Hidden Hands cover art

Hidden Hands

The Lives of Manuscripts and Their Makers

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Hidden Hands

By: Mary Wellesley
Narrated by: Mary Wellesley
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About this listen

Manuscripts teem with life. They are not only the stuff of history and literature, but they offer some of the only tangible evidence we have of entire lives, long receded.

Hidden Hands tells the stories of the artisans, artists, scribes and readers, patrons and collectors who made and kept the beautiful, fragile objects that have survived the ravages of fire, water and deliberate destruction to form a picture of both English culture and the wider European culture of which it is part.

Without manuscripts, she shows, many historical figures would be lost to us, as well as those of lower social status, women and people of colour, their stories erased and the remnants of their labours destroyed.

From the Cuthbert Bible, to works including those by the Beowulf poet, Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Sir Thomas Malory, Chaucer, the Paston Letters and Shakespeare, Mary Wellesley describes the production and preservation of these priceless objects.

With an insistent emphasis on the early role of women as authors and artists, Hidden Hands is an important contribution to our understanding of literature and history.

©2021 Mary Wellesley (P)2021 Quercus Editions Limited Art Great Britain Women England

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Amazingly touching

This was so good I had to order a hard copy.
A lovely overview of some of the people and manuscripts you don’t often hear about.
The story of the first European biography was particularly touching.

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