List of Illustrations . . ix 
Preface . . xv 
Acknowledgments . . xix 
Abbreviations . . xxi 
Glossary of Key Manuscript Terminology . . xxiii 
Note on Transcriptions and Transcription Symbols . . xxxi 

THE FRONT PLATES: Transcriptions, Scripts, and Descriptive Analysis for Learning to Read Literary Texts on the Manuscript Page . . 1
HOW TO TRANSCRIBE MIDDLE ENGLISH . . 2
Bare Essentials 1: A Transcription Is Not an Edition . . 4 

INTRODUCTION: The Order of the Plates and Scripts Most Commonly Found in Middle English Literary Texts . . 6
1. The Land of Cokaygne (London, British Library, MS Harley 913) . . 8
2. "Ihesu Swete" (Chicago, IL, Newberry Library, MS 31) . . 11
3. The Pricke of Conscience (Chicago, IL, Newberry Library, MS 32.9) . . 13
4. Chaucer's "Cook's Tale" (Hg) (Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, Peniarth MS 392D, Hengwrt MS 154) . . 16
5. Chaucer's "Cook's Tale" (Cp) (Oxford, Corpus Christ! College, MS 198) . . 16
6. Omnisptantacio (formerly 'Ihe Clergy May Not Hold Property) (San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, MS HM 503) . . 20
7. Hoccleve 's "Chanceon to Somer" and Envoy to Regiment des Princes (San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, MS HM 111) . . 23
8. Langland, Piers Plowman (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 104) . . 26
9. Sir Degrevant (Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.i.6, Findern MS) . . 29
10. Wisdom (Washington, DC, Folger Shakespeare Library, MS V.a.354, Macro MS) . . 34 

CHAPTER 1. Major Middle English Poets and Manuscript Studies, 1300-1450 . . 39 
A Brief Overview of Topics Covered in This Chapter . . 39 
I. BL MS Arundel 292, Archaism, and the Preservation of Alliterative Poetry c. 1300-0. 1450 . . 40 
II. BL MS Harley 2253 and Principles of Compilatio, or: Why Read the Harley Lyrics in their Natural Habitat? . . 45 
Bare Essentials 2: Anglicana Script and Profiling the Individual Scribe . . 48 
III. Gawain and the Medieval Reader: The Importance of Manuscript Urctmatiom a Poem We Think We Know . . 56
Bare Essentials 3: Assessing Emendation in a Modem Edition . . 64 
IV. The Rise of English Book Production in Ricardian London: Professional Scribes and Langland's Piers Plowman . . 65 
Bare Essentials 4: Some Basic Concepts of Editing, Types of Written Standard Middle English, and Scribal Handling of Dialect . . 66 
V. Some of the Earliest Attempts to Assemble the Canterbury Tales . . 79 
VI. The Scribe Speaks at Last: Hoccleve as Scribe E . . 87 

CHAPTER 2. Romancing the Book: Manuscripts for "Euerich Inglische" . . 95
Middle English Romances in the Auchinleck, Thornton, and Findern Manuscripts . . 98 
I. Englishing Romance: The Auchinleck Manuscript . . 99 
II. Romancing the Gentry Household: Robert Thornton's Homemade Family Library . . 116 
Thornton Names in the Lincoln and London Manuscripts . . 126 
III. Courting Romance in the Provinces: The Findern Manuscript . . 139 

CHAPTER 3. The Power of Images in the Auchinleck, Vernon, Pearl, and Two Piers Plowman Manuscripts . . 153
I. Looking at Medieval Images . . 153 
II. The Auchinleck Manuscript . . 158 
III. The Vernon Manuscript . . 165 
IV. The Pearl Manuscript . . 172 
V. Two Piers Plowman Manuscripts and the Ushaw Prick of Conscience . . 189 
VI. Conclusion . . 204 

CHAPTER 4. Professional Readers at Work: Annotators, Editors, and Correctors in Middle English Literary Texts . . 207
I. Categories of Marginalia: The Annotating and Glossing of Chaucer . . 210 
II. The Annotations in Manuscripts of Langland's Piers Plowman . . 223 
III. Annotations and Corrections in the Book of Margery Kempe: Cruxes, Controversies, and Solutions . . 234 
Appendix on the Red Ink Annotator and Previous Annotators in BL MS Add. 61823 . . 238 
IV. The Quiet Connoisseur: The First Annotator(s) of Julian of Norwich's Showings in the Amherst Manuscript (London, British Library, MS Add. 37790) . . 239 

CHAPTER 5. Illuminating Chaucer's Ciwterhury Tales: Portraits of the Author and Selected Pilgrim Authors . . 245
I. Introduction . . 245 
II. The Decoration and Borders of the Hengwrt and Ellesmere Manuscripts . . 250 
III. The Historiated Initial With an Author Portrait: A Further Development of the Hengwrt Tradition . . 254 
IV. The Ellesmere Traditions: Illustrated Pilgrim Authors . . 267 
V. Conclusion . . 287 

CHAPTER 6. "Swete Cordyall" of "Lytterature": Some Middle English Manuscripts from the Cloister . . 291
I. Nourishing the Spirit of Religious Women: Vernacular Texts and Manuscripts . . 293 
II. Monastic Manuscripts of Chaucer: Literary Excellence under Religious Rule . . 303 
The Contents of London, British Library, MS Harley 7333 . . 307 
III. Lots of Lydgate and a Little Hoccleve: Chaucer's Successors in Monastic Hands . . 314 
IV. "Sadde Mete" for Mind and Soul: Contemplative and Visionary Texts in the Cloister . . 319 
V. Taking it to the Streets: Middle English Drama from the Cloister . . 335 

References Cited . . 355 
Illustration Credits . . 373 
Index of Manuscripts and Incunabula . . 375 
General Index . . 379