A review by marginaliant
Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys Into the Medieval World by Christopher de Hamel
5.0
When I read books about medieval manuscripts, I come to them fully prepared for a slog. For some reason, it's a field full of dry and tedious prose. When my father recommended this book to me I picked it up with some trepidation. It is, in fact, a thick brick of a book at around 600 pages.
Now that I've come to the end of it, I can confidently say that Christopher de Hamel is now responsible for one of the best reading experiences I have had in books reading to medieval manuscripts, as well as books relating to the middle ages, material culture, art history, and history more generally. It is simply that good.
The book is divided into chapters that are each devoted to a different manuscript. These manuscripts range in age and subject matter so as to really give us a broad scope of the field of medieval manuscripts as a whole. While some of the greatest hits of medieval manuscripts are conspicuously absent (the Duc de Berry's famous book of hours being among them) the book isn't the poorer for these absences. After all, any book can talk about that book of hours.
De Hamel's insider perspective would be enough to bring the reader in close contact with some of the most remarkable medieval manuscripts, but his personality and writing are what kept me around for the whole book. He invites us along with him in a conversational (and sometimes conspiratorial, as when he tells us about eating chocolate liqueurs and not using gloves while handling manuscripts) manner. It's clear that he loves these books and he wants us to love them as well.
If I had a large private library of medieval books, there is no one I would rather have come and assess them.
Now that I've come to the end of it, I can confidently say that Christopher de Hamel is now responsible for one of the best reading experiences I have had in books reading to medieval manuscripts, as well as books relating to the middle ages, material culture, art history, and history more generally. It is simply that good.
The book is divided into chapters that are each devoted to a different manuscript. These manuscripts range in age and subject matter so as to really give us a broad scope of the field of medieval manuscripts as a whole. While some of the greatest hits of medieval manuscripts are conspicuously absent (the Duc de Berry's famous book of hours being among them) the book isn't the poorer for these absences. After all, any book can talk about that book of hours.
De Hamel's insider perspective would be enough to bring the reader in close contact with some of the most remarkable medieval manuscripts, but his personality and writing are what kept me around for the whole book. He invites us along with him in a conversational (and sometimes conspiratorial, as when he tells us about eating chocolate liqueurs and not using gloves while handling manuscripts) manner. It's clear that he loves these books and he wants us to love them as well.
If I had a large private library of medieval books, there is no one I would rather have come and assess them.