Omne Bonum: Fourteenth-century Encyclopedia of Universal Knowledge

This book offers an opportunity to understand one man’s view of a moment in medieval history. Professor Sandler identifies the compiler and scribe of the 1100-folio encyclopaedia, written and illustrated in the third quarter of the 14th century. James le Palmer’s vast compilation of medieval learning, taken from different sources, covers topics such as theology, canon law, natural sciences, history of man, liberal arts, etc., and entries are arranged alphabetically. Not only does this book discuss in detail the compiler, the contents, organization, sources and sequence of production of this manuscript, but the catalogue also lists every entry, and reproduces the illustration, usually as a historiated initial, where it occurs in the manuscript.