Sir Philip Sidney and the Circulation of Manuscripts, 1558-1640 is the first modern study of the production and circulation of manuscripts during the English Renaissance. H. R. Woudhuysen examines the relationship between manuscript and print, looks at people who lived by their pens, and surveys authorial and scribal manuscripts, paying particular attention to the copying of verse, plays, and scholarly works by hand.

He investigates the professional production of manuscripts for sale by scribes such as Ralph Crane and Richard Robinson.

The second part of the book examines Sir Philip Sidney's works in the context of Woudhuysen's research, discussing all Sidney's important manuscripts, and seeks to assess his part in the circulation of his works and his role in the promotion of a scribal culture. A detailed examination of the manuscripts and early prints of his poems, of his Arcadias, and of Astrophil and Stella sheds new light on their composition, evolution, and dissemination, as well as on Sidney's friends and admirers.

Based on the examination of hundreds of manuscripts, this book presents much new material describing manuscript production in the fields of literature, politics, the law, and historical, scientific, and antiquarian studies.