Evidence for the history of the Auchinleck Manuscript

Abstract

This article considers some neglected aspects of the early history of the Auchinleck Manuscript (Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, MS Adv. 19. 2.1). It considers the evidence of the leaves that have been removed from the manuscript and which survive elsewhere and suggests that there were different phases to such extractions, some of which occurred while the manuscript was in the possession of a Scottish binder. The article also suggests that it is unlikely that the manuscript was bound at any early stage in its history.