This study presents a history of the literary culture of early-modern Scotland (1560-1625), based on extensive study of the literary manuscript. It argues for the importance of three key places of production of such manuscripts: the royal court, burghs and towns, and regional houses (stately homes, but also minor lairdly and non-aristocratic households). This attention to place facilitates a discussion of, respectively, courtly, urban or civic, and regional literary cultures. Sebastiaan Verweij's methodology stems from bibliographical scholarship and the study of the 'History of the Book', and more specifically, from a school of manuscript research that has invigorated early-modern English literary criticism over the last few decades. The Literary Culture of Early Modern Scotland will also intersect with a programme of reassessment of early-modern Scottish culture that is currently underway in Scottish studies. Traditional narratives of literary history have often regarded the Reformation of 1560 as heralding a terminal cultural decline, and the Union of Crowns of 1603, with the departure of king and court, was thought to have brought the briefest of renaissances (in the 1580s and 1590s) to an early end. This book purposefully straddles the Union, in order to make possible the rediscovery of Scotland's refined and sophisticated renaissance culture.

About the Author
Sebastiaan Verweij was born in the Netherlands, obtained his PhD from the University of Glasgow, and is currently a Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Bristol. He previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge (2008-9), and the University of Oxford (2010-14). He has published several journal articles and book chapters on the literary and book history of Scotland. He is also the author, with Peter McCullough, of the (forthcoming) Textual Companion, volume 16 in The Oxford Edition of the Sermons of John Donne (OUP).

Reviews
Verweij is indefatigable in his assertion that this study is just the beginning. Indeed, he has mastered a great deal of primary and secondary material, making this book useful to both the neophyte and the expert. But it is the authors call for further research, and specific suggestions for avenues of additional inquiry, that makes this book even more valuable. * Salvatore Cipriano, Boston College, Renaissance Quarterly *
The rich content, and the fresh connections, skilfully made, make this a landmark study. * Janet Hadley Williams, Parergon *
There are many things to praise in this work, not least the close and informed engagement with the primary materials, including several manuscripts considered for the first time. Many of the characterisations of manuscripts and sequences of manuscripts are careful, thoughtful, and useful. * Peter Davidson, The Seventeenth Century. *
The most important thing this book does is argue that early modern Scotland had a distinct literary culture ... this book is a useful guide to the circulation of vernacular poetry in miscellany manuscripts * Jane Stevenson, Times Literary Supplement *
His lucid precis of a wide range of existing research in book history, and the clear-sighted perspectives he brings to bear when applying this research to the matter at hand, speaks of his real mastery of the subject. It would be hard to say which came first this theoretical subtlety, or what must have been tireless years of archival work -- but manuscript studies has profited hugely, either way... * Deirdre Serjeantson, Scottish Literary Review *


Awards
Winner of Winner of Research Book of the Year 2016, Scottish Saltire Literary Awards.



Book Information
ISBN 9780198757290
Author Sebastiaan Verweij
Format Hardback
Page Count 324
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 504g
Dimensions(mm) 222mm * 141mm * 23mm