Grateful thanks are extended to all those who supported me in various ways during the two years I was working on this book. This project was conceived during a one-week Bishop Moorman Scholarship in St Deiniol’s Library (now Gladstone’s Library) in January 2009; invaluable assistance was provided by staff there and at the other fine libraries where I spent many happy hours – the Brotherton in Leeds, Cambridge University Library, The Bodleian, the British Library and the Warburg Institute. Support staff at Selwyn College assisted with accommodation and facilitated the dovetailing of other professional responsibilities while I was visiting CUL. Leeds Trinity University College granted 80 hours of study leave in 2009/10, which formed the basis of my research time. Colleagues Hannah Lavery and Jude White at the Open University in Yorkshire bore the brunt of me taking annual leave from my other jobs for research trips. Simon Coton provided blissfully distraction-free accommodation and post-working-day gin in July 2011. The following (among others) engaged in conversation, suggested or supplied further reading, and offered helpful criticism and feedback: Stuart Burns, Majella Franzmann, Vladimir Ivanovici, Hugh Kennedy, Julia Konstantinovsky, Andrew Louth and Monica Tobin, also colleagues in the Humanities Department at Leeds Trinity University College including Nathan Uglow. Graeme Gooday was a constant source of experience, encouragement and specifically assistance with the image for the front cover. John McGuckin graciously responded very quickly to enquiries about reproducing the beautiful Icon by Eileen McGuckin, to whom also many thanks. Robin Orton meticulously read most of the book at a rough draft stage, and was generous with his time. Much gratitude is offered to Gary Pitts for all sorts of practical support. John Smedley, Sophie Lumley, Sarah Lloyd and Lianne Sherlock at Ashgate were patient and helpful at every stage, as was my proofreader, Mary Murphy. The book is dedicated with love and admiration to my two sons, whose constant distractions and curiosity about my strange addiction to research and writing ensured I remained firmly ‘in the body’.