THE MANUSCRIPTS CLUB - Christopher de Hamel

 There was a time when I considered myself more than just an avid reader, but a collector of books. Had I the resources, I have no doubt that I would have collected manuscripts if I'd had the resources (ie money) and so this title really grabbed my attention. I have to admit, though, that I had no idea where this book might go.

This book is really a series of twelve mini-biographies of people who, through the course of history, have been collectors of manuscripts and who very well may have saved (or at least preserved) many rare manuscripts from destruction. Something that comes across as relatively common is the desire to own a rare item more than owning a specific item due to its significance. What is also common among the people included here is a real joy among the collectors for manuscripts.

Author Christopher de Hamel does a really wonderful job of researching these manuscript collectors (and he gives a lot of credit to others for some of this work) and presenting their lives and collecting rigor in an easy-to-read, conversational tone. Each of these lives was fascinating in unique ways and I'd be interested in learning more about all of them.

Regular readers of my review blog might recognize that the last person in the book, Belle de Costa Greene, was the subject of the historical fiction novel I reviewed in 2021, The Personal Librarian, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.

My one complaint about the book is a technical one, and I don't know if it's only on my ARC, or if the published version (printed or digital) would be this way as well. The "Bibliographies and Notes" at the end of the book take up nearly 20% of the book, but the font is roughly half the size of the rest of the book and there are no paragraph indentations. This makes for a very long, tedious notes section and I truly wish that more of this information had been included in the narrative or at the very least used as individual footnotes.

This book contains the following:

The Monk: Saint Anselm
The Prince: The Duc de Berry
The Bookseller: Vespasiano da Bisticci
The Illuminator: Simon Bening
The Antiquary: Sir Robert Cotton
The Rabbi: David Oppenheim
The Savant: Jean-Joseph Rive
The Librarian: Sir Frederic Madden
The Forger: Constantine Simonides
The Editor: Theodor Mommsen
The Collector: Sir Sydney Cockerell
The Curator: Belle da Costa Greene
Epilogue: An Evening at the Morgan

Looking for a good book? The Manuscripts Club, by Christopher de Hamel, biographizes twelve important figures through history who have collected and preserved rare manuscripts.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

* * * * * * 

The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club

author: Christopher de Hamel

publisher: Penguin Press

ISBN: 9780525559412

hardcover, 624 pages

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