This series of studies, by experts in the relevant fields, comprehensively and systematically examines British book production and publishing in the hundred years before the introduction of printing. The terms 'book' and 'publishing' are usually employed in reference to the products of the printing press. This collection of essays, however, deals with the manuscript book, its materials and make-up, the people who made, commissioned and read such books, the kinds of reading matter they wanted, and the way books catered for - and created - the reading and book-buying public. Special attention is paid to the increasing systemization and commercialization of production. These essays constitute a valuable work of reference for scholars and students in a wide range of disciplines.

List of illustrations and figures; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; List of works cited in short form; Introduction Derek Pearsall; Part I. The Book: 1. Materials: the paper revolution R. J. Lyall; 2. Design, decoration and illustration Kathleen L. Scott; 3. English decorated bookbindings Miriam M. Foot; Part II. Book Production: 4. Evidence for the study of London's late medieval manuscript-book trade C. Paul Christianson; 5. Publication by members of the religious orders A. I. Doyle; 6. Lollard book production Anne Hudson; 7. The production of books of liturgical polyphony Andrew Wathey; Part III. Patrons, Buyers and Owners: 8. Patrons, buyers and owners: the evidence for ownership, and the rôle of book owners in book production and the book trade Kate Harris; 9. Patrons, buyers and owners: book production and social status Carol Meale; 10. Books and book owners in fifteenth-century Scotland R. J. Lyall; Part IV. The Contents of Books: 11. The manuscripts of the major English poetic texts A. S. G. Edwards and Derek Pearsall; 12. Anthologies and miscellanies: production and choice of texts Julia Boffey and John J. Thompson; 13. Vernacular books of religion Vincent Gillespie; 14. Scientific and medical books Linda Ehrsam Voigts; Part V. Aftermath: 15. Manuscript to print N. F. Blake; Appendices; Index of manuscripts; General index.