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Thomas Hoccleve: A Facsimile of the Autograph Verse Manuscripts: Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino (California), MSS HM 111 and 744; University Library, Durham (England), MS Cosin V.III.9, introd. J. A. Burrow and A. I. Doyle, Early English Text Society, Supplementary Series 19 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). xl pp. +186 facsimile fols. ISBN 0-19-722420-2. £80.00/$160.00.
The typical vice' of medieval literature, 'as we all know', says C. S. Lewis, 'is dulness; sheer, unabashed, prolonged dulness, where the author does not seem even to be trying to interest us. The South English Legendary or Ormulum or parts of Hoccleve are good examples' (The Discarded Image (Cambridge, 1964), p. 204). Hoccleve at least has come a long way since then, and now, with two recent full-length monographs on the poet, a flurry of articles, and new editions of The Regiment of Princes and the Complaint and Dialogue from 'The Series', stands high in critical estimation. This excellent facsimile of his autograph verse writings fills an important gap in the published record of the poet, and pays proper attention to Hoccleve's exceptional role among English poets as a professional scribe and copyist of his own work. The list of such writers is not long. Orm, William...