Staff profile

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.

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

• Britain and Continental Europe
• Medieval
• Theology and Religion
• Visual and Material Culture

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

• History of the Book project

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

• Gameson, Richard (2023). Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles: the physical fabric of the fables. In Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles. Small, Graeme Brepols.
• Gameson, Richard (2022). Pope's Chaucer. In Middle English Manuscripts and their Legacies. Saunders, Corinne, Lawrie, Richard & Atkinson, Laurie Leiden: Brill. 102: 237-254.
• Gameson, Richard (2021). Gospels of Augustine. In The Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts: A Handbook. Panayotova, Stella Turnhout: Brepols/Harvey Miller. 3.
• Gameson, Richard (2021). Writing at Wearmouth-Jarrow. In Manuscripts in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Cultures and connections. Breay, Claire & Story, Joanna Dublin: Four Courts Press.
• Gameson, R. (2020). Sin and Salvation in the Hours of Jean de Dunois. In Illuminating the Middle Ages. Cleaver, L., Bovey, A. & Donkin, L. Leiden: Brill. 79: 369-394.
• Gameson, Richard (2020). 'The Apostle of the English in a Manuscript from Flanders and English and Flemish Benedictine Libraries in the Twelfth Centuries'. In France et Angleterre manuscrits médiévaux entre 700 et 1200. Denoël, Charlotte & Siri, Francesco Brepols. 57.
• Gameson, Richard (2019). The Colophons of Codex Amiatinus. In Anglo-Saxon Micro-Texts. Lenker, U. & Cornexl, L. De Gruyter. 67: 89-116.
• Gameson, Richard (2019). The Palaeography of the Inscriptions. In The Staffordshire Hoard: an Anglo-Saxon Treasure. Fern, C. Dickinson, T. & Webster, L. London: London: Society of Antiquaries.
• Gameson, Richard (2018). Conceiving the Life of Texts. In The Life of Texts. Evidence in Textual Production, Transmission and Reception. Caruso, C Bloomsbury Academic. 1-27.
• Gameson, Richard (2017). Northumbrian Books in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries. In The Lindisfarne Gospels. New Perspectives. Leiden Boston: Brill. 43-83.
• Beeby, Andrew, Gameson, Richard, Nicholson, Catherine & Parker, Anthony (2017). Aldred's Red Gloss. In The Lindisfarne Gospels. New Perspectives. Brill. 200-205.
• Beeby, Andrew, Gameson, Richard & Nicholson, Catherine (2017). Colour at Canterbury: the Pigments of Canterbury Illuminators from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century. In Manuscripts in the Making. Art & Science 1. Panayotova, Stella & Ricciardi, Paola Harvey Miller - Brepols. 21-35.
• Gameson, Richard (2015). The Image of the Medieval Library. In The Meaning of the Library: a cultural history. Crawford, Alice Princeton University Press. 31-71.
• Gameson, Richard (2015). The Manuscript Context: the Thorney Gospels. In The Thorney Liber Vitae (London, British Library, Additional MS 40,000, fols 1-12r) Edition, Facsimile and Study. Rollason, Lynda Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer. 20-52.
• Gameson, Richard (2015). The Cathedral's Earliest Books. In Durham Cathedral: history, fabric and culture. Brown, David Yale. 398-421, 548-551.
• Gameson, Richard (2015). History of the Manuscript to the Reformation. In The St Cuthbert Gospel: studies on the Insular Manuscripts of the Gospel of John. Breay, C & Meehan, B British Library. 129-136.
• Gameson, Richard (2015). Materials, Text, Layout and Script. In The St Cuthbert Gospel: studies on the Insular Manuscripts of the Gospel of John. Breay, C. & Meehan, B. British Library. 13-39, 171-183.
• Gameson, Richard (2015). The Thorney Liber Vitae: planning, production and palaeography. In The Thorney Liber Vitae, British Library Add. MS 40,000. Edition, Facsimile and Study. Rollason, Lynda Boydell and Brewer. 115-124.
• Gameson, Richard (2013). The Earliest English Royal Books. In A Thousand Years of Royal Books and Manuscripts. Doyle, K & McKendrick, S British Library. 3-35.
• Gameson, Richard (2013). Durham's Paris Bible and the Use of the Bible in a late Medieval Benedictine Community. In Form and Function of the late Medieval Bible. Poleg, E & Light, L Brill. 67-104.
• Gameson, Richard (2012). The Circulation of Books between England and the Continent c. 871-c. 1100. In The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain volume I: c. 400-1100. Gameson, Richard Cambridge University Press. 344-372.
• Gameson, Richard (2012). Book Decoration in England c. 871-c. 1100. In The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain volume I: c. 400-1100. Gameson, Richard Cambridge University Press. 249-293.
• Gameson, Richard (2012). Anglo-Saxon Scribes and Scriptoria. In The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain volume I: c. 400-1100. Gameson, Richard Cambridge University Press. 94-120.
• Gameson, Richard (2012). The Study of Early British Books. In The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain volume I: c. 400-1100. Gameson, Richard Cambridge University Press. 709-722.
• Gameson, R. (2011). The Archaeology of the Anglo-Saxon Book. In The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology. Foster, S., Hamerow, H. & Hinton, D. Oxford University Press. 815-841.
• Gameson, R. (2010). An Itinerant English Master around the Millennium. In England and the Continent in the Tenth Century: studies in honour of Wilhelm Levison (1876-1947). Rollason, D., Leyser, C. & Williams, H. Brepols. 37: 87-134.
• Gameson, Richard (2009). The Royal 1 B. vii Gospels and English Book Production in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries. In The Early Medieval Bible. Gameson, Richard 24-52.
• Ayers, T. (2008). The Bayeux Tapestry. In The History of British Art 600-1600. London: Tate Gallery. 46-7.
• Gameson, R. (2007). The Oldest Medieval Manuscript in New Zealand: Dunedin Public Library, Reed Collection 1. In Migrations: Medieval Manuscripts in New Zealand. Barrett, A. & Hollis, S. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 147-64.
• Rollason, D. & Rollason, L. (2007). The Script of the Original Core. In The Durham Liber Vitae. London: The British Library. 3: 58-65.
• Gameson, R (2007). The history of the book. In A Century of British Medieval Studies. A.D. Deyermond Oxford: Oxford University Press and the British Academy. 701-35.
• Gameson, R. (2007). The script of the orginal core. In The Durham Liber Vitae. Rollason, David & Rollason, Lynda London: The British Library. I: 58-65.
• Bouet, P. & Dosdat, M. (2006). Manuscrits normands à Exeter aux XIe et XIIe siècles. In Manuscrits et enluminures dans le monde normand Xe-XVe siècles. Caen: 107-27.
• Gameson, R. (2006). Signed" Manuscripts from Early Romanesque Flanders: Saint-Bertin and Saint-Vaast. In Pen in hand: medieval scribes, depictions and colophons. Gullick, M. Walkern: The Red Gull Press. 31-73.
• Castelfranchi Vegas, L. (2006). L’Angleterre et la Flandre. In L’Art de l’an mil en Europe, 950-1050. Paris: Thalia Edition. 161-98.
• Gameson, R (2006). The medieval library (to c. 1450). In The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland Volume 1 To 1640. E. Leedham-Green & T. Webber Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1: 13-50.
• Gameson, R. (2006). The Physical Setting: The Medieval Library (to c. 1450). In The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland 1. Leedham-Green, E. & Webber, T. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 13-50.
• Smyth, A.P. & Keynes, S.D. (2005). From Augustine to Parker: The Changing Face of the First Archbishop of Canterbury. In Anglo-Saxons: studies presented to Cyril Roy Hart. Dublin: Four Courts Press. 13-38.
• Gameson, Richard (2005). St Wulfstan, the library of Worcester and the spirituality of the medieval book. In St Wulfstan and his World. Barrow, J.S. & Brooks, N.P. Aldershot: Ashgate. 59-104.
• Gameson, R. (2005). A Scribe's Confession and the Making of the Anchin Hrabanus. In Manuscripts in Transition: Recycling Manuscripts, Texts and Images. Dekeyser, B. & Van der Stock, J. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. 65-79.
• Gameson, R. (2004). La Normandie et l'Angleterre au XIe siècle: le témoignage des manuscrits. In La Normandie et l'Angleterre au Moyen Age. Bouet, P. & Gazeau, V. Caen-Turnhout: Brepols Publishers. 129-172.
• Gameson, R. (2002). L'Angleterre et la Flandre aux Xe et XIe siècles: le témoignage des manuscrits. In Les Echanges culturelles au Moyen Age: Publications de la Sorbonne, série histoire ancienne et médiévale 70. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne. 165-206.
• Leservoisier, J.-L. (2002). Les Colophons des manuscrits du Mont Saint-Michel. In Images de la foi: La Bible et les Pères de l'église dans les manuscrits de Clairvaux et du Mont-Saint-Michel. Paris: 165-206.
• Gameson, R. (2002). The Early Imagery of Thomas Becket. In Pilgrimage: The English Experience. Morris, C. & Roberts, P. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 46-89.
• Smith, L. (2001). 'Denmark’ and ‘Sweden’ [descriptions of the Boethius manuscripts in collections in those countries. In Codices Boethiani II. London and Turin: Warburg Institute. 130-6 and 155-63.
• Gameson, R. (2001). Why did Eadfrith write the Lindisfarne Gospels? In Belief and Culture in the Middle Ages. Gameson, R. & Leyser, H. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 45-58.
• Castelfranchi Vegas & et al (2001). Die Kunst in Südengland und Flandern. In Europas. Regensburg: 161-98.
• Gameson, R. (2001). Introduction. In The Codex Aureus: An Eighth-Century Gospel Book, 2 vols. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger. XXVIII & XXIX: 9-103.
• Eales, R. & Gameson, R. (2000). Books, Culture and the Church in Canterbury around the Millennium. In Vikings, Monks and the Millennium. Eales, R. & Gameson, R. Canterbury Archaeological Trust Ltd. 15-40.
• Aylmer, G. & Tiller, J. (2000). The Hereford Gospels. In Hereford Cathedral: a history. London: Hambledon and London Ltd. 536-43.
• de Dreuille, C. (2000). Les implications culturelles de l'arrivée de St Augustin en Angleterre. In L'église et la mission au VIe siècle. Paris: Les éditions du Cerf. 123-47.
• Castelfranchi Vegas, L, Cassanelli, R, Gameson, R.G., Piva, P & Yarza, Luaces, J (2000). L'Arte nell'Inghilterra meridionale e in Fiandra’ in L. Castelfranchi Vegas et al. In L'Arte dell'Anno Mille in Europa. Milan: 161-98.
• (2000). El Arte en la Inglaterra Meridional y en Flandes’ in L. Castelfranchi Vega et al. In Ano Mil: El arte en Europa 950-1050. Barcelona-Madrid: 161-98.
• Gameson, R. (1999). Augustine of Canterbury: Context and Achievement. In St Augustine of Canterbury and the Conversion of England. Sutton Publishing Ltd. 1-40.
• Gameson, R. (1999). The Earliest Books of Christian Kent. In St Augustine of Canterbury and the Conversion of England. Sutton Publishing. 313-73.
• Gameson, R. (1999). Bogkulturen i Nordeuropa i 900- og 1000-Tallet. In Levende Ord & Lysende Billeder: Den Middelalderlige Bogkultur i Danmark. Petersen, E. Copenhagen: The Royal Library Moesgård Museum. 23-51.
• Gameson, R. (1999). Book Culture in Northern Europe in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. In Living Words and Luminous Pictures: Medieval Book Culture in Denmark. Petersen, E. Copenhagen: The Royal Library Moesgård Museum. 23-51.
• Rollason, D. (1998). English Book Collections in the Late Eleventh and Early Twelfth Centuries: Symeon's Durham and its Context. In Symeon of Durham: historian of Durham and the North. Rollason, D. Stamford: Shaun Tyas. 230-53.
• Smith, L. & Taylor, J. (1997). The Gospels of Margaret of Scotland and the Literacy of an Early Medieval Queen. In Women and The Book. London: University of Toronto Press. 148-71.
• Gameson, R. (1997). The Origin, Art and Message of the Bayeux Tapestry. In The Study of the Bayeux Tapestry. Gameson, R. Boydell & Brewer. 157-211.
• Gameson, Fiona & Gameson, Richard (1996). Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wife's Lament and the Discovery of the Individual in Old English Verse. In Doubt Wisely: essays presented to E. G. Stanley. Toswell, J. & Tyler, E. London: Routledge. 457-74.
• Gameson, Richard (1996). Book Production and Decoration at Worcester in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. In St. Oswald of Worcester: Life and Influence. Brooks, N. & Cubitt, C. London and New York: Leicester University Press. 194-244.
• Gameson, Richard (1995). English Manuscript Art in the Late Eleventh Century: Canterbury and its Context. In Canterbury and the Norman Conquest. Eales, R. & Sharpe, R. London: 95-144.
• Gameson, Richard (1992). Manuscript Art at Christ Church, Canterbury, in the Generation after St Dunstan’ in St Dunstan, his life, times and cult. In St. Dunstan: His Life, Times and Cult. Ramsay, Nigel Sparks, Margaret & Tatton-Brown, Tim W.T. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. 187-220.

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

• Gameson, Richard & Gameson, Fiona (2020). The Vita Bedae and the Craft of Hagiography. History 105(367): 567-587.
• Gameson, Richard, Nicholson, Catherine & Beeby, Andrew (2020). The Admiral, the Virgin, and the Spectrometer: Observations on the Coëtivy Hours (Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, W082). Gesta (International Center of Medieval Art) 59(2): 203-231.
• Gameson, Richard (2020). ‘Becket in Horae: the commemoration of the saint in private prayer books of the later middle ages’. Journal of the British Archaeological Association 173(1): 143-173.
• Beeby, Andrew, Gameson, Richard & Nicholson, Catherine (2018). New light on old illuminations. Archives and Records 39(2): 244-256.
• Beeby, Andrew, Gameson, Richard & Nicholson, Catherine (2016). Illuminators' Pigments in Lancastrian England. Manuscripta 60(2): 143-164.
• Gameson, R., Beeby, A., Duckworth, A. & Nicholson, C. (2015). Pigments of the Earliest Northumbrian Manuscripts. Scriptorium 69: 33-59.
• (2009). The last Chi-rho in the West: from Insular to Anglo-Saxon in the Boulogne 10 Gospels. Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 16: 89-107.
• (2009). Codices Aurei. The Edge 14-15: 3-7, 7-10.
• Gameson, R. (2007). The Earliest Books of Arras Cathedral. Scriptorium 61: 233-85.
• (2007). From Symeon to Hoccleve: five medieval manuscripts in Durham University. A2Z: Palaeography Special Interest 16: 1-11.
• (2005). Recovered! On the early manuscripts of Canterbury Cathedral. Canterbury Cathedral Chronicle 99 33-40.
• (2003). A Little-Known Fifteenth-Century Missal. Canterbury Cathedral Chronicle 97 34-9.
• Gameson, R. (2002). The Insular Gospel Book at Hereford Cathedral. Scriptorium 56: 48-79.
• (2002). The Colophon of the Eadwig Gospels. Anglo-Saxon England 201-222.
• (2001). Hugo Pictor: enlumineur normand. Cahiers de Civilisation médiévale 44 121-38.
• Gameson, R. (1998). La Bible de Saint-Vaast, Arras, et un manuscrit anglo-saxon de Boèce. Scriptorium 52: 316-21.
• (1996). The Origin of the Exeter Book of Old English Poetry. Anglo-Saxon England 135-85.
• Gameson, R. (1995). Alfred the Great and the Destruction and Production of Christian Books. Scriptorium 50: 180-210.
• Gameson, R. (1995). Anglo-Norman Manuscripts. Old English Newsletter 28(3): B23-B34.
• (1994). Barfreston Church. Archaeological Journal 151: 15-16.
• Gameson, Richard (1993). The Romanesque Artist of the Harley 603 Psalter. English Manuscript Studies 4 24-61.
• Gameson, R. & Gameson, F. (1993). The Anglo-Saxon Inscription at St Mary's Church, Breamore, Hampshire. Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 6 6: 1-10.
• (1992). Ælfric and the Perception of Script and Picture in Anglo-Saxon England. Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 5 85-101.
• (1992). The Cost of the Codex Amiatinus. Notes and Queries 237: 2-9.
• (1992). The Fabric of the Tanner Bede. Bodleian Library Record 14 176-206.
• (1992). The Decoration of the Tanner Bede. Anglo-Saxon England 115-59.
• (1992). The Romanesque Crypt Capitals of Canterbury Cathedral. Archaeologia Cantiana 17-48.
• (1991). The Danson Psalter. Trinity Report 90 71-83.
• (1991). English Manuscript Art in the Mid-Eleventh Century. Antiquaries Journal 71: 64-122.
• Gameson, R. (1991). The Medieval Manuscripts of Trinity College, Oxford: Addendum. Oxoniensia 56: 77-101.
• Gameson, R. (1990). The Anglo-Saxon Artists of the Harley 603 Psalter. Journal of the British Archaeological Association 143: 29-48.