The great scholar and palaeographer Sir Frederic Madden (1801-73) was Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum (as it then was) when most of the items in this 'Handlist' were acquired. The manuscripts here represented, from the still expanding Additional collection, provide examples of almost every kind of Middle English prose composition. Many of the items in this 'Handlist' are well known, but some have been previously overlooked and a surprising number remain unedited.