilst undertaking research in the British Library in 1992. These she suggests add to the picture first drawn in the 1960s and provide further information about the role of women as both patrons and distributors of sermons. Having only undertaken some preliminary research into this area based on her findings, Shami welcomes any further discoveries.

An altogether different essay on Donne from the research of Lara Crowley considers the possible identity of the final inhabitant of Donne's “Deathless Soule”. There is an interesting discussion in this piece on whether it is ever possible to determine the way in which contemporary readers would have interpreted the work and a full analysis of the work in its original context considers a variety of possibilities. This is a very important essay explaining the value of considering the original manuscript context of Renaissance poetry.

Further essays consider the politics of the court of Elizabeth I with specific reference to the writing and library of Lord William Howard of Naworth and his uncle Lord Henry Howard. An essay on the “Orphan Lectures” of Bishop Lancelot Andrews considers the three different hands that have been identified in the manuscript and questions if there may in fact be even more. This contribution calls for a new edition of the lectures to be published in order that the work may be bought together and studied holistically. There is a further discussion of sermon texts which discusses the influence of drama. There is also a consideration of the new additions to the canon of work by Aurelian Townshend and a more technical essay that uses a computational approach to uncover divergence's in the text of “Lady Katherine Howard's Voyage”.

With notes on the contributors, plates of the texts under discussion and an index of manuscripts, as well as full notes accompanying each essay, this is a fascinating and scholarly journal that will appeal to academics and students of early English as well as historians of the Late Medieval period, the Tudors and Stuarts as well as the Renaissance period. There are some exciting new discoveries under discussion as well as some thought‐provoking new approaches to the study of manuscripts. The Journal of English Manuscript Studies is an excellent and worthy journal that I would highly recommend, above all to academic and scholarly libraries and collections supporting historical and manuscript research.