F. J. Norton's manuscripts

Abstract

The name of F.J. Norton (1904-1986) will be familiar to many as a consequence of his important contributions to the study of post-incunabula in Italy, Spain and Portugal. His substantial personal collection of over 600 examples of European printing from the period 1501-20 is now held at Cambridge University Library as a named collection. Less well-known, however, is the small collection of medieval manuscripts, also at the University Library, that Norton assembled alongside his library of early print. The preparation in draft of full descriptions of these manuscripts by Jayne Ringrose, and their recent revision and expansion by the present author with further information about their provenance, together with the accession of some documents relating to these items, provides an opportune moment to bring them to wider attention.