The Physiologus has hitherto only been published in anthologies of Middle English literature. This first separate edition is taken from the sole surviving manuscript, with apparatus, commentary, glossary, and introduction. It gives the difficult text the close attention it needs, making it accessible to the modern reader. The text used to be known as the Middle English Bestiary: as it is not technically a bestiary its title has been changed.
The commentary deals with textual problems and with the Middle English poet's handling of his Latin sources. The introduction contains a full description of the manuscript; a discussion of the versification; a short history of the Physiologus and medieval bestiaries. A major section of the introduction deals with the languages and transmission of the text: although the manuscript was written in c.1300, the spelling of the text is characteristic of a slightly earlier
period.
