Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries: Volume V: Indexes and Addenda

The four volumes of Neil Ker's Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries were published by Oxford University Press between 1969 and 1992. They comprise a catalogue of about 3,000 manuscripts in Latin and Western European vernaculars in hitherto uncatalogued or inadequately catalogued institutional collections in the United Kingdom and form a major research tool for humanist scholars. The index volume, produced under the direction of A. G. Watson, a former pupil of Ker's and now his literary executor, and I. C. Cunningham, formerly Keeper of Manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland, provides a variety of indexes, including authors/titles; owners; geographical origins and dates of manuscripts; vernacular manuscripts; Latin and vernacular incipits; manuscripts cited; repertories cited; and iconography. There are also lists of recent accessions to libraries and of manuscripts that have migrated from one institution to another.

Table of Contents:
Preface Abbreviations Addenda Indexes 1: Authors, Subjects, and Titles 2: Names (Scribes, Illuminators, Owners, Annotators, etc.) 3: Bibles 4: Liturgies 5: Iconography 6: Languages other than Latin 7: Origins and Dates 8: Secundo Folios 9: Incipits 10: Repertories cited 11: Manuscripts cited

Review :
`a remarkable achievement of scholarship ... The descriptions of the manuscripts are full and at the same time admirably concise ... Any user of the work, whether his interests are palaeographical, iconographical, or textual, will be deeply grateful for the wealth of information contained in this volume. ' Review of English Studies `an outstanding monument of British scholarship ... No one working in the manuscript field needs now to be convinced of the value of MMBL, nor of the authority of Ker's words on any manuscript which passed through his hands ' Times Literary Supplement `The value of the work cannot be overestimated ' Journal of the Society of Archivists `will be invaluable not only for reference but for the comprehensive and immensely precise assurance that it will give to scholars in every field of medieval studies that nothing relevant to their purposes now lurks in unrecorded concealment ' English Historical Review `each of Ker's volumes is made invaluable by his inclusion of older collections ... Every library or individual who has to work with medieval MSS will already know that Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries is as indispensable as it is authoritative.' Nigel Ramsay, British Library, Archives, Oct 1992, No. 88 `Detailed annotations make the series indispensable. ' Northern History, Vol. 29 `While a good many of these manuscripts are already known from other published surveys, they are here to be found with fresh and authoritative descriptions ... Dr Piper is to be congratulated on the seeing through to publication with high competence of this fourth volume, of which he is responsible for a goodly part of the descriptions.' Anthony Ward, SM, Ephemerides Liturgicae 108 (1994)