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  • The Journey of a Book: Bartholomew the Englishman and the Properties of Things
  • Kathleen Neal
Keen, Elizabeth , The Journey of a Book: Bartholomew the Englishman and the Properties of Things, Canberra, ANU E Press, 2007; paperback; pp. xii, 199; 17 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. AU$24.95; ISBN 9781921313066.

In this insightful work, Elizabeth Keen traces the text of a medieval compendium, De proprietatibus rerum, on its journey from thirteenth-century Europe to the library of Sir Joseph Banks. Carefully following each separating or converging strand of meaning or way of reading, like so many lines on a complicated map, she illustrates how and why this particular text remained a living work among English readers over so many centuries, and casts light on the mental universes of its diverse readerships. Such themes as enclosure and mendicancy, orthodoxy and heterodoxy, preaching and contemplation, agricultural practice, land ownership, book ownership, memory, allegory, social order and disruption, nationalism, and Protestantism are all part of this rich topography. There is a pleasing symmetry in the fact that this study of a book about everything, itself becomes a book about everything, as the author's focus widens to accommodate each new context. Despite the complexity of her task, Keen accomplishes it with clarity and a steady momentum of argument. The Journey of a Book is thus a satisfying, as well as informative and thought-provoking, read.

Irrespective of the contested identity of Bartholomew himself, Keen's point of departure is that his work, 'Properties', is a compilatio of the late twelfth/early thirteenth century, and is located within a firmly Franciscan milieu. She emphasises, beginning with an interesting historiographical discussion, how such works were both authoritative collections of important facts and opinions, and exegetical texts intended to illustrate the workings of God's creation and the path to salvation. Although medieval compilatio exist in a continuum with scientific observation writings of later periods, the medieval works were not merely early, or flawed, examples of the scientific endeavour, but a distinct genre with their own intrinsic worth. However, Keen also highlights that the meaning of 'Properties' was not static, but in constant flux over the long duration of its reception by English audiences. This is perhaps a truism, but one which has never been as convincingly or empathetically teased apart as in this book. [End Page 166]

Having established the value of 'Properties' in the context of its composition, Keen proceeds to dissect the structure of the work, and reveal the relevance of apparently repetitious elements. The bee, for example, occurs in two separate chapters and numerous brief references throughout, but this was not through lack of planning. Bees were a common part of agricultural life, and their proper husbandry would have been be an important item of record. Their industriousness and communality were also key allegorical elements alluding to 'authority, discipline and obedience to one's superiors; of useful, cooperative labour through one's lifespan; … the sweetness and nourishment of God's word flourishing in fertile soil; and … the Franciscan ideal of worship through sensory awareness of natura' (p. 32). The bee also represented the value to be gained from gathering the nectar of others' wisdom: a perfect metaphor for Bartholomew's own activities in compiling 'Properties'. Such allegorical meanings may be hidden from modern minds, but, as Keen observes, glosses on medieval copies of 'Properties' can assist us in uncovering these occult interpretations. For example, the bee is glossed with notes pointing to clerical obedience, humility, contemplation and study, but also – in the passage on drones – with sloth, and failure of clerical virtue. The many-layered moral meanings revealed by such glosses serve to illustrate the deep, and even subliminal, reading that was expected of and practiced by the medieval reader of 'Properties'.

Initially, 'Properties' was intended as an encyclopaedia for sermon writing; filled with authoritative citations, recognisable characters and explicable moral meanings, and structured according to categories which could be accessed independently and from which themes could be selected. Keen goes on to show how its modular structure and reliance on ancient authorities were important in permitting and encouraging wholesale and selective transmission of Bartholomew's text down the...

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