The Clarkson Archive at the Walters Art Museum: An Early Thirteenth-Century English Gospel Book (W.15)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The first of two topics addressed in this article is the monumental archive established by Christopher Clarkson during his consultancy from 1977 to 1979 in the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland (renamed Walters Art Museum in 2000). His tenure at the Walters coincided with the launching of a catalogue of some 500 Western European manuscripts, for which funding was generously provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The two chief topics addressed below are Clarkson's organization of his codicological manuscript survey and the significance of an early thirteenth-century English glossed Gospel book still in its original monastic binding. As a scholarly resource, Christopher Clarkson's archive at the Walters marks an enduring contribution to his formidable legacy.