LEADER 00000pam  2200373 i 4500 
003    DLC 
005    20211110092928.5 
008    210602s2021    nyua     b    001 0 eng   
010      2021004832 
020    9781541675087|q(hardcover) 
040    DLC|beng|erda|cDLC|dIMmBT|dNjBwBT|dUtOrBLW 
042    pcc 
043    e-uk-en 
082 00 091.0942|223 
092    091.094|bWEL 
100 1  Wellesley, Mary,|d1986-|eauthor. 
245 14 The gilded page :|bthe secret lives of medieval 
       manuscripts /|cMary Wellesley. 
250    First edition. 
264  1 New York :|bBasic Books,|c2021. 
300    ix, 340 pages :|bcolor illustrations ;|c25 cm 
336    text|btxt|2rdacontent 
337    unmediated|bn|2rdamedia 
338    volume|bnc|2rdacarrier 
504    Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-319) and 
       index. 
505 00 |tIntroduction --|tPrologue: The alchemy of parchment --
       |tDiscoveries --|tNear disasters --|tPatrons --|tArtists -
       -|tScribes --|tAuthors and scribes --|tAuthors hidden --
       |tEpilogue: The death of the manuscript --|tAfterword: The
       use and misuse of the past. 
520    "The Gilded Page is the story of the written word in the 
       pre-Gutenberg age. Ranging from the earliest intact book 
       in Europe, to the only known literary manuscript to be 
       written in Shakespeare's hand, scholar Mary Wellesley 
       reveals the secret lives of these literary and artistic 
       treasures. Traipsing through the remarkable history, she 
       recounts fires (the only surviving Beowulf manuscript is 
       singed at its edges, losing a bit of its matter every 
       decade) and threats ("this is Elisabeth Danes's book / he 
       that steals it shall be hanged by the neck," reads the 
       marginalia in one treasured text). Some manuscripts were 
       designed to reinforce power-like the psalter commissioned 
       by Henry VIII, with a bold illustration of David fighting 
       Goliath, the king's likeness as David's and his 
       archnemesis Pope Paul III's face drawn on Goliath. Some 
       survive and remain celebrated because of an author's 
       political connections-we have so much of Chaucer's 
       writings, and thus study and revere them, because he was a
       government official first, a poet second. And although 
       work identified with men was more likely to survive 
       through time, some of the most beguiling and beautiful 
       texts were created by women. Many have been lost, like 
       Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love. Yet others
       are relatively recent discoveries, like the manuscript of 
       illiterate Margery Kempe, found in a country house closet 
       by a family searching for ping pong balls, the book's 
       cover nibbled on by mice. But all these objects have their
       secrets, and their creation and survival tell us much 
       about power and art, knowledge and beauty. Today we 
       associate illuminated manuscripts with wealthy elites, but
       they were made by ordinary people: the grinders and 
       binders, the scribes and rubricators. We remember the 
       patrons and the authors, but these objects have been much 
       altered-text embroidered by upstart scribes, mistakes made
       in copying poems, whole chapters lost to time-and our 
       literary inheritance is one of collective authorship. Rich,
       dazzling, and passionately told, Untitled is a tribute to 
       some of the most exquisite objects ever made by human 
       hands"--|cProvided by publisher. 
650  0 Manuscripts, Medieval|zEngland|xHistory. 
650  0 Transmission of texts|xSocial aspects|zEngland|xHistory. 
650  0 English literature|yOld English, ca. 450-1100|xHistory and
       criticism. 
650  0 English literature|yMiddle English, 1100-1500|xHistory and
       criticism. 
650  0 Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval|zEngland. 
650  0 Marginalia|zEngland|xHistory.