Middle English Texts in Transition: A Festschrift dedicated to Toshiyuki Takamiya on his 70th birthday ed. by Simon Horobin and Linne R. Mooney (review)

Abstract

SIMON HOROBIN AND LINNE R. MOONEY, eds., Middle English Texts in Transition: A Festschrift dedicated to Toshiyuki Takamiya on his 70th birthday. Woodbridge, Suffolk and Rochester, New York: York Medieval Press, 2014. Pp. 359. isbn: 978-1903153536. $99The eighteen essays assembled in this anthology offer insight into the multiplicity of topics and approaches that collectively constitute the interdisciplinary study of the history of the book, making it an apt tribute to Toshiyuki Takamiya, who, in the dual roles of scholar and collector, is widely known for having dedicated much of his life to 'the study of medieval manuscripts and their texts' (xv). This is not the first collection presented in Takamiya's honor; to mark his sixtieth birthday, Takami Matsuda, Richard A. Linenthal, and John Scahill edited a volume of forty contributions by leading scholars in medieval studies, many of whom also happen to be Takamiya's good friends (The Medieval Book and a Modern Collector: Essays in Honour of Toshiyuki Takamiya, Cambridge: D.S. Brewer/Tokyo: Yushudo Press, 2004). Taken together, the two anthologies speak to the breadth of Takamiya's legacy as a generous and enthusiastic colleague, willing to share books and ideas alike.The scholarship included in the present collection covers a range of subjects relating to medieval English manuscripts and the vernacular texts contained therein, from the transmission and interpretation of more canonical texts, to the production and readership of less widely known ones. That said, most of the essays concentrate on what might be surmised about the scribal practices of transcription and compilation for specific texts, as well as what might be surmised about early readers of and reactions to those same texts. The first four contributions focus on documentary evidence pertaining to the three major figures of the late fourteenth century from which the opening section takes it name: 'Chaucer, Gower, and Langland.' Richard Firth Green opens the section with an exploration of the conflict-ridden early history of the Scriveners' Company in order to ascertain when and why Adam Pinkhurst (Chaucer's Scribe) confirmed new ordinances for the company as outlined in its Common Paper. Simon Horobin turns our attention to the Oxford, Corpus Christi College MS 201 version of Piers Plowman, a frequently idiosyncratic alpha witness to the B-text of the poem that offers a 'detailed and sustained engagement with Langland's poem, its form and its central issues' (37), including, for example, a reorganization of passus divisions and an accentuation of ecclesiastical satire against nuns and friars. Terry Jones challenges the popular assumption that Gower became disenchanted with Richard II, removing his dedication of the Confessio Amantis to Richard at some point in 1392-93, and rededicating the poem to Henry of Lancaster. Jones argues that Gower had no reason to distance himself from Richard before 1399, and he dates the revised version of the poem to after Henry's usurpation. R.F. Yeager concludes the section with an examination of the manuscript context of the two surviving versions of Le Songe Vert, a French dream vision, before concluding that the poem cannot be authored by Gower.The second set of essays concentrate on 'Lyrics and Romances.' Phillipa Hardman compares the different versions of Sir Ferumbras that survive in Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 33, suggesting that the draft of 400 lines of the poem found on parchment wrappers together with the complete copy contained in the book proper provide rare insight into the process of the poem's composition. Next, John C. Hirsh analyzes a single leaf of Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D.913, arguing that the leaf, which 'gives unmistakable evidence of having been folded and refolded' (107), was probably written for and by a single person for usage during performance. Gareth Griffith and Ad Putter then survey multilingual miscellanies, which they note decrease as the fourteenth century progresses, observing that lyrics are more likely to appear in these manuscripts than English vernacular romances are. …