New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices : Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall

This volume gathers the contributions of senior and junior scholars―all indebted to the pathbreaking work of Derek Pearsall―to showcase new research prompted by his rich and ongoing legacy as a literary critic, editor, and seminal founder of Middle English manuscript studies. The contributors aim both to honor Pearsall’s work in the field he established and to introduce the complexities of interdisciplinary manuscript studies to students already familiar with medieval literature. The contributors explore a range of issues, from the study of medieval literary manuscripts to the history of medieval books, libraries, literacy, censorship, and the social classes who used the books and manuscripts―nobles, children, schoolmasters, priests, merchants, and more. In addressing reading practices, essays provide a wealth of information on marginal commentaries, images and interpretive methods, international transmission, and early print and editorial methods. Contributors: Sarah Baechle, Julia Boffey, Peter Brown, Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis, Christopher Cannon, A. I. Doyle, Martha W. Driver, Siân Echard, Nicole Eddy, A. S. G. Edwards, Hilary E. Fox, Karrie Fuller, Maura Giles-Watson, Phillipa Hardman, Kathryn Kerby-Fulton, Jill Mann, William Marx, Sarah McNamer, Carol M. Meale, Linne Mooney, Melinda Nielsen, Theresa O’Byrne, Stephen Partridge, Oliver Pickering, Susan Powell, Elizabeth Scala, A. C. Spearing, John J. Thompson, Edward Wheatley, Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, Hannah Zdansky, Nicolette Zeeman. "This volume gathers the contributions of senior and junior scholars-all indebted to the pathbreaking work of Derek Pearsall-to showcase new research prompted by his rich and ongoing legacy as a literary critic, editor, and seminal founder of Middle English manuscript studies. The contributors aim both to honor Pearsall's work in the field he established and to introduce the complexities of interdisciplinary manuscript studies to students already familiar with medieval literature. The contributors explore a range of issues, from the study of medieval literary manuscripts to the history of medieval books, libraries, literacy, censorship, and the social classes who used the books and manuscripts-nobles, children, schoolmasters, priests, merchants, and more. In addressing reading practices, essays provide a wealth of information on marginal commentaries, images and interpretive methods, international transmission, and early print and editorial methods. "New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices marks the heritage of the distinguished scholar Derek Pearsall while highlighting his continuing influence on medieval manuscript studies. Buoyed by fine work of senior scholars, the collection also introduces readers to stimulating work by an upcoming generation of more recent practitioners, all of whom address crucial issues in the field: the particulars of individual manuscripts, including scribal practice, marginal commentary, and audience reception. The result is a fine collection at once canonical in some respects and innovative in others."--Paul H. Strohm, Anna S. Garbedian Professor Emeritus of the Humanities, Columbia University."--Résumé de l'éditeur "This volume gathers the contributions of senior and junior scholars-all indebted to the pathbreaking work of Derek Pearsall-to showcase new research prompted by his rich and ongoing legacy as a literary critic, editor, and seminal founder of Middle English manuscript studies. The contributors aim both to honor Pearsall's work in the field he established and to introduce the complexities of interdisciplinary manuscript studies to students already familiar with medieval literature. The contributors explore a range of issues, from the study of medieval literary manuscripts to the history of medieval books, libraries, literacy, censorship, and the social classes who used the books and manuscripts-nobles, children, schoolmasters, priests, merchants, and more. In addressing reading practices, essays provide a wealth of information on marginal commentaries, images and interpretive methods, international transmission, and early print and editorial methods. "New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices marks the heritage of the distinguished scholar Derek Pearsall while highlighting his continuing influence on medieval manuscript studies. Buoyed by fine work of senior scholars, the collection also introduces readers to stimulating work by an upcoming generation of more recent practitioners, all of whom address crucial issues in the field: the particulars of individual manuscripts, including scribal practice, marginal commentary, and audience reception. The result is a fine collection at once canonical in some respects and innovative in others."--Paul H. Strohm, Anna S. Garbedian Professor Emeritus of the Humanities, Columbia University"-- Provided by publisher CONTENTS 6 ILLUSTRATIONS 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 10 Introduction 12 Recent Directions in Medieval Manuscript Study 17 Another Fine Manuscript Mess: Authors, Editors and Readers of Piers Plowman 31 A New Approach to the Witnesses and Text of the Canterbury Tales 45 Prospecting in the Archives: Middle English Verse in Record Repositories 57 Medieval Manuscripts and Electronic Media: Observations on Future Possibilities 69 Representing the Middle English Manuscript 81 Skins, Sheets and Quires 97 Reconsidering the Auchinleck Manuscript 107 Professional Readers of Langlandat Home and Abroad: New Directions in the Political and Bureaucratic Codicology of Piers Plowman 119 Professional Scribes? Identifying English Scribes Who Had a Hand in More Than One Manuscript 147 Manuscript Production in Medieval Theatre: The German Carnival Plays 159 The `Lancelot-Graal' Project 183 After Chaucer: Resituating Middle English Poetry in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Period 199 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS 217