Notes for English Manuscripts 1060-1220

1^6 wants 3 and 4 (following folio vii)

The Production and Use of English Manusripts 1060-1220 is an AHRC supported project directed by Dr Mary Swan, Professor Elaine Treharne, Dr Orietta Da Rold and Dr Jo Story with Dr Takako Kato serving as research associate. The projected hosted the conference Writing England: Books 1100-1200, University of Leicester on 6-8 July 2007, and is following up with Writing England: Books 1000-1400, University of Leicester, 28-30 April. As with the 2007 conference, there will be a small symposium on the days preceding that focuses more in depth on manuscripts that fall within the scope.

I’ll be presenting something that, while relating to other issues and projects, has its core in the make-up of Bodley 343 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 343), which I’ve written about in different contexts in a few articles.

I haven’t written the paper and not come to any conclusions yet (and likely won’t; I’d rather fly some trial ideas and methods). But in collecting thoughts about what I would like to discuss, it’s increasingly apparant how difficult it is to talk about the make-up of a book (not the text) without the book. Talking about quires as numbers can easily lose people (including myself); and tabular representations, while more informative, can be difficult to sort.

Whatever the drawbacks of powerpoint lecturing, we do have the ability to do wonderful, visual things with presentation software. Frequently, papers underuse this ability and just throw up text on the screen, that is handouts in projection, and people understandably don’t see the point. On the other hand having images not only enlivens but can facilitate understanding.

So while I’m not sure what I will say, I’m taking the opportunity to explore (and learn) different ways to present the book. I beginning with images like that above (and working on doing color coding of important aspects such as change of hands and layout).

Presently, the book looks like:

Draft make-up of Bodley 343

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