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Neil Ripley Ker (1908-1982), Reader in Palaeography and Fellow of Magdalen College at the University of Oxford, was a medieval manuscript scholar of unparalleled brilliance. His contribution to early literary and historical studies is rich, profound, and unlikely to be surpassed. As well as numerous ground-breaking articles, among his most notable publications are the 1957 Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press; reprinted 1991); English Manuscripts in the Century after the Norman Conquest (The Lyell Lectures, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960); Medieval Libraries in Great Britain (Oxford, 1964); and his core contribution to Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries (vols. 1-4, Oxford, 1969-2002).

This project, hosted by Stanford Text Technologies and led by Elaine Treharne, seeks to consolidate and make accessible work by Ker that relates specifically to manuscripts written in English. Some of his publications are difficult to obtain (his Catalogue is now rare and very expensive) and some of his research has not previously been published. The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford holds Ker’s extensive archive: it contains significant research that shows how Ker worked towards the completion of the Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon over some twenty-five years; and it includes lectures that Ker delivered in the 1940s to 1960s that have not been superseded within modern scholarship since that time. We publish here several lectures— on manuscript cataloguing, on Winchester manuscripts from the pre-Conquest era, and on Early English script, for example—that show Ker’s developing thinking and knowledge.

This site also contains of his published articles, our searchable version of his 1957 Catalogue with a much update Bibliography and all supplementary Early English materials found since 1957, a range of scholarship on Ker and on manuscript studies, and information about how to use his Catalogue.

We welcome other contributions to this site, all of which will be fully acknowledged, and we’d be grateful for any feedback from users. We are pleased to be able to make this range of materials available and accessible to all; and we’re thrilled to honour Ker’s outstanding expertise and brilliance for a whole new readership.