More than just literary works or documents, manuscripts teem with life, sometimes offering the only tangible evidence we have of people and cultures that are now long gone. Here Mary Wellesley tells the stories of the artists, scribes, readers, and collectors who made and kept these beautiful, fragile objects. Illustrated with 50 color plates, this history encompasses the St Cuthbert Gospel, as well as works by the Beowulf poet, Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Sir Thomas Malory, Geoffrey Chaucer, and William Shakespeare.

"Wellesley is a born storyteller and [this book] is as good as historical writing gets…. A sensational debut."—Dan Jones