In this book, Joseph Dane critiques the use of material evidence in studies of manuscript and printed books by delving into accepted notions about the study of print culture. He questions the institutional and ideological presuppositions that govern medieval studies, descriptive bibliography, and library science. This volume is an important contribution to debates about the nature of bibliography and the critical institutions that have shaped its current practice.

Joseph A. Dane is a professor of English at University of Southern California and author of The Myth of Print Culture: Essays on Evidence, Textuality, and Bibliographical Method (2003).

Contents: Introduction; Part I Inference and Evidence in Medieval Books: The calculus of calculus: W.W. Greg and the mathematics of Everyman Editions; The notions of text and variant in the prologue to Chaucer's Legend of Good Women: MS Gg lines 127-38; Two studies in early medieval dramatic texts and performances; Myths of the Wakefield master. Part II What is a Book?: 'Ideal copy' vs 'ideal texts': the application of bibliographical description to facsimiles; Two studies in bibliographical identification and identity; Formal perfection and historical perfection in the 1476 Boccaccio of Colard Mansion: note on a note by Seymour de Ricci; What is [a] Caxton? From book to text; Leander van Ess and the panzerization of early books and history; Conclusion: parody, irony, and the search for books of mass destruction; Principal works cited; Index.