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04139aam a2200457 i 4500 001 DAA15BB02BEA11ECAE902C522AECA4DB 003 SILO 005 20211013010022 008 210930s2021 nyua e b 001 0 eng 010 $a 2021004832 020 $a 1541675088 020 $a 9781541675087 035 $a (OCoLC)1269630457 040 $a DLC $b eng $e rda $c OQX $d OQX $d OCLCO $d IHV $d IOU $d SILO 043 $a e-uk-en 082 00 $a 091.0942 $2 23 100 1 $a Wellesley, Mary, $d 1986- $e author. 245 14 $a The gilded page : $b the secret lives of medieval manuscripts / $c Mary Wellesley. 246 30 $a Secret lives of medieval manuscripts 250 $a First edition. 264 1 $a New York : $b Basic Books, $c 2021. 300 $a ix, 340 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : $b color illustrations ; $c 25 cm 520 $a "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"-- $c Provided by publisher. 504 $a Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-319) and index. 505 0 $a Introduction -- Prologue: The alchemy of parchment -- Discoveries -- Near disasters -- Patrons -- Artists -- Scribes -- Authors and scribes -- Authors hidden -- Epilogue: The death of the manuscript -- Afterword: The use and misuse of the past. 650 0 $a Manuscripts, Medieval $z England $x History. 650 0 $a Transmission of texts $x History. $z England $x History. 650 0 $a English literature $y Old English, ca. 450-1100 $x History and criticism. 650 0 $a English literature $y Middle English, 1100-1500 $x History and criticism. 650 0 $a Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval $z England. 650 0 $a Marginalia $z England $x History. 941 $a 7 952 $l BOPG851 $d 20231010030136.0 952 $l USUX851 $d 20230907011928.0 952 $l FXPH314 $d 20230221010514.0 952 $l CNPC792 $d 20220105014001.0 952 $l GBPF771 $d 20220104014622.0 952 $l CAPH522 $d 20211215032700.0 952 $l BAPH771 $d 20211013010052.0 956 $a http://locator.silo.lib.ia.us/search.cgi?index_0=id&term_0=DAA15BB02BEA11ECAE902C522AECA4DB 994 $a C0 $b IOUInitiate Another SILO Locator Search