One of my fondest memories at Harvard was my time spent in the bowels of the various libraries on campus. From the secret tunnels between Widener and Pusey to the grandeur and ostentation of the Law School Library, to the small, quaint, but incomparably friendly Tozzer Library of Anthropology, I spent much of my time in graduate school surrounded by aging parchment written by the (mostly) dead. None of these experiences, however, can rival the sheer excitement and astonishment that I experienced when I sat in front of ancient papyrus and medieval manuscripts within Harvard’s Rare Book Collection deep within the marbled walls of Houghton Library. Turning the pages of 12th century Arthurian legends, 13th century Islamic medical texts, and 8th century Buddhist scrolls trimmed in gold leaf, I reflected on just how many people had turned those pages before me.

While we are now graced with the power of Google to gaze at the images that were once reserved for the elite of medieval society, there truly is nothing quite like holding a medieval manuscript in one’s hands. It’s often difficult to communicate to non-specialists (aka. non-book nerds) just how fascinating it is to examine such documents, turning them over, taking note of their details and imperfections, and trying one’s best to listen to what their continued presence can still reveal to us today. In an attempt to do just that, author Christopher de Hamel takes us on a beautiful journey through time to carefully examine twelve such works of art in his 2018 book, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts. 

Overview: 

Taking us through manuscript collections in Florence, Dublin, Leiden, Los Angeles, and many cultural centers around the Europe and America, Hamel introduces us to twelve Western European medieval manuscripts. The book is structured like many of my classes on manuscripts: twelve manuscripts (divided respectively into twelve chapters) are laid out before us while an expert gives us the context to the piece. At the end of the brief summary, we then discuss the finer details of the work amongst ourselves while the instructor helps to guide our inquiries. The manuscripts primarily date from the late sixth century (The Gospels of Saint Augustine) to the early 16th century (The Spinola Hours). Between these two, we are given a close examination of many key manuscripts in medieval history, including the the Codex Amiatinus, the Book of Kells, the Leiden Aratea, the Morgan Beatus, Hugo Pictor, the Copenhagen Psalter, the Carmina Burana, the Hours of Jean de Navarre, the Hengwrt Chaucer, and the Visconti Semideus. 

The book is written in the style of a travelogue, as de Hamel describes his experiences traveling to the various libraries and museums where these manuscripts are held, taking care to note the small details of interior design, atmosphere, and the colorful personality of the staff  members he encounters along the way. As such, de Hamel writes in a breezy, first-person narrative style, recounting his dreamlike journeys through some of the world’s greatest manuscript collections, including the Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen, The National Library in St. Petersburg, The Getty in Los Angeles, and Trinity College in Dublin. 

At its core, the book is written like a biography of manuscripts, each with their own unique story and personality. The chapters themselves are structured like mini-interviews, as De Hamel writes, “The life of every manuscript, like that of every person, is different, and all have stories to divulge” (3). He goes beyond the mere content of each manuscript and describes what they look like, how they are bound and collated, and how they came to be where they are today, often traveling across multiple countries and private collectors through the centuries. De Hamel consistently emphasizes the migratory nature of manuscripts, noting how they were transported through the hands of various scribes, scholars, and collectors through the years. This is an especially interesting portion of each chapter, as we come to find that only one of the twelve texts (the Hours of Jeanne de Navarre) currently resides in its country of origin. At the end of this “interview” process, the reader gets a sense that they really know many of the intimate details of the manuscript, as de Hamel writes,  “By the end of that process the manuscript has a persona, an identity and very often a name which subsequently stays with it forever” (566). 

Positives: 

Just as de Hamel typically begins each chapter with a physical description of the manuscript, it is only fitting that do the same for his book as well. The book measures roughly 6.6 x 1.9 x 9.6 inches and consists of 630 pages. Carrying it from coffeeshop to coffeeshop was relatively easy due to its small size, but its thickness did make it a bit of a large presence in my backpack. The book is filled with illustrations of the pages that are discussed in detail, which provides an instant reference for readers, though most of them are rendered in greyscale. While there are a handful of full-colored images in the center of the volume, I do wish there were more in order to fully appreciate the beauty and intricacies of these illuminated manuscripts (although it is understandable, considering the additional printing costs for full-colored prints). 

As a whole, this is an incredibly accessible and friendly tone; packed with illustrations of illuminated manuscripts. We get a rich and multilayered picture of medieval society through the examination of these manuscripts. If nothing else, this book serves as a fantastic example of how to analyze primary sources from a historical scholar’s perspective. De Hamel writes in a relaxed, jovial manner, often addressing the reader directly with various cues for us “note carefully” and “remember.” He conveys to the casual reader what it is like to visit various libraries and manuscript collections around the world and examine medieval manuscripts. Furthermore, he provides the reader with a glimpse into the contemporary debates within manuscript studies, often championing the interested reader to become involved with the field. Yet, it’s this charming, yet one-sided, dimension of the work that ultimately falls short of reality.

Criticism:

As such, one would be easy to mistake that the manuscript scholar leads a rather charmed and breezy life, perusing ancient manuscripts in exotic locales. One would be led to believe that the life of a medievalist is one filled with exquisite libraries and museums, broken only by opportunities to enjoy the Danish waterfront while savoring a dish of smoked salmon with buttered asparagus at a restaurant named after Kierkegaard. (pg. 304). This highlights one of the central issues with this work: in its attempt to appeal to a mass audience in it’s travelogue format, it can drastically distort the day-to-day monotony of academic life. 

De Hamel, especially in the Epilogue, invites the reader to become involved in manuscript studies, insisting that the field is relatively small and so many discoveries are yet to be made. While these depictions have some basis in truth, in reality, these expensive travels are the exception to academic life, rather than the rule. Academic life is typically encumbered with writing grants to secure funding for such trips, justifying your research to department heads via competing for publication, and teaching students day in and day out. In the same way that we filter our Instagram stories to show the highlights of our life, De Hamel writes these twelve chapters with a breezy, highly-curated narrative style. To be sure, no one wants to read about the drudgery of securing funding for research and attending mind-numbing committee meetings. Likewise, entertainment-centered education is not a bad thing in itself either. Yet, it is rather odd to find such a one-sided view of manuscript studies depicted in this book, as long as one doesn’t consider De Hamel’s pitch for the field towards the end of the book. 

In regards to content, I’m afraid that unless you are already interested in medieval manuscripts, you are unlikely to be converted into loving them through this volume. If you have no basic concept of medieval history, it might be difficult to follow along certain threads and tangents that he expounds upon as he traces through the various European towns and citizens that are relevant to the history of the manuscript in question. Also, the work can become a bit monotonous in certain places, such as the specifics of how each manuscript is collated, and it can be difficult to keep up with the wide expanse of names and places in the manuscripts travels across the centuries. In short, while De Hamel often does a phenomenal job in attempting to make manuscript studies engaging and interesting, he also risks overstating the novelty of his observations and overhyping the day-to-day routine of a manuscript scholar. 

Conclusion: 

Overall, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts is a splendid work in conveying the basics of manuscript studies to the non-specialist. I’m especially impressed with the ways in which De Hamel addresses the process of book production in the medieval era, including the booksellers in Paris and the litany of manuscript illuminators throughout the continent. De Hamel deftly takes us on a whirlwind tour of impressive libraries and precious books. His amicable tone and unabashed enthusiasm for this subject matter is charmingly infectious to say the least, and one cannot help but be inspired by his longstanding excitement for handling these precious objects, even after many years of intensive study. If one goes into this book anticipating its travelogue-style tone, then I truly believe that one can learn much about the production of medieval manuscripts and what they tell us about the societies that created them. 

Now I return to those marbled hallways of Houghton. Looking at the manuscripts, scrolls, and letters that lay in front of me, I thought to myself: how many other eyes have taken in these same strokes of ink? In those moments, I realized that I was but one in a long tradition of people who have handled these pages. Through these material bonds, we are intimately connected across the centuries. That's a gift that I could never truly wrap my head around, but I always walked away with a deep sense of humility. I believe that de Hamel, in this work, is attempting to put this feeling into words. And in this task, where I often struggle to find the words, de Hamel largely succeeds where I often fall short.