READERS AND TRANSLATIONS

John of Wales was a prolific writer. Although many of the works once attributed to him are now very properly discounted, some twenty works are still accepted as genuine. These range from homiletic works such as the Communiloquium, through biblical commentaries, to sermon series and single sermons. The range of surviving works is impressive, and so is the number of MSS which have survived. A. G. Little wrote that he had found between 150 and 200 MSS of John's works in European libraries. On the assumption that book production and possession were not matters to be taken lightly in medieval times, this alone would indicate a substantial and lasting popularity.

Modern library catalogues enable us to update the figures given by Little. I have found records of 453 surviving Latin MSS, each containing between one and eight of John's works. The survival figures for individual texts vary considerably, from 151 and 144 copies for the Breviloquium de Virtutibus and Communiloquium respectively to only 2 for certain of the sermon collections. In addition to MSS of these Latin works, a number of printed editions appeared between 1472 and 1550. The earliest was an edition of the Communiloquium, printed in 1472. This edition was such a success that it was pirated in that same year.