The Resurrection from an Italian Book of Hours, c.1460. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Public Domain.
Why are you a researcher of medieval manuscripts?
The public library in Dunedin, New Zealand, had (and still has) a small collection of medieval books. Growing up, I was bewitched by them.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
It’s never quite as simple as you thought.
Which history book has had the greatest influence on you?
The book I have revelled in most is N.R. Ker’s Medieval Libraries of Great Britain.
What book in your field should everyone read?
Léopold Delisle, Le cabinet des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque impériale.
Which moment would you most like to go back to?
The Resurrection. Whatever happened, there has been no more consequential moment for Western civilisation.
Which historian has had the greatest influence on you?
A.N.L. Munby, whose work sparkles with the joy of bibliophilia.
Which person in history would you most like to have met?
The artist of the cave paintings in Lascaux could be interesting.
How many languages do you have?
English, Latin, French, German, and scraps of others.
What historical topic have you changed your mind on?
I have found myself convinced by Norman Golb that the Dead Sea Scrolls were salvage from the Temple of Jerusalem.
What’s the most exciting field in history today?
Manuscript fragments concealed in early book bindings.
What is the mostcommon misconception about your field?
That medieval manuscripts are rare, elitist, and impossible for ordinary people to own.
Who is the most underrated person in history…
Stephen Langton. He divided the Bible into chapters and mostly wrote Magna Carta.
… and the most overrated?
Diana, Princess of Wales.
Is there an important historical text you have not read?
A bibliophile can enjoy a book without necessarily reading it.
What’s your favourite archive?
French municipal libraries are hard to beat.
What’s the best museum?
The Morgan Library and Museum in New York.
What technology has changed the world the most?
Writing.
Recommend us a historical novel…
M.R. James, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary.
… and a historical drama?
Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan.
You can solve one historical mystery. What is it?
Where are the missing miniatures cut from the 12th-century Winchester Bible?
Christopher de Hamel is Life Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts (Allen Lane, 2016). His latest book is The Migrants: A Memoir with Manuscripts (Allen Lane, 2026).
