Foreword

Summary

FOR the Trustees of Dr Williams's Library, and indeed for all those who have an interest in the Library's scholarly resources, the publication of Roger Morrice's Entring Book is a major academic event. The manuscript of the Entring Book has for many years been among the most important of the Library's archival collections. Its value to historians of late-seventeenth-century Britain has resulted in frequent consultation of its text; this, however, has raised serious difficulties in connection with the conservation of what is a frail original manuscript. The length of the Entring Book and the intricacies of Morrice's shorthand, together with the difficulties of providing the necessary scholarly apparatus, have rendered very difficult the production of a full, contextualised edition that would meet modern standards of accuracy and be of essential service to students of the period. Nonetheless, the pioneering work on the Entring Book undertaken by Douglas Lacey and Robin Gwynn and their assistants has been of great value to the present edition, and it is appropriate that the Trustees take this opportunity to express their appreciation of it.

Mark Goldie's acknowledgements pay due tribute to those whose efforts and expertise have made this edition possible. The Trustees particularly thank the editors of the individual volumes, Tim Harris, Mark Knights, John Spurr, and Stephen Taylor, together with Frances Henderson and Jason McElligott. It is a pleasure for the Trustees to acknowledge the contribution made by the staff of the Library, in particular the previous Librarians, Roger Thomas and John Creasey, and the present Director, David Wykes, and the Conservator, Jane Giscombe, who have applied their scholarly skills to the preservation and interpretation of Roger Morrice's extensive manuscript collection. Above all, however, the Trustees acknowledge with gratitude the work of Mark Goldie, who has brought scholarly experience, effective leadership, and  not least  an unfailing good humour to the lengthy and complex process whereby the project was brought to the point of completion. Dr Goldie, with the aid of Jason McElligott, arranged the successful Morrice conference at Clare College, Cambridge, in July 2003, and helped to bring to the attention of the wider reading public the existence of an underused source for late-Stuart Britain.