This volume honours the celebrated medievalist Richard Pfaff with an extremely wide selection of essays, reflecting the dedicatee's similarly broad interests. In a ‘liturgical’ section, Janet Sorrentino presents the suggestion that Gilbertine clerics used liturgical formulae to establish the responsibilities of the order's lay-brothers. Christopher Jones uses four leaves of a Lambeth Palace manuscript to shed light on the transmission and reception of a lost liturgical treatise by Amalarius. Elizabeth Teviotdale evaluates the purpose of Pembroke College, Cambridge, ms 302, an Anglo-Saxon codex singular in design, whose contents raise ambiguities as to its function. Other matters of design are addressed by Andrew Hughes who discusses, using two manuscripts, the order in which elements – page ruling, rubrication, stavelines, texts and chants – may have been added to the page. Three complementary articles are concerned with the liturgical Use of Sarum. William Mahrt charts the differences in processions caused by the move from Old Sarum to Salisbury Cathedral, and the authority conveyed to the new ordo by precedent. Nigel Morgan illustrates some of the diversity caused by the adoption of the Sarum kalendar and sanctorale by other southern English dioceses. Similarly, Sherry Reames notes ‘surprising divergences’ in manuscript Sarum breviaries from the contents of the printed editions. In the ‘historical’ section, Alan Thacker documents the pastoral responsibilities of the early Anglo-Saxon priest, noting that problems with the modern conception of the role may be exacerbated by contemporary ambiguities. Joshua Westgard analyses the additions to Bede's Historia ecclesiastica relating to St Wilfrid, and proposes a potentially Mercian origin. Joseph Wittig argues that the Old English text of the Boethian hymn O qui perpetua is not derived from Bede or from Latin commentaries; rather, both glosses and the translation reflect ‘imperfect snapshots of interpretative activity’. A superbly illustrated study of BL, ms Yates Thompson 12, and its possibly English style of illumination, is supplied by Jaroslav Folda. Rodney Thomson's chapter on the books of William Reed, bishop of Chichester, explores some of his motivations for acquiring them and donating large quantities to Oxford colleges. Michael McVaugh reveals that ‘Gilbertus Anglicus’ compiled his great work Compendium medicinae later than expected, and was probably active in Montpellier. In a study of the peculium of monks at Westminster, Barbara Harvey demonstrates that the process of acquisition and disbursement may have been cyclical. Siegfried Wenzel explores the documents and prayers inserted into CUL Gg.6.26, a sermon book, which he speculates may have been owned by a parish priest or monastic cleric. Finally, Charles Briggs argues that Aristotelian moral philosophy was not unknown in later medieval English universities, despite some evidence to the contrary. Most of the liturgical essays, of course, have historical implications, and the existence of ‘manuscript studies’ in both sections highlights the fact that traditional disciplinary divisions have become more porous, particularly during Richard Pfaff's long career. This volume is well produced and the editors have chosen distinguished contributors whose essays illustrate the richness of current scholarly interaction with medieval manuscript sources.