Ushaw College was founded over 200 years ago just outside the historic city of Durham to educate students for the Catholic priesthood. It can trace its origins back to the exile of university professors at the time of the English Reformation in the sixteenth century, who went on to found a college at Douai, northern France. In addition to its splendid architecture, the college's library and archival holdings contain a wealth of rare and unique items, including St Cuthbert's ring, Thomas Cranmer's personal copy of two Lutheran works and a first edition of the Cabinet du Roi. Treasures of Ushaw College presents more than 45 highlights from these collections, written by leading experts, as well as accounts of the college's history and the architectural development of the site. AUTHOR: James E. Kelly is the St Cuthbert's Society Fellow in the History of Early Modern English Catholicism at Durham University. His interests are in post-Reformation Catholic history in Europe and Britain, particularly the experience of t SELLING POINTS: * The college's collections bear important witness to the religious and cultural history of the nation * The extent of Ushaw's collections has only recently been fully appreciated and researched 100 colour

* A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * The acclaimed author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts introduces us to the extraordinary keepers and companions of medieval manuscripts over a thousand years of history The illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages are among the greatest works of European art and literature. We are dazzled by them and recognize their crucial role in the transmission of knowledge. However, we generally think much less about the countless men and women who made, collected and preserved them through the centuries, and to whom they owe their existence. This entrancing book describes some of the extraordinary people who have spent their lives among illuminated manuscripts over the last thousand years: a monk in Normandy, a prince of France, a Florentine bookseller, an English antiquary, a rabbi from central Europe, a French priest, a Keeper at the British Museum, a Greek forger, a German polymath, a British connoisseur and the woman who created the most spectacular library in America—all of them members of what Christopher de Hamel calls the Manuscripts Club. This exhilarating fraternity, and the fellow enthusiasts who come with it, throw new light on how manuscripts have survived and been used by very different kinds of people in many different circumstances. Christopher de Hamel’s unexpected connections and discoveries reveal a passion that crosses the boundaries of time. We understand the manuscripts themselves better by knowing who their keepers and companions have been. In 1850 (or thereabouts) John Ruskin bought his first manuscript “at a bookseller’s in a back alley.” This was his reaction: “The new worlds which every leaf of this book opened to me, and the joy I had in counting their letters and unravelling their arabesques as if they had all been of beaten gold—as many of them were—cannot be told.” The members of de Hamel’s club share many such wonders, which he brings to us with scholarship, style and a lifetime’s experience.

Treasures of Durham University Library explores the extensive library collection through illuminating illustrated text and fascinating behind-the-scenes details. The historic core of the collection, which consists of over seventy thousand rare books and manuscripts printed before 1850, is the library assembled by John Cosin, bishop of Durham (1660-72) and the more recent deposit of the library from Bamburgh Castle.The full collection of Durham University ranges from late antique papyri to modern literary manuscripts, as well as embracing substantial archival and photographic materials. The medieval manuscripts include the best-preserved service-book produced in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest, and a collection of the works of Thomas Hoccleve that was transcribed by the poet himself; while amongst the modern literary manuscripts are extracts from Kilvert's Diary and letters of Gerard Manley Hopkins. ''Surprisingly few people, including many within the university itself, are aware of just how extensive and diverse the University Library's holdings. This is clearly a collection worth knowing. It is a very real joy to welcome here such a handsome and readable survey.'' - Bill Bryson

Masterpiece of medieval manuscript production and decoration, its Latin text glossed throughout in Old English, the Lindisfarne Gospels is a vital witness to the book culture, art, and Christianity of the Anglo-Saxons and their interactions with Ireland, Italy, and the wider world. The expert studies in this collection examine in turn the archaeology of Holy Island, relations between Ireland and Northumbria, early Northumbrian book culture, the relationship of the Lindisfarne Gospels to the Church universal, the canon table apparatus of the manuscript, the decoration of its Canon Tables, its systems of liturgical readings, the mathematical principles underlying the design of its carpet pages, points of comparison and contrast with the Book of Durrow, the Latin and Old English texts, the nature of the glossator’s ink, and the meaning of enigmatic words and phrases within the vernacular gloss. Approaching the material from a series of new perspectives, the contributors shed new light on numerous aspects of this magnificent manuscript, its milieux, and its significance.

This is the latest in an important series of reviews going back to 1928. The book contains 28 chapters, written by experts in their field, and reviews developments in the principal aspects of British librarianship and information work in the years 2011-2015.

The preparation of new priests for ministry currently faces closer scrutiny than at any time since the Reformation, and the importance of effective priestly formation has perhaps never been clearer in the entire history of the Church. In Models of Priestly Formation, some of the world’s leading experts on the topic consider priestly formation since Vatican II, explore current best practices internationally, and imagine what the future of such formation might look like. The book promises to become an essential reference for every person involved in priestly formation and for anyone interested in understanding better how it is carried out and how those who do it think about their task. The eBook edition includes four additional essays.