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Bibliography Development

The website provides for each manuscript extensive bibliographies that range from a few entries to over a hundred. Each bibliographic citation provides a short comment summarizing what is said about the manuscript, and keyword searches of these comments can be made on the website. Bibliography is categorized within five basic areas: (i) general; (ii) text and author; (iii) paleography and codicology; (iv) art history; (v) provenance. Inevitably there is some overlap between these categories, and only one category is used for each citation, so users are advised not to assume that a category search will always bring up all items for a particular manuscript relevant to that category. Keyword searches may be a better way, or an additional way, to pick up all the relevant references. In addition, it will be noticed that some catalogue numbers are further subdivided with letters. These subdivisions, for the most part, reflect the binding history of the manuscripts in question. A list of these manuscripts, and further information, can be found here.

The citations are almost exclusively to books and articles that specifically mention the individual Corpus Christi manuscript and/or provide editions of its texts. In certain cases additional bibliography is provided on some of the authors and texts, even if those publications do not specifically cite the Corpus manuscript. This is particularly so for lesser known authors and texts, and such additional bibliography is not usually provided for famous examples. If an edition of the text has been published, even if the editor did not use the Corpus manuscript, it is usually included. A restriction in the citations of editions is in regard to early printed books pre-1600. Some famous medieval texts were indeed printed as incunabula or sixteenth-century books, but these editions are quite frequently far removed from the text in the Corpus manuscript, and it would be misleading to cite them. However, when there is no modern edition of a text, there are cases where incunabula and sixteenth-century books are cited.