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Overview

Professor Richard Gameson

Professor (History of the Book)


Affiliations
AffiliationRoom numberTelephone
Professor (History of the Book) in the Department of History +44 (0) 191 33 41043
Member of the Centre for Visual Arts and Culture  
Member of the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies +44 (0) 191 33 41043

Biography

Richard Gameson specialises in the history of the book from Antiquity to the Renaissance, and in medieval art. He has published over 100 studies on medieval manuscripts, book collections, art and cultural history, including The Old Library (1988), The Early Medieval Bible (1994), The Role of Art in the late Anglo-Saxon Church (1995), The study of the Bayeux Tapestry (1997) The Manuscripts of Early Norman England (1999), Augustine of Canterbury and the Conversion of England (1999), The Scribe Speaks: colophons in early English Manuscripts (2002), Codex Aureus: an eighth-century gospel book (2001-2), The Earliest Books of Canterbury Cathedral (2008), Manuscript Treasures of Durham Cathedral (2010), The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain volume I: c. 400-1100 (2012), From Holy Island to Durham: the contexts and meanings of the Lindisfarne Gospels (2013), and The Lindisfarne Gospels, new perspectives (2017). From Holy Island to Durham accompanied the exhibition, 'Lindisfarne Gospels Durham', held at Palace Green Library, Durham, from July-September 2013, for which he was academic curator. He has recently completed a catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of Trinity College, Oxford, and is working on a catalogue of the manuscript collection of Durham Cathedral. As part of a team with Professor Andy Beeby of the Department of Chemistry, Durham, and Dr Catherine Nicholson of Northumbria University, he investigates by non-destructive scientific means the nature and use of medieval illuminators' pigments. He would welcome enquiries from anyone wishing to pursue advanced work in the fields of manuscripts and books, libraries and collections, illumination and decoration.

Research interests

  • History of the Book from Antiquity to the Renaissance
  • Medieval Art

Research groups

Research Projects

  • British Medieval Illuminators’ Pigments: A Scientific and Cultural Study

Publications

Authored book

  • Gameson, Richard (2018). The Medieval Manuscripts of Trinity College, Oxford: a descriptive catalogue. Oxford Bibliographical Society.
  • Gameson, Richard (2018). Codex Amiatinus: making and meaning. Parish Church Council, St Paul's, Jarrow.
  • Gameson, Richard (2013). From Holy Island to Durham: the contexts and meanings of the Lindisfarne Gospels. London: Third Millennium.
  • (2010). Manuscript Treasures of Durham Cathedral. III Millennium.
  • Gameson, Richard (2008). The Earliest Books of Canterbury Cathedral: Manuscripts and Fragments to c.1200. London: Bibliographical Society; British Library.
  • (2002). The Scribe Speaks? Colophons in Early English Manuscripts. Cambridge: Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic.
  • Eales, Richard & Gameson, Richard (2000). Vikings, Monks and the Millennium: Canterbury c. 1000. Tenterden, Kent: Canterbury Archaeological Society.
  • (1999). The Manuscripts of Early Norman England c. 1066-1130. British Academy.
  • (1995). The Role of Art in the Late Anglo-Saxon Church. Oxford: Oxford: OUP.
  • Gameson, R. & Coates, A. (1988). The Old Library, Trinity College, Oxford. Oxford: Trinity College.

Chapter in book

Edited book

  • Gameson, Richard (2017). The Lindisfarne Gospels. New Perspectives. Library of the Written Word, The Manuscript World. Brill.
  • Gameson, Richard (2012). The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain volume I, c. 400-1100. The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain. Cambridge University Press.
  • (2007). Treasures of Durham University Library. Third Millennium and Durham University.
  • Gameson, Richard & Leyser, Henrietta (2001). Belief and Culture in the Middle Ages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • (1999). Augustine of Canterbury and the Conversion of England. Sutton.
  • (1997). The Study of the Bayeux Tapestry. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer.
  • (1994). The Early Medieval Bible: Its Production, Decoration and Use. Cambridge University Press.

Edited Sources, Research Data Sets and Databases

  • (2001). The Codex Aureus: An Eighth-Century Gospel Book. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger (2 vols.), 104pp. + 122 plates, 16pp. + 238 plates.

Journal Article

Supervision students