MICHAEL LAPIDGE, The Anglo-Saxon Library. Pp. xiv + 407. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 65.00 (ISBN 0 19 926 722 7).
Andy Orchard
KING ALFRED famously craved the widespread availability (albeit in translation) of ‘those books which are most needful for all men to know’, and much ink has been spilt both on wisdom his choices extent library from that selection was made. The tricky task documenting precisely what (whether or not) were known when Anglo-Saxon England occupied scholars as long discipline existed. Following a bold if flawed attempt by J. D. A. Ogilvy almost forty years ago document Books Known English 597–1066, notion containing such register within single volume effectively abandoned, favour large international collaborative ventures Oxford-based Fontes Anglo-Saxonici project North American Sources Literary Culture (SASLC) enterprise. Alas, these mighty endeavours, having run decades attracted sums enterprises seem specifically designed do, now experiencing chilly climate sets once cash-flow flown: moved into archival mode, with patchy often excellent coverage only part massive bilingual corpus literature, SASLC put forth print one tantalizing Trial Volume another offering letter ‘A’.
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