This second volume of the letters of Adam Marsh has been eagerly awaited by scholars who are deeply indebted to Hugh Lawrence for the admirable edition and translation of the voluminous correspondence. The letters lift the veil on the Greyfriars of Oxford and Adam's remarkably wide circle of friends and acquaintances during the 1240s and 1250s. Maurice Powicke rightly described Adam as a friar who knew everybody, a judgement which is corroborated by this unique collection of letters. Adam enjoyed good relations with the queen, Eleanor of Provence, and her sister, Sancha, who was married to Prince Richard, earl of Cornwall. He was a close friend of Eleanor, the sister of Henry iii, and wife of Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, whose reforming zeal he encouraged. Such influential connections with the royal court and the nobility co-existed with the patronage of clerics and young scholars, whose number included Walter Giffard, successively bishop of Bath and Wells and archbishop of York, and Oliver Sutton, bishop of Lincoln. Couriers from the royal family, the nobles’ estates, the episcopal households and religious houses wended their way to the friary bearing letters to this friar. Adam frequently wrote in haste and pleaded the pressures upon his time and energies as a reason for not responding at greater length. This second volume of letters reveals the way in which the friars’ services were in demand with the prelates and nobles of England. The letters to William of Nottingham, minister provincial (1240–54), and other provincial officials illuminate the administration of the order and the life of its members. They echo the view of a contemporary friar, Thomas of Eccleston, who draws attention to the priority placed on scholarly endeavours by his confrères. Thus, at one moment we see Adam befriending the younger members of the province who nursed scholastic aspirations and at another urging the minister provincial to appoint individual lectors. The correspondence mirrors contemporary controversies, such as the circumstances in which Thomas of York was appointed regent master at Oxford in 1253. Adam was concerned that the friars active in the schools should have the necessary materials for their studies and teaching. None the less, this priority was combined with a profound love of the evangelical poverty which had prompted him to resign his wealthy benefice and take the friar's habit in 1231. He was sensitive to the voices clamouring for reform in the order from the early 1240 s and he did not refrain from criticising his confrères for their neglect in the training of novices who were devoting too much time to the collection of alms. Students of ecclesiastical history in England as well as those seeking a fuller understanding of the Franciscan cosmos at a critical stage in its evolution will warmly welcome this splendid volume.