medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Yes, I'm sorry too :-)
But you haven't addressed my central concern (also that of the only customer review so far on Amazon.co.uk): that the subject of the book is the primary sources and secondary literature for the study of the liturgy in medieval England, rather than it being a history of that liturgy itself.
I should be grateful if you could explain exactly *how* the book is useful to your own work, as that was something which I couldn't quite understand; despite its length the book doesn't seem to me to treat any particular topic in sufficient detail to be likely to satisfy specialists. Do you have any comment on the absence of a bibliography, and how that might affect your use of the book?
I rather feel that a compilation of flaws and omissions would be a melancholy exercise, best left to reviewers. I see no prospect of future printings.
John Briggs
---- SHERRY L REAMES <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Dear John,
>
> I'm sorry to hear that you're finding Richard Pfaff's book so disappointing. From my perspective it's enormously useful-- perhaps because my own work, like his, is focused primarily on liturgical texts, and especially on the many different medieval versions of those texts that survive in various manuscripts and have never been printed. Given your own interest in the music and in the early printed editions, you are in a good position to see flaws and omissions that occurred neither to Pfaff nor to me (or others who read his book before publication).
>
> If you would like to notify him about errors that should be corrected in the next printing, you might send him a letter in care of Cambridge University Press. Or just send him an email-- his address is still [log in to unmask] .
>
> Sherry Reames
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: John Briggs <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Sunday, November 29, 2009 4:38 pm
> Subject: [M-R] First Impressions: Pfaff - The Liturgy in Medieval England: A History
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
>
> > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> >
> > I have finally received my copy - I had to pre-order from Amazon to
> > get anything like a sensible discount, which meant a considerable
> > delay while my copy crossed the Atlantic twice!
> >
> > I have to say that my first impressions are not favourable. Some
> > variation on "glued binding" is not at all suitable for a heavy book
> > of over 600 pages. There is no bibliography - there is a list of
> > "Bibliographical Abbreviations", but needless to say, not all
> > abbreviated references are included, so the index has to be pressed
> > into service to find the first occurrence where the reference should
> > be spelled out. At which point we discover that the prefatory matter
> > is not indexed...
> >
> > But the major concern is that it does not do what it says on the tin:
> > it is NOT 'a' (and certainly not 'the') history of the medieval
> > English liturgy in any recognisable sense of the term. It is rather a
> > chronologically arranged commentary on medieval liturgical texts and
> > their editions. It is readable enough, but only really comprehensible
> > if you already know what the author is writing about. I have only just
> > started reading, but I have yet to encounter any actual liturgy. In
> > order to avoid any sense of Whiggish progress, the story just peters
> > out as the Reformation is approached. There is an alarming footnote on
> > page 1: "The Latin service books printed c.1554-57, during the reign
> > of Mary Tudor, are not part of our concern."
> >
> > I rather rashly stated, in response to a query about the publicity
> > bally-hoo: "Actually, Sherry L. Reames is best qualified to pronounce
> > such a book as "major" and "authoritative" - just as Richard W. Pfaff
> > is certainly the best qualified to write it." I would now wish to
> > reconsider my position (probably on both counts) - and perhaps recant.
> >
> > All consideration of music has been excluded. This has had one
> > unfortunate effect which Sherry Reames should have picked up when
> > reading the Sarum sections: Pfaff makes no reference to - indeed seems
> > to be completely unaware of - Nick Sandon's "Use of Salisbury". As the
> > six volumes so far published represent a critical edition of the
> > Temporale of the Mass (words and music, rubrics translated into
> > English), it can hardly be ignored by anyone writing on the Sarum Use
> > (or so I thought...) The treatment of the "Missa in Capitulo" in the
> > second edition of volume 2 would have spared Pfaff his rather tortured
> > discussion on p.420 (Sandon may not be right, but he makes more
> > sense!) And it is musical considerations which make sense of the
> > gradings of feasts, something which Pfaff seems to find puzzling.
> >
> > There is an inexplicable howler in a footnote on p.426: "There were
> > two prior printings of this 'Great Breviary,'" [...] "and one of the
> > Sarum antiphonal (in two vols, only the winter volume being extant)."
> > The two volumes of the Sarum antiphonal were, of course, printed in
> > 1519 and 1520 respectively; the 1520 (summer) volume is not only
> > extant, but Harper (Forms and Orders) lists its contents, while Frere
> > (Antiphonale Sarisburiense) gives the locations of copies!
> >
> > Pfaff claims to have taken account of literature published "through
> > 2006", but is unaware of Gerald Bray's "Records of Convocation" -
> > which rather vitiates his discussion of Wilkins' "Concilia" (p.28).
> >
> > But I come back to my original main point: it is not in any sense a
> > history of the liturgy, and not a book for the non-specialist,
> > although it is hard to see how much use it is likely to be for the
> > specialist (especially without a bibliography...)
> >
> > John Briggs
> >
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