502 College & Research Libraries September 2011 part implies that the discovery process could be enhanced from three aspects: improving e-book visibility in OPAC displays; providing training sessions and other research support; and implementing better technical supports in terms of feder- ated access management and intelligent user interfaces. A discussion of different e-readers currently available on the mar- ket is also included in this section. Part IV uses case studies and analysis to show how readers could be better engaged in using e-books in public library, FE, and HE settings. All three studies indicate that today’s readers are more willing to use e-books, with the level of willingness highest among younger reader groups. Part V looks to the future; each con- tributor was asked to comment on two vital questions: “What needs to change before e-books become universally and easily read?” and “What will the e-book landscape look like in ten years’ time?” The final and most useful part provides a range of helpful guidelines, reference materials, and practical tips to aid library and information professionals to find their way through the e-book maze. In general, the editors of this book have done a great job in bringing forth some practical perspectives and guidance regarding e-books. The selected works are organized in a way that flows naturally and is easy for readers to navigate. Most contributors of this work, except for one, are from the United Kingdom, so some terminology and usage do sound alien for American readers; but this does not neces- sarily reduce the value of this book to the U.S. audience. Besides, the book offers a good amount of coverage on e-books in academic library settings, which could benefit many academic librarians who have just started to deal with e-books. However, the book fails to touch on a highly controversial but vitally important issue: circulating e-book readers in librar- ies. Also, though it claims to be the first practical guide of e-books, I would argue that it does not provide the amount of hands-on guidance that I expected. It does a good job in outlining the big picture and giving general directions; but the reader could be better served if the book could nail down some detailed workflows in handling e-books. Overall, this book is a great reference source for library and information professionals who are re- sponsible for building and maintaining an e-book collection; it is also essential background reading for those who are interested in e-books in general.—Ning Han, Mississippi State University Libraries. The Medieval Book: Glosses from Friends and Colleagues of Christopher de Hamel. Eds. James H. Marrow, Rich- ard A. Linenthal, and William Noel. Houten, Netherlands: Hes & De Graaf Publishers, 2010. xxxii + 468p. cloth- bound, $95 (ISBN 9879061943709). LC2011-417859. For librarians and curators involved with collecting, cataloguing, teaching, and researching medieval manuscripts, Chris- topher de Hamel is a shining star whose erudition and lifetime of work illuminates the far reaches and dark corners of a field that is often full of confusing and seem- ingly unsolvable problems. Acknowl- edged by many to be the most gifted and knowledgeable manuscript studies scholar working in the field today, de Hamel’s painstaking, creative, and influ- ential work as cataloger, and later Head, of Western Manuscripts at Sotheby’s from 1975 to 2000 (where de Hamel estimates he professionally assessed and described over 10,000 manuscripts) and, since 2000, Index to advertisers ACRL Publications 411 Annual Reviews 404 Archival Products 427 Bowker/RCL 408 Brill cover 4, 403 CHOICE Reviews Online 496 Image Access cover 2 MIT Press Journals 407 Palgrave cover 3 Book Reviews 503 as Gaylord Donnelly Fellow Librarian of the Parker Library at Cambridge’s Corpus Christi College, has provided the model for how manuscript research ought to be done. Throughout his career as a scholar, dealer, and librarian, de Hamel has con- sistently demonstrated his mastery of palaeography, codicology, the study of bindings, manuscript illumination and decoration, the processes of manuscript production, the history of the manuscript trade from medieval to modern times, and the complex provenance histories of medieval books, to name only a few relevant subjects. Complementing this impressive academic expertise are his unparalleled understanding of the mod- ern manuscript collecting market and his profound commitment to ensuring that medieval manuscripts be regarded as vital, expressive, living artifacts of an imminently recoverable and knowable past. Together, his scholarly passion, commercial acumen, and collector’s en- thusiasm have ensured that de Hamel’s contributions to manuscript studies have been both wide and deep. The diversity of de Hamel’s schol- arly interests is reflected throughout The Medieval Book, a lavishly produced and wide-ranging collection of thirty-eight articles and essays addressing a multitude of themes, topics, and approaches falling under the broad heading of manuscript studies. The book is divided into three parts. The first, simply entitled “Books,” includes twenty articles focusing on the material culture, illustrative traditions, scribal practices, and textual histories of particular manuscripts. Although the majority of these articles do not necessar- ily offer the “final word” on the respective manuscripts and topics they address, they are all sharply focused and informative studies that not only present valuable information about the individual manu- scripts they discuss but also offer readers practical models for various methods of undertaking manuscript-based research. While each article in this section is valu- able in its own right, several stand out as being particularly useful for librarians and curators who work with medieval books and manuscripts. Richard A. Linenthal’s account of four newly discovered medi- eval bookbinding stamps and Anthony Hobson’s admonitory essay reminding us that our “first impressions of a bookbind- ing are not always to be relied upon” offer helpful advice to those who deal closely with bindings in cataloging, conserva- tion, and teaching arenas. Other essays such as Timothy Bolton’s exploration of a previously unstudied twelfth-century illustrated manuscript of Hyginus’s De Astronomia or Bernard Rosenthal’s descrip- tion of an unknown fifteenth-century trea- tise on table manners draw our attention to the textual and illustrative riches that are yet to be discovered in manuscript collections around the world. Rosenthal offers readers particularly sage advice by noting that the “uglier the manuscript, the greater its potential for original research,” a significant point with serious implica- tions for teaching, research, outreach, and collection development initiatives that all librarians and curators should always keep in mind. Jeffrey F. Hamburger’s essay de- scribing his attempt to reconstruct a group of dismembered and dispersed German manuscripts highlights the importance of accounting accurately and adequately for the thousands of loose manuscript leaves and fragments scattered throughout in- stitutional collections around the world. And, finally, Paul Needham’s thorough overview of the controversies surrounding the question of who first invented printing with movable type and the related search for the earliest printed Bible underlines the fact that much yet remains to be discovered about the earliest days of printing and the profound social, economic, intellectual, and cultural changes this new method of book making inspired. The volume’s second and third parts cover “The Book Trade” and “Collectors and Collecting,” respectively. Each of these sections provides valuable insight into how medieval books have survived, were passed on, and have been used during the 504 College & Research Libraries September 2011 centuries since their original manufacture and offer librarians and curators an inter- esting look at historical market conditions and collecting practices. In the section covering the book trade, Lotte Hellinga draws upon surviving records describing four fifteenth-century Burgundian book auctions to shed light on the processes and conditions underlying early orga- nized book sales. Hellinga’s essay points out the importance of records like these as sources for specific data on historical book prices, the respective desirability and popularity of certain works, the names of specific buyers, and contemporary read- ing habits and tastes. Moving forward 400 years, David McKitterick’s account of the bankruptcy of Sotheby’s in 1836 reveals the precarious nature of the book trade by showing how broader national and international economic trends, unreli- able buyers, overambitious commercial activity, the solicitation of patronage, and the constantly shifting expectations and interests of monied collectors directly impact the sale and distribution of books and manuscripts. And Sam Fogg’s article describing his own (successful) attempt to acquire and then resell an important thir- teenth-century illuminated Psalter paints a vivid picture of the fascinating, complex, mysterious, and sometimes ethically uncomfortable world of the modern high- stakes manuscript trade. Each of these articles addresses a range of issues that librarians should consider in their own collection development work, including their professional obligation to preserve acquisition records to provide primary testimony in the future to contemporary institutional collecting practices, as well as the necessity of recognizing the complex economic, social, and personal dynamics that influence the demand for and supply and distribution of books on the market. Other articles of particular interest to library professionals appear in the volume’s third and final section on manu- script collectors and collecting from the medieval period to the present. Nigel Morgan examines a little-explored aspect of information provision in the Middle Ages by analyzing how the placement and distribution of chained books within medieval English cathedrals and churches illustrates the ways liturgical books were actually used in their original ecclesiasti- cal settings. Roland Felter’s identification and listing of all 143 dealer and auction catalogues issued over a period of 120 years describing Sir Thomas Phillipps’ massive collection of more than 110,000 manuscripts for the first time provides a “union catalogue” of sorts that scholars and librarians can use to track down information about Phillipps’ now widely dispersed manuscript holdings. Stella Panayotova’s account of Sydney Cock- erell’s patient and meticulous work with donors during his tenure as Director of Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum offers curators a captivating and suggestive look at how to pursue development ini- tiatives. And Lawrence J. Schoenberg’s and Robert Weaver ’s complementary personal accounts of their own activities as collectors of manuscript codices and fragments, respectively, attest to the schol- arly and curricular virtue of developing well-balanced collections that include manuscripts of all types. To g e t h e r, t h e a r t i c l e s I m e n t i o n above—as well as all the others I do not have the space to comment upon in more detail here—comprise a diverse but uni- fied body of scholarship addressing the multiplicity of approaches inherent in the broad field of manuscript studies. Curators, librarians, and scholars will find this collection to be an extremely informative, readable, and useful re- source; and, as befits a volume dedicated to Christopher de Hamel, it provides an admirable model illustrating both how and why medieval manuscripts are—and ought to remain—indispensable scholarly resources today.—Eric J. Johnson, The Ohio State University. Michael J. Aloi, Marjorie Fusco, and Susan E. Ketcham. Digital Collections Worldwide: An Annotated Directory.