Pre-Conquest English Prayer-Book

This is the first edition of an unusual 11th-century Anglo-Saxon prayer book used at the Nunnaminster, Winchester, during the first half of the 11th century. It appears to have been a sort of liturgical commonplace book to which items of interest were added by various hands from time to time, the whole eventually forming a collection of private devotions adapted for use at the Nunnaminster, thus giving an intimate view of the spiritual world of a late Anglo-Saxon nunnery. The prayer book survives now as two distinct manuscripts in the Cotton collection in the British Library, Nero A.ii and Galba A.xiv. They were severely damaged in the Cotton fire of 1731, but with the aid of ultraviolet lamps the text has been substantially recovered. The texts are accompanied by an introduction, full apparatus of parallels to other Anglo-Saxon and continental prayer books, and indexes.