A Descriptive Catalogue of the English Manuscripts of John Gower's Confessio Amantis

The late Derek Pearsall was Emeritus Gurney Professor of Middle English Literature at Harvard University; he wrote extensively on Chaucer, Gower, Langland and Lydgate, including biographies of Chaucer and Lydgate, an edition of the C-text of Langland's Piers Plowman.

• IntroductionMANUSCRIPTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM1. Cambridge, University Library MS. Dd.8.192. Cambridge, University Library MS. Mm.2.213. Cambridge, Pembroke College MS. 3074. Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College MS. 635. Cambridge, St Catharine's College MS. 76. Cambridge, St John's College MS. B.127. Cambridge, Trinity College MS. R.3.28. Glasgow University Library, Hunterian MS. 79. London, British Library MS. Additional 1204310. London, British Library MS. Additional 2213911. London, British Library MS. Egerton 91312. London, British Library MS. Egerton 199113. London, British Library MS. Harley 349014. London, British Library MS. Harley 386915. London, British Library MS. Harley 718416. London, British Library MS. Royal 18.C.xxii17. London, British Library MS. Stowe 95018. London, College of Arms MS. Arundel 4519. London, Society of Antiquaries MS. 13420. Manchester, Chetham's Library MS. 669621. Nottingham, University Library, Middleton Collection MS. WLC/LM/822. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Arch. Selden B.1123. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 3524. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Bodley 29425. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Bodley 69326. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Bodley 90227. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Fairfax 328. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Hatton 5129. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Laud Misc. 60930. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Lyell 3131. Oxford, Christ Church MS. 14832. Oxford, Corpus Christi College MS. 6733. Oxford, Magdalen College MS. Lat. 21334. Oxford, New College MS. 26635. Oxford, New College MS. 32636. Oxford, Wadham College MS. 13MANUSCRIPTS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE37. Cologny, Switzerland, Martin Bodmer MS. CB 17838. olim Marquess of Bute 85 (now in a private collection in Europe)MANUSCRIPTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA39. Chicago, IL, Newberry Library MS. +33.540. New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinecke Library, Osborn MS. fa. 141. New York, NY, Columbia University Library MS. Plimpton 26542. New York, NY, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library MS. M.12543. New York, NY, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library MS. M.12644. New York, NY, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library MS. M.69045. Philadelphia, PA, Rosenbach Museum and Library MS. 1083/2946. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, Firestone Library MS. Garrett 13647. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, Firestone Library MS. Taylor 548. San Marino, CA, Henry E. Huntington Library MS. EL 26 A 1749. Washington, DC, Folger Shakespeare Library MS. SM.1Appendix I: Summary List of Manuscripts, with date, lines missing, other contents and note of Macaulay's classification; with Fragments (brief descriptions) and Extracts listed at the endAppendix II: Manuscript Sigla used by Macaulay, in Alphabetical OrderAppendix III: Gower's Latin Addenda to the Confessio and Other Pieces, not by Gower, that Appear in Confessio Manuscripts Works CitedIndex of ManuscriptsGeneral Index

This book, more than forty years in the making and highly anticipated, does not disappoint.It promised to be an invaluable catalogue that will not merely facilitate, but generate importantnew research into not just John Gower's Confessio Amantis itself, but into a wide range ofaspects of the 15th century production of Middle English literary manuscripts.