The Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover

M. R. James' monumental study of three important monastic libraries and the fate of their manuscripts after the English Reformation.

In this monumental study, first published in 1903, M. R. James examines medieval catalogues of three important monastic libraries in Kent that were dispersed during the English Reformation. He succeeds in identifying many of the 'lost' manuscripts from those collections, now preserved among the holdings of modern universities and institutions.M. R. James (1862–1936) is probably best remembered as a writer of chilling ghost stories, but he was an outstanding scholar of medieval literature and palaeography, who served both as Provost of King's College, Cambridge and as Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum. His detailed descriptive catalogues of manuscripts owned by colleges, cathedrals and museums are still of value to scholars today. This volume, first published in 1903, contains James' study of medieval catalogues relating to three monastic libraries in Kent which were among the largest book collections in pre-Reformation England. James gives a fascinating account of the books listed, their provenance and their donors. The libraries were dispersed at the Dissolution, and James' major contribution was to identify many of the surviving manuscripts, now preserved in London, Oxford, Cambridge and elsewhere. This reissue of James's monumental research project will be welcomed by librarians and researchers alike.