OT-Book of potential interest

Christopher de Hamel (who will be familiar to many here as the author of the commentary to Liber Bestiarum) recently had a book published which has been critically acclaimed and which may well be of interest to many here. The title is Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, and it has been published by Allen Lane, a Penguin Imprint. This perhaps means that the book may see a Folio edition at some point in the future, but for those who wish to get their paws on this wonderful chunky (600 pages) volume immediately, it is currently included in Blackwell's Sale at a very enticing 50% off. I clicked and collected a copy from my local university bookshop at lunchtime.

Looks good - and free postage too.

I second the recommendation, tearfully, as I paid full price for it. Should be of particular interest to anyone who owns the medieval facsimiles.

>1 HuxleyTheCat:

Oh how lovely to hear from you, Fiona. You have been much missed. And still on the money: this book was given to me for Christmas, and has been delighting me since.

Many, many thanks for the tip! I just ordered a copy: with free postage it's a no-brainer at half price.

>1 HuxleyTheCat:

Have missed you! Thanks for the recommendation. Ordered from Bookdepository. An excellent gift to myself for The Three Kings Day!

>1 HuxleyTheCat: {PURRRR} Huxley's back :)

Lovely to see your name here again, Fiona.

>1 HuxleyTheCat: I dithered over this one some weeks ago after reading a review. This is too good a deal to miss. Got my order in straight away, many thanks. Now, back to the FS sale.

ps: Where the hell have you been? Naughty, naughty!

>1 HuxleyTheCat: Lovely to have your much-missed felineness returning to these threads, Fiona. Many thanks for this recommendation. Ordered pronto from Blackwells: always a pleasure to give my custom to a real bookshop, one that pays its taxes.

>9 cronshaw: always a pleasure to give my custom to a real bookshop, one that pays its taxes.

Hear, hear! And duly ordered, from Blackwells.

I hope you're on commission for these, Fiona.

Ordered as well, but from Book Depository in CAD, as the sterling is quite unkind to us colonists at present.

Thank you, I could not resist. Let's say it's a belated Christmas present to myself.

I had already paid full price at my local Waterstones (pre-Christmas) and it is well illustrated for a non-Folio book.

>10 folio_books: I can't seem to resist the urge to enable. There were two copies of the book at my local Blackwell's, I bought one and a colleague, having looked at the copy on my desk has just gone to buy the other.

>8 scratchpad: "ps: Where the hell have you been?" Learning to drive, buying a car, exploring what it's like to not be constrained by public transport.

>13 CarltonC: I like the paper and typography too, although there are typos which would never happen in a Folio book.

Edited to correct my own typo :-)

>14 HuxleyTheCat:

I believe your comment to me at >11 scholasticus: should have been directed to >8 scratchpad:. :)

I shall never have the luxury of driving, given my legal blindness, but I absolutely appreciate the sentiment re: being constrained by public transit!

And a book isn't truly a book until it has a typo! Preferably a minor one.

>14 HuxleyTheCat: (Via scholasticus) You can now enjoy visiting lots of obscure bookshops and share in the pleasures of finding a place to park. Bon voyage!

For those still vacillating the MSS given a chapter each are Gospels of St Augustine, Codex Amiatinus, Book of Kells, Leiden Aratea, Morgan Beatus, Hugo Pictor, Copenhagen Psalter, Carmina Burana, Hours of Jeanne de Navarre, Hengwrt Chaucer, Visconti Semideus, and Spinola Hours. Others are mentioned in passing. It's no dry catalogue, but thoroughly entertaining, and was very reasonably priced before the sale.

>1 HuxleyTheCat:
Okay, I'm fadabled.

Fadabled (fadable (v.) Look up fadable at http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Groups:Folio_Society_Devotees
early 21c., "to be influenced to purchase (usually) Folio Society books," from fad- (1) "Folio Society Addict" + able. Related: Fadabled; fadabling. A fadabling act (2017) is so called because it empowers a person to take certain action to buy (usually) a Folio Society book after group influence.

I'll get it from Book Depository, currently 35% off rrp.

My copy arrived this morning - beautiful and fascinating. I can see me spending many a long hour with this for company. Thanks, Huxley, for the heads-up. At £15 a bargain indeed.

>19 folio_books: I'm very happy to read that you are content with it, Glenn. Mr De Hamel is a most engaging and enthusiastic companion and guide, which makes the subject matter (which in the wrong hands could be quite dry) thoroughly entertaining as >17 Jayked: notes.

For those who are interested in this subject matter (and who can access BBC iPlayer), this programme on The Search for the Lost Manuscript of Julian of Norwich http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07l6bd0/the-search-for-the-lost-manuscript...
is a nice way to spend an hour or so on a lazy Sunday. For me it was a particular joy to see Stanbrook Abbey; a place of particular significance for lovers of fine press books.

>20 HuxleyTheCat: Mr De Hamel is a most engaging and enthusiastic companion and guide

I started reading it last night and you are right. He's immediately engaging, has an interesting way of telling a story and very droll. I like him already. It's nice to imagine Folio might pick up on this one day.

>21 HuxleyTheCat: The Search for the Lost Manuscript of Julian of Norwich

Marvellous programme. I enjoyed it immensely when it was first aired.

>22 folio_books:
Have you reached p.57 yet?
"He told me much more, not all of which I really understood, for the robust Geordie accent can still be impenetrable to southerners. Ceolfrith and the visiting Roman cantor had doubtless conversed here in Latin, which might have been easier."
I could happily listen to Jimmy Nail all day long, but then Scots are polyglots perforce.

>23 Jayked: the robust Geordie accent can still be impenetrable to southerners

Ha! Not yet but now I'm looking forward to it :) I love the man's playful humour.

>1 HuxleyTheCat:

it is currently included in Blackwell's Sale at a very enticing 50% off.
Sadly learned of this too late to benefit on this book, even though fortunately didn't pay full price (it looks as fab as the reviews suggest), but thanks for this as managed to pick up five other books that were on my immediate wish-list, at the said 50% off:

Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow
I Contain Multitudes - Ed Yonge
The Gene, An Intimate History - Siddartha Mukherjee
Spitalfields - Dan Cruickshank
Scandinavians, In Search of the Soul of the North - Robert Ferguson

Now that's what I call a sale! Infinitely superior to the FS one for me. Should have spotted this, but for some reason slipped under the radar, so a huge thank you to you, Huxley (and here's another one very glad to see you back!).

>25 Willoyd: "Now that's what I call a sale!" And looking back at my records, Taschen may well be tempting us before the end of the month, too.

Phaidon are also currently having a very good sale.
http://au.phaidon.com/promo/warehouse-clearance/
I can recommend Earth Art, Earth on Fire and Sites of Ancient Greece as particularly attractive buys at less than ⅓ normal price.

>27 wcarter: There's certainly plenty of temptation there. Oversized books on art are one of the greatest pleasures in life, but, where to put them... ? I think a purge of my book cases is in order for this coming weekend.

Mine arrived today - I didn't expect it to be so big! It's beautiful.

>27 wcarter:

Thanks for the link - some interesting books on sale. However, I had The Sites of Ancient Greece in the basket and was about to hit buy at £20 (reduced from Almost £40) plus £5 shipping when I thought to check elsewhere. I've now snagged it from Books etc on Amazon for £16.07 including shipping!

After much waiting, my copy final made it over the pond. Nicely bound and designed for such an inexpensive tome. What a good read on a possibly dry topic. I only read the intro and then skipped to the Book of Kells where I could follow along in my facsimile but plan to visit the other manuscripts in the future.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/20/worth-waiting-for-christopher-de-h...

>32 HuxleyTheCat: Many thanks for this link. I am not sure under which section is was hiding in the (electronic) Guardian. I still have not found except by doing a search!
I will have to move up my TBR pile, as have only browsed until now.

>32 HuxleyTheCat: “Explicit hoc totum, pro Christi da mihi potum” Love it.

Five years on, de Hamel has written a companion book, The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club. The earlier book was themed round particular manuscripts, this one round the people who collected them, preserved them, treasured them. The new book is similar in bulk, format, and level of illustration as the earlier one. It has been published just today, so a complete view of its 600+ pages eludes me for the moment, but a dip or two suggests the writing is just as engaging as in the earlier book.

>35 affle:

I bought his original manuscripts book solely on Fiona's recommendation and it immediately became one of my favourites. He has a unique, extremely engaging style. This one is now added to my Christmas wish list. Thanks, Alan.

I recently had the opportunity to hear de Hamel speak. I'm not especially interested in medieval manuscripts, but it's a very long time since I remember having been so entertained by a public lecture. I shall make a point to look up these two books.

My thanks also -- didn't see this one coming, but it's an instant order.

>36 folio_books: Might have sold out by then!

>39 English-bookseller:

I'll have to take my chances after what I've paid Folio for books recently.