This guide provides a selective list of resources on Old English Langauage and Literature available through the Johns Hopkins University Library. For related Internet sites, see the Voice of the Shuttle or Jack Lynch's Literary Resources on the Net.

Please contact Leigh Anne Palmer, the Librarian for English Language and Literature, for research assistance or to recommend additions to this page or to the library.

Selected Library of Congress Subject Headings (Search JHU Catalog)

Selected Internet Resources

Helpful Hopkins Books

• Campbell, James, et al. The Anglo-Saxons. 1982; rpt. London: Penguin, 1991. A broad account of the age with many illustrations.
Eisenhower Stacks DA152 .C281 1982 QUARTO

• Godden, Malcolm, and Michael Lapidge, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991. Useful essays on different aspects of Anglo-Saxon England.
Eisenhower Stacks PO173 .C36 1991

• Hunter Blair, Peter. An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1977.
Libraries Service Center DA152.2 .B551 1977

• Mitchell, Bruce. An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995. An introduction to the period, with an account of the language for those who want a general overview.
Eisenhower Stacks PN 123 .M58 1995

Note: Annual bibliographies are published in two periodicals, Old English Newsletter and Anglo-Saxon England. In addition, Old English Newsletter publishes an annual review of Old English Scholarship under the title "The Year's Work in Old English Studies." A less comprehensive review is published in The Year's Work in English Studies.

• Greenfield, Stanley B. and Fred C. Robinson. A Bibliography of Publications on Old English Literature to the End of 1972. Toront U of Toronto P, 1980.
Eisenhower General Reference Z 2012 .G68 1980

• Hollis, Stephanie and Michael Wright. Old English Prose of Secular Learning. Annotated bibliographies of Old and Middle English literature, 4. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Brewer, 1992.
Eisenhower Stacks Non-Circ. PO 20 .H7 1992

• Keynes, Simon. Anglo-Saxon History: A Select Bibliography. Old English Newsletter Subsidia 13. Binghamton: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1987. An on-line version is now available.
Eisenhower General Reference DA152.Z99 R67 1985

• Lass, Roger. Old English: A Historical Linguistic Companion. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994. Linguistics, but not too ferocious. Sensible and lucidly written.
Eisenhower Stacks PN 125 .L37 1994

• Mitchell, Bruce. Old English Syntax. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985. The fullest treatment of Old English syntax.
Libraries Service Center PN213.M5 1985

1. Dictionaries

• Bosworth, Joseph and T. Northcote Toller. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882-98. T.N. Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary . . . Supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908-21. Alistair Campbell, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary . . . Enlarged Addenda and Corrigenda. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972 (in recent reprints, bound into the Supplement). Currently the most complete dictionary. Users should remember always to check the dictionary and both supplements.
Eisenhower General Reference / Libraries Service Center PE279 .B5 1882 QUARTO

• Clark Hall, John R. A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1931. Recently reprinted by the U of Toronto P in the series Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching. The best dictionary for students. 
Eisenhower General Reference PE 279 .H3 1931

2. Concordances

Note: Those in need of a concordance will be better served by the Dictionary of Old English Electonic Corpus than by any printed book.

• Bessinger, Jess. B. A Concordance to the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP.
Libraries Service Center PO1506 .B47 1978

• Bliss, A.J. The Metre of Beowulf. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1967. The traditional view, well laid out. Libraries Service Center PO1587.M4 B5 1958

• Cable, Thomas. The English Alliterative Tradition. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1991. Eisenhower Stacks PO317.A55 C33 1991

• Creed, Robert. Reconstructing the Rhythm of Beowulf. Columbia: U of Missouri P, c1990. Another from the oral-formulaic side. Not read; reputed to be poor. Libraries Service Center PO1588 .C7 1990

• Fulk, R.D. A History of Old English Meter. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1992. Learned; requires stamina. Eisenhower Stacks PN 257 .F85 1992

• Pope, John Collins. The Rhythm of Beowulf. 2nd ed. New Haven: Yale UP, 1966. A classic. Libraries Service Center PO 1588 .P82 1966

• Russom, Geoffrey. Old English Meter and Linguistic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987. For the linguistically minded, a fine explanation of Old English meter. Libraries Service Center PN257 .R87 1987

• Sievers, Eduard. Altgermanische Metrik. Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1893. The guy who figured it all out. If you know German, have a look. Libraries Service Center PK509 .S6

1. Catalogues

• Ker, N.R. Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957. Contains extensive indices, and also a useful introduction to Old English paleography. See also his "Supplement to Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon," Anglo-Saxon England 5 (1976), 121-31. Eisenhower Special Collections Z6605.A56 K4 1957

2. Facsimiles

Note: The series Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile publishes high-quality (and very expensive) facsimiles of manuscripts from the Anglo-Saxon period. Notable titles include The Nowell Codex (i.e. the Beowulf manuscript), The Tollemache Orosius, Alfred's Pastoral Care, and The Vercelli Book. An especially useful volume in the series is Old English Verse Texts from Many Sources, ed. Fred C. Robinson and E.G. Stanley (1991), which prints facsimiles of all Old English poems not contained in the four "great" codices (the Beowulf Manuscript, the Junius Manuscript, the Exeter Book, the Vercelli Book).

• James, M.R. The Canterbury Psalter. London, 1935. This is the Eadwine Psalter.
Eisenhower Stacks PO 26 .C36

• Flower, Robin and A.H. Smith. The Parker Chronicle and Laws. Early English Text Society, 208. London, 1941. See also the Parker Chronicle facsimile page. Eisenhower Stacks PO1119 .A2 no.208

• Kendrick, T.D. et al., ed. Evangeliorum quattuor Codex Lindisfarnensis; Musei Britannici Codex Cottonianus Nero D. IV. 2 vols. Oltun, Switzerland: Urs Graf, 1956-60. See also the Lindisfarne Gospels facsimile pages. Eisenhower Special Collections ND3359.L7B4 1956 FOLIO

3. Studies

• Alexander, J.J.G. Insular Manuscripts, 6th to the 9th Century. Survey of manuscripts illuminated in the British Isles, 1. London: Harvey Miller, 1978. Eisenhower Stacks ND3128 .S8 v.1 QUARTO

• Brown, Michelle. Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms. Malibu and London: J. Paul Getty Museum and the British Library, 1994. Eisenhower Stacks / Eisenhower Art Reference / and Eisenhower Special Collection Reference ND2889.B76 1994

• Dumville, D. N. English Caroline Script and Monastic History: Studies in Benedictinism, A.D. 950-1030. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 1993. Eisenhower Stacks DA 152 .D841 1993

• Temple, E. Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, 900-1066. Survey of manuscripts illuminated in the British Isles, 2. London: Harvey Miller, 1976. Eisenhower Stacks ND3128 .S8 v.2 QUARTO

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