How were medieval scribes trained to write in English, and in what kinds of communities of literacy did those acquired skills result? What kinds of identity formation might have been created by language made visible through textual artifacts? Wendy Scase offers one of the first large-scale studies of writing and reading practices in England in Visible English, seeking to provide the evidence for Early English—“Old” and “Middle”—and its recording in manuscript. The focus concerns how Latin grammar (littera pedagogy) was learned and transmitted and how it impacted the “encoding and decoding of English texts,” which are different from, and perhaps more demanding than, Latin; that is, there is no obvious correlation in the ability to produce texts in these distinct languages (353). Scase’s subsequent analysis and questioning of received scholarly interpretation reshapes our understanding in important ways: literacy in English cannot be regarded as a less specialized skill than Latin; multilingualisms require additional study; identity and community are created by selected systems of writing (not necessarily geographically indicative); and expertise in one form of textual production need not imply expertise in another.

For Scase, covering the broad medieval period, “graphic culture” is “the set of theories and practices that reside where the visible, hand-made mark meets language” (12). This culture is intermingled with issues of belonging and community. Scase briefly draws attention to the monastic productions of the later pre-Conquest period, for which a great deal can be said, and notes that handwriting is not often associated with individuals (though we might note the eleventh-century Eadwig Basan and later Eadmer at Christ Church, whose influences were significant). Five chapters, each with a Discussion section for readers to reflect upon, address “Graphs, Alphabets, and Scripts;” “Graphic Models;” “Graphic Play;” “Graphic Display;” and “Reprographics;” and while some of the examples discussed in detail are age-old familiars, like the Exeter Book and the Ruthwell Cross (chapters 1 and 4, respectively) and acrostics (chapter 3), other case studies are relatively rarely examined: South English Legendary (chapter 5) and pen-trials (chapter 2).

Chapter 1 tackles letterforms and the writing systems they constituted as markers of identity. Scase reviews the evidence for the Old English graphs, ash, thorn, eth, and wynn, and offers a synopsis of the history found in handbooks of paleography and sociolinguistics that sees clear distinctions in the uses of these graphs and the linguistic contexts of Latin and English. Much is made of the nuances of systems of script, alphabets, and the selection of “one script rather than another [which] has been shown to be powerfully capable of expressing boundaries between belonging and difference in the modern world” (44). Here the explication involves the evaluation of written alphabets inscribed into manuscripts like London, British Library, MS Harley 208. Ideas of identity or a sense of belonging might pertain to many such examples, as Scase claims, but it might also be argued that numerous other textual artifacts demonstrate approaches to graphic systems that defy easy categorization (blended scripts that utilize insular characters for Latin, for example; or the possibility that manuscripts, like the Vercelli Book, are not products of a community, but an individual).

In chapter 2, Scase locates the school-text and evidence for the method of learning how to write by copying models. Practice alphabets (usually overlooked by scholars) and books containing basic learners’ texts show that imagined audiences of these materials tended to be young male students, but there are sources that also intimate littera pedagogy was practiced beyond a classroom context. Most of these are later medieval manuscripts, some of which contain ownership information, and many of which contain personal prayers or microtexts. From the later Middle Ages, too, pattern books supplied the training tools for students, and other manuscripts, like Oxford, Bodleian Library, Lat. Misc. c. 66, f. 95 v, have an array of pen-trials and drawings showing considered engagement in the book by a Cheshire gentleman, Humphrey Newton, about whom Scase provides fascinating and extensive detail.

Chapters 3 and 4 discuss “Graphic Play” and “Graphic Display,” respectively. Using sociolinguistic theory, especially as it pertains to digital media, Scase proposes that medieval ludic pedagogy, exemplified by early riddles, alphabet poems, acrostics, the Old English Rune Poem, and the later Annot and John, helped to mediate belonging among literate communities. Scribal colophons are also treated as part of graphic playfulness, helping “to express new identities and forms of belonging for those who were skilled in the specialist arts of copying English as well as Latin,” including for the scribes themselves (202). In chapter 4, reflecting on display, the Ruthwell Cross is centerstage (as is so often the case), together with graffiti inscribed in parish churches. This forms a major focus in Scase’s analysis of “Linguistic Landscape research” (220). Analysis of an individual graffito at St Mary’s in Great Bardfield suggests that on occasion these short inscriptions reflect “ingenious editing and rewriting of the text … for the display of graphic virtuosity and for engagement in play” (227). Such graffiti suggest that those who could interpret them were the ones who belonged to these communities of littera pedagogy practice. The same pertains to object inscriptions and wall decorations in Scase’s account, and this conclusion strikes me as excellent common sense.

The final chapter on “Reprographics” brings the copying of English-language texts to the fore. A thorough evaluation of terminology for copying and the scale of medieval scribes’ work with exemplars is particularly useful. Another well-known case study is provided, in this case the remarkable manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Junius 1—the Ormulum (here labelled “outlandish” [293]). Looking at how Orm seeks to represent English through his complex orthography and scribal indicators, Scase then examines instances of texts existing in multiples, such as The Prick of Conscience, to determine scribal activities that reflect communities of practice and those communities’ understandings of literary projects.

Visible English is a treasure trove of case studies, and Scase’s knowledge and analysis of later medieval manuscripts are particularly noteworthy. The book is beautifully produced (as it should be at the price) and seeks to answer innovative questions about early practices and communities of literacy, while raising others that should inspire further research.