Old English prose of secular learning (review)

180 Reviews Hollis, Stephanie and Michael Wright, with Gwynneth Mills and Adrienne Pedder, Old English prose of secular learning (Annotated bibliographies of Old and Middle English literature, Vol. IV), Cambridge, D. S. Brewer, 1992; cloth; pp. xii, 383 + indexes; R.R.P. US$59.00. Old English prose of secular learning inaugurates a new series of annotated bibliographies intended to treat 'every area of medieval English literary studies for which such a tool is not already in existence or in preparation' (p. ix). The preface announces that the last two decades have seen an 'explosion in the production of annotated bibliographies in the humanities', from which medieval literature has not been exempt, 'with annotated bibliographies of many of the major authors and areas appearing in the last twenty years'. One might thus rightly question the need for still another bibliography, particularly since scholars have been well served by Greenfield and Robinson's A bibliography ofpublications on Old English literature (with a continuation now in progress) and the annual bibliographies prepared for the Old English newsletter and Anglo-Saxon England. The bibliography records scholarship through 1988 under five main rubrics: proverbs, dialogues, romance, Byrhtferth of Ramsey and Computus, and magico-medical literature. The 586 items (including 175A and ten unnumbered items at pp. 209-10) are arranged chronologically within these headings, and are divided into editions and studies. Thirty-four items are listed as 'not sighted', and around twenty items have questionable status, since they do not treat Old Enghsh. T w o main features mark this volume for attention. Fhst, generally full annotations, ranging from one line [no. 201] to 59 lines [no. 325], and, secondly, extensive introductory discussions to each section. These critical discussions include information on a variety of topics, including manuscripts, editions, textual relations, sources, transmission, style, particular problems and special features, and more. The 104 items in the section headed 'Leeckbook, lacnunga,recipes,prose charms and prognostics', for example, are accompanied by an extensive introduction that treats the items in each manuscript in concisely ordered fashion and that surveys the scholarship, at times critically. The strengths of the volume, neutral, informative annotations and broad but detailed introductions, mark the bibliography as presenting a useful blend of synthesized critical commentary and generally thorough compilation. But these same strengths Reviews 181 may also prove a source of minor annoyance for some, particularly when Hollis and Wright ascribe to themselves a borrowed authority in their pronouncements on lapses in earlier scholarship and directions for future research. Such statements, of course, immediately date themselves. The call for editions of the prose texts in the N o w e U codex, of the prayer to the cross in Tiberius A. iti (f. 59rv), of Titus D. xxvi and xxvii, or for greater attention torecipecollections are projects that have already appeared or are in progress. The general plea to treat manuscript context (which is at odds with the sorting of material by generic category in the bibliography and the omission of Latin items contained in the codices) has gained significant momentum over the past years. Given the lag between the terminus set for inclusion of entries and the publication date of the volume, it would have been preferable had the compilers included items after 1988, perhaps as an appendix and not necessarily with annotations. At least, then, those articles recently published that speak direcUy to those in the bibliography or address lapses noted by Hollis and Wright could be included to the benefit of the reader, although this would mean that certain statements in the multiple introductions would require modification. Most vexing is that the compilers classify manuscript items primarily by FC (Frank-Cameron) numbers rather than by Ker's item numbers. This was an unfortunate choice, especially since F C numbers are confusing and generally not used elsewhere in any citation. A minor matter concerns footnoted items in the introduction. Items are generally cited in full only once in the volume, forcing the reader to retrace steps sometimes through hundreds of pages. The reference to Wanley, for example, given at p. 201 is found at p. 17, n. 2, that to Gneuss at p. 102 is found at p. 90, n...