Jean Blacker:
This is a short but important book, for which the authors, as well as Jane Bradley (Local Studies Librarian) at the Bristol Central (Public) Library, Michael Richardson (Special Collections Curator at the University of Bristol), library staffs, and the press should be applauded for having undertaken it, given the enormous complexities of the project. Readers should keep in mind that so few teams of scholars from diverse fields with diverse skill sets—literature, codicology, paleography, medieval through modern library science, specialized photography among others—have ever reported on other discoveries of 'lost' manuscript folios (used as pastedowns or bindings for other unrelated manuscripts, for example), that, regardless of the shortcomings of this volume, it will remain an inspiration for future such endeavors.
Aaron Kettle:
In The Bristol Merlin, the project team has illuminated the long and obscure path that led to the destruction of a manuscript that contained an Arthurian romance, a text that does not normally end up on the scrap pile. The team concludes the first portion of The Bristol Merlin with a call to engage in a holistic and interdisciplinary study of manuscript fragments. This invitation is undoubtedly justified, considering the depth of detail and sheer quantity of information that a well-organized, interdisciplinary, and interinstitutional team was able to discover in the seven rather patchy folios that still exist. Thus, in many regards, The Bristol Merlin constitutes a particularly fruitful case study for how scholars, much like Merlin himself, can reveal anew what time has hidden.
Martha Claire Baldon:
Few recent manuscript discoveries have aroused as much excitement and curiosity, both within academia and among the general public, as the Bristol Merlin fragments (identified for the first time in 2019). Tether, Chuhan-Campbell, and Pohl’s edition presents the seven fragments in a format that is accessible and easy to navigate, introducing the reader both to the fragments themselves and the principles that underlie processes of editing and translation. Through exploring the possible, as well as the probable, Tether, Chuhan-Campbell, and Pohl provide a vivid and compelling narrative that illustrates the importance of interdisciplinary scholarship while remaining aware of its limitations. The approach taken, which draws upon palaeographic, codicological, historical, and linguistic analysis, in combination with the extensive visual apparatus provided, offers a robust introduction to the Bristol Merlin fragments that is suitable for a diverse readership.
Giulia Boitani:
The present volume stands out for its in-depth study of the fragments it analyses, which makes ‘full use of the broad, interdisciplinary skillset of the project team, which includes book history, literary studies, philology, and translation studies’ (p. 3). Leah Tether, Laura Chuhan Campbell, and Benjamin Pohl offer a holistic approach to the analysis of the fragments in two sections, ‘Context’ and ‘Text’, followed by an appendix (a table of concordance) and plates (images of the fragments).
Lisa M. Ruch:
[P]acked with a wealth of information and scholarship that will be of value to a range of researchers and students. Its genesis was the discovery in 2019 of seven fragments of a medieval manuscript used as bindings in four books held by the Bristol (UK) Central Library. Fortuitously, these seven fragments preserve a continuous text, an extract from the Continuation of the Estoire de Merlin, also known as the Suite Vulgate du Merlin. They have been given the toponymic title of the Bristol Merlin.[...]
The forensic work required to bring this volume to fruition entailed an interdisciplinary, teamwork approach which the authors envision as “an attractive model for the future study of manuscript fragments and similar finds”. They have succeeded admirably in this aim, assembling a book that can be used in a multiplicity of ways. Those readers wishing to concentrate on the text can do so, either in Old French or in modern English, while those who wish to delve deeper into the reconstruction of the original through the seven surviving fragments are provided with ample evidence to appreciate the careful and deliberative work that went into it.
This slim volume is a tour de force in fragmentology, achieving its authors’ aims to model a method for collaborative work in the future. It is also affordable and can be purchased in both physical and digital copies. The researchers and press should be commended for this exemplar.
Elizabeth K. Hebbard:
The strength of this volume’s contribution is precisely in the way that the Bristol Merlin project adopts the varied perspectives of all these specialists in order to combine their many insights into a “holistic approach” (p. 3) to the fragments’ content and context....[T]he authors have produced a great deal of information about the Bristol fragments and the study is indeed a welcome example of the potential of collaborative research in the humanities.
