Abstractions of Evidence in the Study of Manuscripts and Early Printed Books

Critiques the use of material evidence in studies of manuscript and printed books by delving into accepted notions about the study of print culture. This book questions the institutional and ideological presuppositions that govern medieval studies, descriptive bibliography, and library science.

The second half of the book is concerned with abstract notions about books and scholarly definitions about what a book actually is: chapters include studies of basic bibliographical concepts ("Ideal Copy") and the application of such a notion in early editions of Chaucer, the combination of manuscript and printing in the books of Colard Mansion, and finally, examples of the organization of books by an early nineteenth-century book-collector Leander Van Ess. This study is an important contribution to debates about the nature of bibliography and the critical institutions that have shaped its current practice.

Introduction
Part I Inference and Evidence in Medieval Books: The calculus of calculus: W.W. Greg and the mathematics of Everyman Editions
The notions of text and variant in the prologue to Chaucer's Legend of Good Women: MS Gg lines 127-38
Two studies in early medieval dramatic texts and performances
Myths of the Wakefield master.
Part II What is a Book?: 'Ideal copy' vs 'ideal texts': the application of bibliographical language to facsimiles
Two studies in bibliographical identification and identity
The 1476 Boccaccio of Colard Mansion: note on a note by Seymour de Ricci
What is [a] Caxton? From book to text
Leander van Ess and the panzerization of early books and history
Conclusion: parody, irony, and the search for books of mass destruction
Principle works cited.