Illuminated manuscripts in Cambridge : a catalogue of Western book illumination in the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Cambridge colleges /

This handsome pair of volumes represent part 1 of a planned five-part series that will be a modern illustrated catalogue of all the illuminated medieval manuscripts in Cambridge libraries, including all the colleges. In these first two volumes, 251 manuscripts are catalogued. The standard basic information is included for each: contents, presumed date and place of origin to the degree known, provenance, and bibliography. Contributors give primary attention to describing the ornamental or figural decoration in each book, and for each there is at least one very fine-quality color illustration, and often more (19 counted for one manuscript). Commentary is extremely concise, and the set features no synthetic essays. Useful indexes are provided for manuscripts, artists, and provenance. The volumes are not a replacement for the great M. R. James catalogues of these manuscripts, e.g., A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum (1895), but a supplement, concentrating on decoration. These volumes are crucial tools for future scholarship and make access to these rich collections much easier. Their publication is a signal achievement, and any library serving readers interested in medieval manuscripts will want to have this set and the entire series as it appears. Summing Up: Essential. Graduate students and faculty/researchers. L. Nees University of Delaware