The Book of Margery Kempe: An Authoritative Translation, Contexts, Criticism. Sec. ed. Trans. and ed. by Lynn Staley. A Norton Critical Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2026 (orig. 2001), xxxii, 320 pp.

Since 1934, when the manuscript containing Margery Kempe’s Book was discovered, English scholarship has worked hard until the very present to engage with this amazing, insightful and autobiographical text, the first by a woman in the history of the English language. The present publication, originally having appeared in 2001, has now been made available again, ready for immediate use in the academic classroom. It is not clear what the changes might be, if there are additions, corrections, or expansions (but see below regarding the bibliography). The Introduction covers many important aspects, such as the creation of Margery’s Book, its artistry (literary aesthetic qualities), the historical context and location in King’s Lynn and the St. Nicholas’ Chapel, the spiritual community Margery established, or joined, and the gender issues raised by her in conflict with the orthodoxy maintained by the Church. Further, we find a note on the cover image showing a reclining woman holding a book on her lap, a wood carving as part of the doors of the south porch. Very useful also prove to be a map of England probably from the late Middle Ages and a short lexicon of characteristic terms used by Margery. But this was all already included in the first edition. I suspect that W. W. Norton simply wanted to make this paperback edition available again particularly for students and other non-expert readers. As such, this is very welcome and certainly an enrichment for our teaching of medieval literature. At any rate, this solid translation together with numerous appendices has never been reviewed in Mediaevistik, which justifies this very late or new review.