English Medieval Books: The Reading Abbey Collections from Foundation to Dispersal (Oxford Historical Monographs)

This history of the books of Reading Abbey covers the period from the abbey's foundation to its dissolution, and follows up the dispersal of the book collections to c.1610. It provides valuable material on the ways in which books were used, and about the intellectual life of medieval monastery. Alan Coates makes an important contribution to our understanding of the fate of monastic books and book-collecting in the post-Dissolution period.