Bibliomania in the Middle Ages : being sketches of bookworms, collectors, Bible students, scribes, and illuminators, from the Anglo-Saxon and Norman periods, to the introduction of printing into England ; with anecdotes illustrating the history of the monastic libraries of Great Britain in the olden time.

Merryweather, F.S. ; Copinger, H.B.; Copinger, W.A. ; Schonfield, H.J.

Published by Benjamin Blom, Inc., New York, 1972 reprint of 1933 edition, 1972

About this Item

Cloth, 8vo, 23 cm, 288 pp. "Merryweather focuses on the role of the monasteries, especially in England, in preserving texts from the seventh to the fifteenth century. Benedict Biscop, for example, undertook five trips to Rome in the seventh century to buy books for his monastery at Wearmouth, where The Venerable Bede later wrote his important history, which drew on Benedict's acquisitions. Merryweather notes that William Britone of Glastonbuiy Abbey listed 400 volumes in the monastic library in 1248. In addition to Bibles and works of the Church Fathers, the collection held books by Livy, Sallust, Virgil, Cicero, Boethius, Horace, and Juvenal. The Franciscans and Dominicans assembled admirable libraries. In the fifteenth century, the Greyfriars Library in London profited from a four-hundred-pound donation from the Lord Mayor Dick Whittington. An authoritative study."- Rosenblum, commenting on a 1997 reprint. Covers a trifle rubbed, lower rear fore-edge corner slightly bumped, otherwise Very Good.

Seller Inventory # ABE-59447

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Bibliomania in the Middle Ages : being sketches of bookworms, collectors, Bible students, scribes, and illuminators, from the Anglo-Saxon and Norman periods, to the introduction of printing into England ; with anecdotes illustrating the history of the monastic libraries of Great Britain in the olden time.
• Publisher: Benjamin Blom, Inc., New York, 1972 reprint of 1933 edition
• Publication Date: 1972
• Binding: Hardcover
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