A Material History of the Bible, England 1200-1553

Through the details and particularities of material history, Poleg reveals, instead, "a more turbid realm of uncertainties and protracted transformation". * Jessica Brantley, Yale University, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies *
Eyal Poleg's erudite work is an important and innovative contribution to the history of the English Bible. It successfully brings together the study of manuscripts and printed Bibles in a framework that closely attends to layers of material evidence. This evidence reveals complex ways in which producers and readers engaged with their books for a variety of sometimes conflicting theological or commercial motives. Extending the focus to previously little-studied later copies and subsequent reprints/editions is a major strength of the book. * Matti Peikola, Manuscript Studies *
...there is much to be learned from the attention to biblical paratexts, and to various scribe', editors', translators', and printers' attempts to parse and package the Bible as a singlevolume text. And Poleg's book may fruitfully be consulted by anyone pursuing research along these lines. * Andrew Kraebel, Church History *
This is a quite unique piece of scholarship, embracing not only different periods, but also different disciplines, both of which have hitherto normally been treated in isolation from each other. The mastery of different bibliographies (many of which have grown increasingly long in recent years) and the readiness to ask different questions of different periods and sources are particularly impressive... I am especially struck by the emphasis... put on the liturgical dimensions of the transition, and on the role of the commercial instincts of publishers and printers. [This] volume should be compulsory reading for all traditional historians locked into teleological or binary, confrontational approaches to Wycliffite texts and the Henrician reformation. * Ian Green, Professor of Early Modern History, Queen's University, Belfast. Author of Print and Protestantism in Early Modern England, Oxford University Press. *
A Material History of the Bible: England 1200-1553 will edify special collections librarians and archivists...This volume deserves a place on the bookshelf of librarians and archivists. * Jonathan Lawler, RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage *
This enlightening work will appeal to many by making a complex field of research accessible and engaging. It covers a broad chronological period with surety and will find a keen readership amongst historians of English print culture, medievalists and early modernists. * Celyn Richards, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *