quem si quis abstulerit, morte moriatur in sartagine coquatur caducus morbus instet eum et febres et rotatur, et suspendatur. One scribe, after copying the 12th-century Arnstein Bible, wrote in the colophon: From the beginning of monastic history, the copying of books, regardless of their educational value, was a time-consuming and painstaking process – stealing them was high crime. Many of them were works of art, and surviving examples are priceless. Medieval manuscripts are the product of intellectual efforts of the time. Currently, the project has two objectives: one is to create a digital revival of the Exeter Book hand, and another is to provide an interactive book-hand edition of selected poems from the Exeter Book for students and general audiences. The Digital Exeter Book Hand is an independent online resource that aims to encourage the study and appreciation of the scribal hand of the Exeter Book. It is a crucial remnant of a once flourishing oral tradition and, had it not survived, Old English literature would be much narrower in scope. In 2016 the Exeter Book was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, making it an example of global significance. It is also significant in that it contains two poems signed by Cynewulf, one of the few named Old English poets. The content is made up of nearly 100 poetic riddles and some 40 poems and elegies, including such classics as The Wanderer and The Seafarer, which have inspired writers from Ezra Pound to JRR Tolkien.
Though damaged and incomplete in several ways, its 123 written leaves are largely well preserved. Written in well-formed Square minuscule, the book was produced around 960–80 in a scriptorium in southwest England. It acquired its name because it has been in the care of the Exeter Cathedral since it was donated to the library there by Bishop Leofric, sometime before 1072. The Exeter Book (Exeter, Cathedral Library, MS 3501) is a remarkable anthology and one of the four major codices of Old English literature that have survived, along with the Beowulf manuscript, the Junius manuscript, and the Vercelli Book.
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