Welcome to the Centre for Manuscript and Print Studies

The Centre was founded in 2001 as a partnership, hosted by the Institute of English Studies on behalf of the British Library, the St Bride Printing Library, the University of London Research Library Services, the English Department at the University of Birmingham, the School of English at the University of Reading, and the Literature Department at the Open University. We are pleased to announce that the Shakespeare Institute and the Centre for Textual Studies (De Montfort University) have recently joined this partnership. Please visit the Centre's listing of partners for links to each partner institution.

The Centre's various fields of study include Palaeography, Codicology, Diplomatic and Calligraphy; History of Printing; Manuscript and Print Relations; History of Publishing and the Book Trade; Ephemera Studies; History of Reading; History of Libraries, Collecting and Scholarship; Analytical, Descriptive and Historical Bibliography; Textual Criticism and Textual Theory; and The Electronic Book.

The Centre hosts a range of events including seminars and workshops, lectures, conferences, and the annual Palaeography Summer School and London Rare Book School. It also co-ordinates a number of Research Projects. The Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts 1450-1700 (CELM), Digital Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts (DigCIM),and Complete Works of John Ford projects are funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Other research projects include: Philo-Bibliographical Notes and Queries, John Masefield Virtual Research Environment, The William Sharp "Fiona Macleod" Archive, and the Yeats Annual Series.

The Centre also hosts the AHRC National Research Training Scheme (NRTS) in English Language and Literature, Palaeography and the History of the Book.

To learn more about the Centre and Manuscript Studies, please follow the links above.