This credit/non-credit half-course introduces you to the methods and resources of literary research in periods up to 1660: vernacular palaeography, reference materials for the period, and critical editing. Course requirements include learning how to read from, to edit, and to annotate English manuscript and printed books. You will need to draw on two textbooks. Because our class is small in numbers and these books are available locally in reference or short-term-loan collections, I have left to your discretion whether or not to purchase them. They are not on order anywhere.

• D. C. Greetham. Textual Scholarship: An Introduction. New York and London: Garland, 1994. Z 1001 G7 1991 Robarts Library (2 copies); Z 1001 G7 1994 Trinity College; 010.44 G816T MC Faculty of Information Studies (short-term loan).
• Preston, Jean F., and Laetitia Yeandle. English Handwriting 1400-1650: an Introductory Manual. Binghamton: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1992. Z 115 .E5P74 1992 Robarts and Victoria (CRRS); ref f Z 115 E5P74 1992 Fisher Rare Book Library.

In the second week you will be asked to buy an additional collection of sample text pages for study. Cost-recovery will determine the charge for this.

This is a credit/non-credit course. To receive a credit, you must

1. attend class and participate, e.g., by reading from assigned manuscripts, by discussing questions, or by commenting on seminar reports by other class members;
2. deliver in class and submit in writing a 30-minute seminar report thoroughly annotating 100 lines from a text relevant to your dissertation field -- these annotations should be based on all scholarly editions of the work and on a diligent survey of reference materials, including bibliographies, databases, dictionaries, etc., electronic and printed;
3. co-prepare, with other class members, a scholarly electronic edition of the Public Record Office State Papers 1/29, fols. 212v-37r, Richard Gibson's unedited accounts of Revels expenses on masks and jousts at Greenwich and York Place, Dec. 9, 1520-March 5, 1522; and
4. pass a class test on transcribing from early manuscripts.

Preliminary Schedule

• Week 1: January 9
  • Course overview
  • Scheduling student reports
  • Text: MSS --
    • (1) Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care (MS Hatton 20) (Skeat, I);
    • (2) The Wanderer from The Exeter Book (Exeter Cathedral)
  • Question of the day: why a Web edition?

• Week 2: January 16
  • Text: MSS --
    • (1) paraphrase of Exodus (Skeat II; Bodleian MS Junius 11);
    • (2) Parker Chronicle (Skeat III; Bodleian MS. Laud 636)
  • Question of the day: how do you find manuscripts on a given subject?
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: Richard Gibson's hand (characters, abbreviations)

• Week 3: January 23
  • Text: MSS --
    • the Z-text of Piers Plowman, opening (Bodleian Library MS Bodley 851);
    • Chaucer's "Balade to Rosemounde" (Skeat XII; Bodleian MS. Rawlinson Poet. 163)
  • Question of the day: what are the important archives?
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: editorial tag-set

• Week 4: January 30
  • Text: MSS
    • "The Nun's Priest's Tale" from Canterbury Tales (Hengwrt and Ellesmere)
  • Question of the day: how can you identify historical proper names?
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: exchanging transcripts (first two pages)

• Week 5: February 6
  • Text: MSS --
    • (1) Secunda Pastorum from the Wakefield plays;
    • (2) William Dunbar, "London," Pierpont Morgan MA 717
  • Report 1: Amy Airhart
  • Question of the day: how do you discover what words mean?
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: returning proofed transcripts (first two pages)

• Week 6: February 13
  • Text: MSS --
    • (1) Margery Paston to her husband, ca. 1481 (BL Add. MS 27446, fol. 52);
    • (2) Sir Thomas Wyatt's "In Spain" and "I sle" (BL Egerton MS 2711)
  • Report 2: Kari Maaren
  • Question of the day: what is the year's calendar?
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: exchanging transcripts (next four pages)

• Reading Week: February 20 -- NO CLASS

• Week 7: February 27
  • Texts:
    • (1) printed book of William Lily and John Colet's Introduction to Grammar (1567);
    • (2) MS of Thomas Starkey to Henry VIII, ca. August 1536, PRO SP 1/105, fol. 119r
  • Report 3: Jennifer Smith
  • Question of the day: what is the English alphabet?
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: returning proofed transcripts (next four pages)

• Week 8: March 6
  • Report 4: Yuri Cowen
  • Text: MSS -- two letters by Elizabeth I:
    • (1) Elizabeth to Mary I, March 16, 1554 (PRO SP 11/4, no. 2)
    • (2) Elizabeth to James VI, ca. March 1593 (Folger MS X.d.397);
  • Question of the day: what kind of typeface is that?
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: exchanging transcripts (remaining pages)

• Week 9: March 13
  • Texts: printed book --
    • (1) Shakespeare's sonnets (1609);
    • (2) Troilus and Cressida II.iii.107-34
  • Report 5: Stephen Marche
  • Question of the day: where do you find out about typeface?
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: returning proofed transcripts (remaining pages)

• Week 10: March 20
  • Report 6: Rob Corson
  • Text: MSS --
    • Shakespeare's hand and Hand D of the Play of Sir Thomas More (BL Harleian 7368);
  • Question of the day: how is authorship attributed?
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: annotation of first half of transcript

• Week 11: March 27
  • Text:
    • printed book -- George Herbert's The Temple (1633)
  • Report 7: Travis de Coote
  • Question of the day: what did London look like?
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: annotation of second half of transcript

• Week 12: April 3
  • Text: MSS --
    • (1) Milton's Sonnet VII, from Trinity College Cambridge MS R.3.4 (ca. 1633);
    • (2) Milton's commonplace book (BL Add. MS 36354)
  • Report 8-9: Kathleen Cawsey and Jennifer Pangman
  • Question of the day: what reference works do we need but don't have?
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: submission of transcripts and annotations

• Week 13: April 10
  • Web Edition of Revels Documents: introduction
  • One-hour test on mss transcription

Some Useful Reference Works

• Autograph Poetry in the English Language: Facsimiles of Original Manuscripts from the Fourteenth to the Twentieth Century. Compiled by P. J,. Croft. 2 vols. London: Cassell, 1973. PR 1174 A87 1973 Trinity College Library.

• Bibliography I: Checklist. Department of English, University of Toronto, 2001.

• Brown, Michelle P. Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991. Z 115 E5B76 1991 Robarts Library.

• --. A Guide to Western Historical Scripts: From Antiquity to 1600. London : British Library, 1990. Z 113 B76 1990 Robarts General Reference

• Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales: A Facsimile and Transcription of the Hengwrt Manuscript. Ed. Paul G. Ruggiers. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1979. PR 1866 R8 1979 Robarts Library. See also the electronic transcription in Lancashire 1996.

• Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales: the New Ellesmere Chaucer Monochromatic Facsimile (of Huntington Library MS EL 26 C 9). Ed. Daniel Woodward and Martin Stevens. San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library, 1997. PR 1866 W66 1997X Robarts Library.

• Davis, Godfrey. Bibliography of British History: Stuart Period, 1603-1714. 2nd edn. Ed. Mary F. Keller. 1970. Z 2018 D25 Ref and Ren

• Davis, Norman. Non-cycle Plays and the Winchester Dialogues: Facsimiles. Leeds: School of English, 1979. PR 1260 D32 Robarts Library. See also the electronic transcription in Lancashire 1996.

• Dawson, Giles E., and Laetitia Kennedy-Skipton. Elizabethan Handwriting, 1500-1650. New York: W. W. Norton, 1966. Z 43 D264 Robarts

• Early Modern English Dictionaries Database, a collection of early English dictionaries, compiled by Ian Lancashire. Toronto: University of Toronto Library, 1996-99.

• Elton, G. R. England 1200-1600. London: Sources of History, 1969. DA 176 E4 Robarts

• English Manuscript Studies, 1100-1700. Ed. Peter Beal and Jeremy Griffiths. Oxford: Blackwell, 1989-. 6 vols. to 1997. Z 115 E5E55 Robarts Library.

• Harner, James L. Literary Research Guide: A Guide to Reference Sources for the Study of Literatures in English and Related Topics. 3rd edn. New York: MLA, 1998. Z 2011 H34 Robarts General Reference

• Herwijnen, Eric van. Practical SGML. 2nd edn. Boston: Kluwer, 1994.

• The International Medieval Institute

• Lancashire, Ian. Encoding Guidelines. Renaissance Electronic Texts. Supplementary Studies 1. Toronto: University of Toronto Library, 1994.

• --, ed. English Renaissance Finding List. Version 1: April 1993. Toronto: University of Toronto.

• The Macro Plays: The Castle of Perseverance, Wisdom, Mankind; A Facsimile Edition with Facing Transcriptions. Ed. David Bevington. New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., 1972 PR 1260 B4 Robarts Library. See also electronic transcription in Lancashire 1996.

• Martin, Charles Trice, comp. The Record Interpreter: A Collection of Abbreviations, Latin Words and Names Used in English Historical Manuscripts and Records. 2nd edn. London: Stevens and Sons, 1910. Z 111 M23 1910 Robarts Library General Reference

• Middle English Compendium: 15, 940 entries from the Middle English Dictionary (M-U); 1,073 entries in a hyperbibliography of Middle English prose and verse; and 42 texts

• Milton, John. Poems; reproduced in facsimile from the manuscript in Trinity College, Cambridge. Scolar Press, 1970. PR 3586 A25 1970 Robarts Library

• Musciano, Chuck, and Bill Kennedy. HTML: The Definitive Guide. Bonn: O'Reilly, 1996.

• A Newe Booke of Copies 1574: A Facsimile of a Unique Elizabethan Writing Book. Ed. Berthold Wolpe. London: Oxford University Press, 1962. Z 43 A3N43 Robarts

• The Parker Chronicle and Laws (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS. 173): A Facsimile. Ed. Robin Flower and Hugh Smith. London: EETS, 1941. PR 1119 .A2P3 Trinity College Library.

• Parkes, M. B. English Cursive Book Hands 1250-1500. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. Z 115 E5P37 Robarts Library.

• --. Scribes, Scripts, and Readers: Studies in the Communication, Presentation, and Dissemination of Medieval Texts. London: Hambledon Press, 1991. Z 115 .E5P38 1991 Robarts Library

• Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century. Ed. Norman Davis. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.

• Petti, Anthony G. English Literary Hands from Chaucer to Dryden London: Edward Arnold, 1977. Z 115 E5P47 1977 Robarts Library.

• Piers the Plowman: A Facsimile of the Z-Text in Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Bodley 851. Introduced by Charlotte Brewer and George Rigg. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1994. PR 2010 B7 1994 Robarts Library.

• Preston, Jean F., and Laetitia Yeandle. English Handwriting 1400-1650: An Introductory Manual.. Binghamton, NY: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1992. Z 115 E5 P74 1992 Large VUCR.

• Read, Conyers. Bibliography of British History: Tudor Period, 1485-1603. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959. 2nd edn. Z 2018 R28 Robarts

• Richards, Mary P. ed. Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: Basic Readings. New York: Garland, 1994. Z 105 A54 1994 Robarts Library.

• Riggs, A. G. ed. Editing Medieval Texts: English, French, and Latin, Written in England. Toronto: Garland, 1977. PN 162 C62 1976.

• Skeat, Walter A. Twelve Facsimiles of Old English Manuscripts. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892. Z 115 E5S5 Robarts Library

• Sperberg-McQueen, C. M., and Lou Burnard, eds. Guidelines for Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange. Providence: Electronic Book Technologies, 1994-. See TEI Website at www.tei-c.org/

• University of Toronto English Library: links to sites and many electronic texts, including Representative Poetry On-line

• Wright, C. E. English Vernacular Hands from the Twelfth to the Fifteenth Centuries. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960. Z 115 E5W7 Robarts Library.