Description
‘Sumer Is Icumen In’, also known as the ‘Reading Rota’, is the most famous of all medieval musical compositions from the British Isles and the earliest English example of a round. Written about 1250, possibly by the monks of Reading Abbey, where the manuscript was located, ‘Sumer is Icumen In’ is famous for its cheerful complexity, and for providing instructions on how it should be sung.
This famous medieval round is reproduced here with exquisite black and white illustrations by Sally Castle portraying the celebration of spring (not summer – read it to find out why) which is depicted in both words and music. For those who want to try singing it, there’s a modern version of the music as well.
The book contains a full-colour facsimile of the original manuscript and an explanatory text by Chaucer scholar Phillipa Hardman.
Notes by Phillipa Hardman, edited by Barbara Morris, and illustrated by Sally Castle. Paperback, 147 x 105 mm, 32 pages, Originally published in 2006 (ISBN 978-1-901677-48-5). New edition April 2026.
See Sally Castle’s illustrations for this book on her website at www.sallycastle.co.uk/sumer-is-icumen-in
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