This dissertation examlnes scribal practice in English music manuscripts of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, with one scribe, John Baldwin (d.1615), as its point of reference and centre of interest.

Baldwin is known to be the copyist of three manuscripts: British Library, R.M.24.d.2, also known as his Commonplace Book, the source Oxford, Christ Church 979-83, and the keyboard source My Ladye Nevells Booke. He also contributed to several others. His copying methods are assessed and compared with those used in sources concordant with his manuscripts, by means of studies of the various types of music -- texted vocal, textless vocal and instrumental, and keyboard -- found In these sources.

Chapter 1 is a survey of the sources In question. It places particular emphasis on Baldwin's manuscripts, and discusses their structure, apparent purpose, and place in his copying output. Chapter 2 examines scribal practice with regard to manuscript accidentals. Various types of procedure are described and their incidence discussed; and scribal performance in this area is compared throughout Baldwin's manuscripts and their concordant sources. The same approach is applied to text underlay in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 examines Baldwin's textless copying, and discusses related topics such as surviving texted versions of pieces which Baldwin copied in textless form . In Chapter 5, conclusions drawn from these studies are brought to bear on two related problems of major importance: the identification of 'directional' evidence and the establishment of manuscript inter-relationships. The evidence produced by these studies suggests that in substantial areas of manuscript copying, scribal performance is directly dependent on individual habit, and that this should place considerable restrictions on the range of directional evidence when associative variants are sought. The dissertation concludes with a study of the lute arrangements of certain vocal pieces found in the manuscripts of Baldwin and other scribes, and an examination of Baldwin's Nevell hand, most extensively and importantly represented in My Ladye Nevells Booke.

The second volume consists of a supporting body of transcriptions, including Baldwin unica from his two manuscripts of vocal music, and the handful of pieces (not necessarily unica) which these manuscripts share.