The Bristol Merlin
- ISBN-10
- 1641894148
- ISBN-13
- 9781641894142
- Pages
- 180
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2021-07-31
- Publisher
- ARC Humanities Press
- Authors
- Professor of Medieval Literature and Publishing Leah Tether, Laura Chuhan Campbell, Leah Tether
Description
The discovery of seven manuscript fragments of the Old French Suite Vulgate du Merlin in a set of early printed books in the Bristol Central Library hit global headlines in 2019. This book contains a comprehensive study of these fascinating Arthurian fragments. Beginning with an extensive contextual history, the authors reveal details of the fragments' origin, their importation to England, and their subsequent journey to a waste pile in a bookbinder's workshop, where they would be incorporated into the bindings of a four-volume edition of the works of Jean Gerson in the early sixteenth century. A full enquiry into the provenance of these host volumes sets out the possible routes from the bookbinder's workshop to their final home in Bristol Central Library. Using multi-spectral imaging to read the damaged sections of text, the authors also provide a full edition and translation of the narrative contained in the fragments.
