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Edmund Geste and his books. Reconstructing the library of a Cambridge don and Elizabethan bishop. By David G. Selwyn. (The Bibliographical Society, MMXVII.) Pp. xxx + 493 incl. 110 black-and-white and colour ills. London: The Bibliographical Society, 2017. £50. 978 0 948170 24 9

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Edmund Geste and his books. Reconstructing the library of a Cambridge don and Elizabethan bishop. By David G. Selwyn. (The Bibliographical Society, MMXVII.) Pp. xxx + 493 incl. 110 black-and-white and colour ills. London: The Bibliographical Society, 2017. £50. 978 0 948170 24 9

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2018

Celyn D. Richards*
Affiliation:
Durham University
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Abstract

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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

This insightful book casts light upon the life, history and reading patterns of the seldom-studied Elizabethan bishop Edmund Geste. Living through a tumultuous period, spanning the back-and-forth reformations of the long Tudor century, Geste was a man of the Reformation and authored A treatise againste the prevee masse in 1548. His fortunes, like those of other reformers, suffered following the accession of Mary i, before a resurgence under Elizabeth i, when he secured positions of increasing importance within the English episcopate. The backbone to Selwyn's research is a thorough catalogue of Geste's library, supplemented by a range of indices and appendices. The resulting analysis places Geste's interests and collections among those of his contemporaries, shedding light upon sixteenth-century reading patterns, England's theological influences and the international book trade. The 140-page introductory text first provides a biography of the man before attention turns to Geste's library. Supported by detailed and analytical bibliographical research within the collection itself, and aided by around a hundred illustrations, the reader is brought into Geste's collections. Specific attention is paid to bibliographical factors including ownership inscriptions, annotations, binding instructions and provenance. What emerges from this research is that Geste was not only an avid collector, but that his books were thoroughly used. His books carry annotations and commentaries through marginalia, which bring with them an insight into the thoughts of this sixteenth-century reader. Selwyn also returns later to Geste as a book owner, shedding light upon his acquisitions and on contemporary bindings. Thereafter, Geste's collection is analysed as texts rather than books, ably segmented into genres, making the relevance and importance of the collection clear. Selwyn's research is anchored in the historiography of the period, with each genre exploring contemporary characters and controversies. Geste's collection is often compared to those of his contemporaries, with Cambridge library inventories and, in particular, the libraries of Matthew Parker and Andrew Perne providing important supporting resources. Whilst the collection specialises in religious works, it displays a range of confessional alignment, as to works of the Church Fathers and staples of medieval theology were added publications of contemporary humanists and reformers of wide-spanning convictions. Geste was international in his taste for texts, as well as physical books. Few of the extant books are by English authors, and fewer still produced by English print houses. This reflects English reading patterns of the age: the London printing industry was still maturing even as the sixteenth century progressed, and English readers continued to look to the presses of Europe for works in Latin and works of serious scholarship and theology. This Bibliographical Society publication is supported by additional introductions, appendices and indices, all found at <http://www.bibsoc.org.uk/publications/Geste>, which each facilitate the further study of this collection and its owner. Selwyn's research will allow Geste's profile to be raised significantly, now making this Tudor clergyman an important point of reference for those studying him and his contemporaries alike.