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Titles appearing in Art Book News Annual — February 2008
Arrangement is by title. Visit publisher's website

Beatus vir; studies in early English and Norse manuscripts in memory of Phillip Pulsiano.

Ed. by A. N. Doane and Kirsten Wolf. (Medieval and Renaissance texts and studies; v.319)
ACMRS, ©2006    545 p.    $65.00    PR179
978-0-86698-364-8

Published by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, this commemorative volume contains 14 essays mainly on Old Norse and Old English manuscripts, reflecting the life's work of the late Pulsiano (formerly Villanova U., Philadelphia). Most of the essays present the contributor's research on a specific manuscript or group of manuscripts. In addition, Andrew Prescott (former curator, British Library) offers a lengthy article on the British Library's shelving system and Peter J. Lucas (emeritus, U. of Cambridge, the UK) describes the work of the 17th century Anglo-Saxon scholar Abraham Wheelock. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Beowulf and Lejre.

Niles, John D. (Medieval and renaissance texts and studies; v.323)
ACMRS, ©2007    495 p.    $89.00    PR1587
978-0-86698-368-6

In his latest adventure, the mighty Anglo-Saxon hero falls in love with a beautiful dark-eyed Hungarian princess, then must rescue her from The Golden Hoard. Not exactly, but the story is about a marriage of sorts, between a text and a place. Tradition places the main action of the Old English poem at Lejre, Zealand (Denmark), and excavations there 1986-88 and 2004-05 have revealed a succession of great halls dated from the middle sixth to the late tenth centuries, and very similar to the one described in eight-century poem. Archaeologists, historians, and literary scholars consider the implications. The publisher is the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Building the kingdom; Giannozzo Manetti of the material and spiritual edifice.

Smith, Christine and Joseph F. O'Connor. (Medieval and renaissance texts and studies; v.317)
ACMRS, ©2006    518 p.    $69.00    NA2599
978-2-503-52581-5

In a day when to be an intellectual was to also be a cleric, he thought, and yet was a layman. In an era when to be rich was not necessarily to be generous, his was a relatively open hand. Further, while others built monuments to themselves he built words that described what those monuments actually said about literature, history and spirituality. Smith (history of medieval and Renaissance architecture, Harvard U.) and O'Connor (classics, Georgetown U.) offer Manetti's detailed texts on fascinating aspects of papal court life, in which he was intimately involved, as they related to building projects that served to reinforce power and privilege. Their translations are accessible and their commentaries are thorough, making for exciting reading and true insight into what a well-educated layman actually thought about symbols of power. Published by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Wind & water in the Middle Ages; fluid technologies from antiquity to the Renaissance.

Ed. by Steven A. Walton. (Medieval and Renaissance texts and studies; 322; Penn State Medieval studies; no.2)
ACMRS, ©2006    300 p.    $55.00    TJ840
978-0-86698-367-9

Published by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the 11 essays of this volume represent a portion of those presented, in an earlier format, in the eponymous conference held at Penn State in April 2004. The paper topics include legalities that sprang from the invention of the windmill, waterworks in Islamic gardens, mills in medieval Valencia, water management in London, the role of monasteries, and mills in Ireland. The contributors are based in the UK, Australia, Ireland, Spain and the U.S. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)