Writing in Old Books: Commemoration, Interpretation, and Meaning

Description

Inscriptions in manuscripts and early printed books variously commemorate ownership, family history, gift, loan, purchase, and sale; annotations and comments likewise provide evidence of active reading and textual response. Such inscriptions constitute the raw data for provenance and book history research. Readerly annotations frequently served to elucidate the text, but the meaning of personal inscriptions and the identities of their makers may prove more elusive. This paper considers a range of different post-medieval inscriptions in copies of John Gower's poetry, focussing on three owners of the same copy of Berthelette's 1554 edition of Confessio Amantis, and on two seventeenth-century owners of the Trentham manuscript. Not all the named individuals can be securely identified, but nevertheless this paper extends knowledge of the reception of Gower's works, especially in the north of England and Scotland.

Period	13 Jul 2023
Event title	Early Book Society Biennial Conference: Meaning, Memory, and the Making of Culture: Manuscripts and Books 1350-1500
Event type	Conference
Location	Limerick, IrelandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International