Manx crosses: a handbook of stone sculpture 500-1040 in the Isle of Man

Abstract

First paragraph: We have needed this book: an authoritative and holistic introduction to the Isle of Man‟s early medieval sculpture. From the book‟s Preface we get a good sense of just how hard-won its contents have been for the „retired‟, eminent Viking scholar Sir David Wilson, who long ago made the Isle of Man his home. The Island lacks a modern corpus of these carved stones – and the number of stones has doubled since P. M. C. Kermode published Manx Crosses in 1904. Such an absence makes this book all-the-more of an achievement, yet we must also wonder what it would have looked like if its author had been able to draw on a modern corpus that met current scholarly ideals and standards. (Scotland lamentably also finds itself in the same position, unlike England and Wales.)