Manuscript(s) Matter: Paleography, Philology and Resistance to Theory

This paper will reconsider analytical and editorial methodology in early modern manuscript studies. After a look at the age-old, but still crucial, problem of how best to deal with the patent mistakes many early modern manuscript texts present (or seem to present), it will suggest a variety of ways in which a modern researcher can get the best out of the analysis of handwritten texts.  By means of an examination of specific cases, including some of Elizabeth I’s Italian and Sir Walter Ralegh’s English letters, I will illustrate the advantages of a case-to-case evidence-based approach to both editorial emendation and to the analysis of the material features of manuscript volumes