Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/305

 k 1920 SHORT NOTICES 297 the list of writers with the ' best ' editions of their works. Generally, but not always, the latest is presumed to be the best. Thus MM. Omont and Collon's edition of Gregory of Tours, as revised in 1913, is mentioned, while the more elaborate book by Arndt (1885) is omitted. Con- versely Kopp's edition of Martianus Capella (1836) is inserted, to the exclusion of that by Eyssenhardt (1866) ; but it is quite true, as Dr. Souter says, that ' there is as yet no satisfactory text ' of this author. For students who have not access to the costly volumes of the Monumenta Germaniae it might have been a kindness to mention such works as Holder's cheap text of Jordanis. The brief remarks on changes in the vocabulary and in the meaning of words are exceedingly helpful : one only wishes that the author had been allowed space to write at greater length. Even more stimulating is the tract on The Wanderings and Homes of Manuscripts by Dr. M. R. James, provost of Eton College (1919). It is a contribution to the history of the survival and transmission of ancient literature which probably no one but Dr. James could have written, for he stands alone — since the death of Traube and Delisle — in his first-hand knowledge of medieval libraries and of the sources of their contents. But in the little book before us there is no apparatus of erudition. Dr. James simply describes in the most graphic way how books were collected and how they passed from one country to another. For instance, he gives a picture of Sir Robert Cotton's library, and tells us how the books were arranged and which presses suffered most in the fire of 1731. In a brief outline, full of original observations, he traces the history of the transcription of books, shows us what forms of literature were most popular at different times, and describes the dispersion of libraries and the rise of the private collector from the time of the Renaissance onwards. But we cannot here do more than indicate the extraordinary interest of the work, and this will be best done by summarizing the chief headings under which its contents are grouped : Greek manuscripts, production and dispersion ; European centres for Greek manuscripts, continental and in England ; Latin manu- scripts, their wanderings on the Continent and in England ; catalogues of manuscripts, the evidence of manuscripts themselves ; English libraries ; English manuscripts on the Continent ; remains of medieval libraries ; disappearance of classical and other manuscripts ; collectors of books. The work should be possessed by every one who wishes to learn the manner in which the literature of ancient and medieval times was handed down, however much damaged in the process, for the instruction of modern readers. D. The material connexion between seal and document has received comparatively little attention from scholars, and Mr. R. L. Poole's paper on Seals and Documents (from the Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. ix. London : Milford, s.a.) makes good more than one deficiency in our knowledge. The author has examined the methods of fastening and authenticating documents from Roman to late medieval times, and the result is an instructive study in development. Thus when parchment came into general use, and the folded letter had to be protected from